A Number Tickets

Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu play father and sons in the Caryl Churchill play, A Number. Don't miss the cloning play come back to London. A Number tickets are available on London Theatre now.

Every parent makes mistakes, but it’s unlikely any parent could mess up quite like Salter in the A Number play. At the start of the play, Salter grieves the loss of his young son Bernard. Salter speaks to a doctor about cloning his dead child to have another opportunity to do the "right" parenting thing. One thing Salter doesn’t realise though is that the doctor produced multiple clones of Bernard — 19 in total — could Salter look after that many sons? Throughout A Number, Salter comes face to face with three of his cloned sons, who don’t know of each other’s existence.

A Number is a two-person drama, with the person playing the “sons” multi-roling throughout the show. In A Number at the Old Vic, Paapa Essiedu plays Bernard 1, 2 and Michael Black. The Emmy-nominated actor is best known for starring in the television series I May Destroy You. On stage, Essiedu typically appears in Shakespeare plays, including his performances in the title roles in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.

For the A Number play, Essiedu stars alongside Lennie James as Salter. James’ television credits include The Walking Dead, Critical, and Save Me. A Number marks James first London stage performance in nearly 20 years.

Due to its 60-minute running time, A Number is regularly revived in London. Michael Gambon and Daniel Craig starred in the A Number London premiere at the Royal Court in 2002. Recent A Number London productions include a Young Vic revival in 2015 and a Bridge Theatre revival in 2020.

Tickets to A Number are available now. Book A Number tickets on London Theatre today.