“Eyebrows up and in.
Lower lid contracted.
Upper lid raised.
Lip corners pulled sideways.
What is it?”

“Fear.”

“Good.”

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In a spotless room, four people are having tea.

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Duncan and Marlow are scientists. Rachel and Wells are their subjects, and they can almost pass for human now…

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But Wells is growing stronger and Rachel is learning faster than predicted, and Duncan and Marlow’s hold on them – and on power – is proving more fragile than expected. Tensions are rising, tempers are fraying, and somewhere in the darkness, tenderness blossoms, and a carefully controlled experiment begins to twist into something far stranger, and far more obscure…

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Brutal, bold and gripping, Extinction of the Learned Response asks what really makes us human. Can it be taught, replicated, removed? And once you take humanity away, what’s hiding underneath?

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Images by Jasmin Simmons.

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Writer: Emme Hoy

Director: Carissa Licciardello

Producer: Michelle Sverdloff

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Cast (Main): Tel Benjamin, Sarah Meacham, Eddie Orton, Jennifer Rani

Production Designer: Ella Butler
Lighting Designer: Kelsey Lee
Composer, Sound Designer: Ben Pierpoint

Stage Manager: Bronte Schuftan
Production Manager & Assistant Stage Manager: Jana Vass

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In partnership with the Belvoir Street Theatre's 25A Program