without ever feeling didactic. A Number is no cold thought experiment, but a quiet rumination on human nature". Dineen wrote that Salter's interludes "say as much as an hour’s worth of dialogue". Franco Milazzo of Londonist summarised the play as asking "what makes you you?" Arifa Akbar of The Guardian said that "Churchill’s linguistic tics – of interruptions and half-finished sentences – create a hyperreal effect and enable Salter’s obfuscation". Richard Pahl of Northwest Herald billed A Number as an "engaging meditation on human cloning, personal identity and the conflicting claims of nature and nurture". Pahl wrote that the work "offers intellectual and emotional depth, and illustrates the ways people rationalize bad behavior and unthinkingly objectify others, including their own flesh and blood. It asks important questions." Interpretation Dinneen argued that the play is about "our desire to be unique, for our lives to have meaning, for our imperfect minds and bodies to somehow achieve perfect ends." Pahl wrote that questions asked by the play are, "If we had a do-over, could we atone for our mistakes? What is the value of a human life? What is the source of our individuality?" Adaptations A Number was adapted by Caryl Churchill for television, in a co-production between the BBC and HBO Films. Starring Rhys Ifans and Tom Wilkinson, it was broadcast on BBC Two on 10 Sep 2008. References External links Review of original British productions New York Theatre Workshop website for American production Guardian review of Royal Court production Reviews of the 2006 Sheffield revival Plays by Caryl Churchill 2002 plays Cloning in fiction Two-handers