The story that divided society. The science that changed the world.

Belinda McClory, William McInnes and Greg Stone lead a talented cast in this powerful tale based on the pioneering IVF research that occurred right here in Melbourne in the late 1970s.

Kylie Trounson was a child when her father Emeritus Professor Alan Trounson made breakthrough after breakthrough in fertility research. It was 1970s Melbourne and society was divided: was he a hero? Or a mad scientist playing God? The controversy swirled so close to her, yet she was far too young to understand how much was at stake. But now she can see it plain: that when we speak about conception we speak of the most profound things, of family and faith, our lives and our mortality, and our uncertain place in Nature.

There was a world before IVF and a world after. Multi-layered and wide-ranging, The Waiting Room explores how they are not the same world. Created in collaboration with Naomi Edwards, the play received a rapturous response as part of the 2014 Cybec Electric play readings. Now Edwards makes her MTC mainstage directorial debut with this powerfully personal play, which grapples with the ordinary wonder of conceiving a child and the extraordinary heartbreak when you can’t.