It shared the Peggy Ramsay Award for 1997, was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in 1998, and has since been staged by a number of other companies worldwide.

The plot takes place in the same house in two different time periods divided by the gap of two hundred years (1799 and 1999).

An additional theme of this play involves the ethics of using human life, in any form, for the advancement of science.

Besides the general questions about a scientist's responsibilities and limits, the play is in part a detective story.

The skipping between the two time periods highlights, then resolves, questions about the identity of the corpse and the means of their death.

Susannah overcomes issues with her husband about love and respect throughout the play, though it is clear she drinks heavily and relies upon childish behaviour to gain the attention she so desperately requires.

In the play, he is a character in whom an inward moral battle rages about the ethics of science, though he maintains that he is a scientist because he wants to "understand the society".

Phil is a geordie building surveyor who is surveying Ellen and Tom's house which they are planning to sell.

She is in direct conflict with Tom for most of the play as they both have opposing views on the conduct and morality of scientific exploration.