Unknowing Animals

What a Mouse Knows was a full-length play written and produced as part of  the Unknowing Animals ESRC fellowship. The  play centres on an animal welfare scientist, Edward, who suddenly finds himself working with a niece whom he hasn’t seen since his wife committed suicide ten years ago. There is tension between the two of them as they struggle with different understandings of mice, how to handle them and how to treat them, leading to painful questions about whether Jean’s suicide was preventable. When the mouse starts exhibiting strange behaviour, Edward is triggered into an increasingly unethical pursuit of the indicators of emotional distress. The play is about the limits of knowledge – in science, in human and nonhuman relationships, in grief.

​

Director: Ed Madden

Annalise: Lydia Larson

Edward: Ian Drysdale

Marianne: Nancy Crane