SECRET ORDER

This somewhat overheated drama gives us a young scientist pursuing breakthrough cancer research who is pressured into dishonesty by high expectations and the lure of big rewards. The play is predictable, but also uncomfortable, even disagreeable. There’s no one to root for. Still, it's at times absorbing. William Shumway, as the researcher, is sturdy, if at times awkward. The only female in the cast, Angela Goethals, overacts. Veterans Richard Schiff and George Segal do an effortlessly skilled job, perhaps verging sometimes into shtick—Schiff, the slick, abrupt man-in-charge; Segal, a crafty old Jewish survivor of turf wars. An added interview with a medical researcher casts helpful light on the play but is marred by the interviewer's insistence on her own points. W.M. 2009 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2008]