The Valley Children: Exploring Genetics Through Theatre

The Valley Children comes to Fusion Arts on Thursday 12 November, a staged reading of an original script followed by a panel and audience discussion. The play is set in a near-future world of newborn genomic prediction, and the evening pairs the reading with a conversation that works its way through questions of decision-making, uncertainty, responsibility and care in the context of predictive genomics — particularly around newborn sequencing and what it means for families, clinicians and society.

Felix Westcott, the script's playwright, reads the piece himself. The discussion that follows is chaired by Professor Mehrunisha Suleman of the Ethox Centre, with Westcott joined on the panel by Dr Alberto Giubilini from the Uehiro Oxford Institute at the University of Oxford and Dr Caitlin Stobie, a Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing on the Warwick Writing Programme at the University of Warwick. Westcott is also an MB PhD student in Medical Sciences at the University of Oxford, so the evening brings together voices from theatre, ethics and medicine.

The event is part of Being Human Festival, the UK's national festival of the humanities, which runs from 5 to 14 November 2026. The festival is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. The organisers, ANTITHESES, fund the session.

It's a free public event, recommended for ages 16 and over. It runs from 5pm to 6.30pm at Fusion Arts (Office Outlet space), 14 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HH.