As an artist who’s been living with Type 1 Diabetes for the last 15 years, the idea to create a show centred around Dog 33 (or Marjorie, to her friends) has been rattling around in my brain since I first learned about that darling little collie! Marjorie was the research test dog that Drs. Banting and Best kept alive for 70 days after removing her pancreas, thus giving her Type 1 Diabetes. Her life, and subsequent death, led to the discovery of insulin — one of the greatest medical discoveries in history.

Though Marjorie’s story took place over 100 years ago, public opinion on vivisection (a form of animal testing) hasn’t changed in all this time — you ask anyone what their thoughts are on animal testing and they usually respond with something along the lines of “not good!” The reality, however, is that without vivisection — without dogs like Marjorie — Banting and Best would never have discovered insulin and I would have died when I was 13 years old. So how do you grapple with the fact that life as you know it stems from one very necessary evil?

You create an immersive theatre experience based on the board game Operation as a means of dissecting it — pardon the pun… So throw on the lab coat, pick up the tweezers, and come say hello to Marjorie in the Little Black Box!