It's human nature to think, and to hope, that we're unique in all the world. So imagine the shock to one day discover you're but one of a horde of clones – with each living very different lives – and that someone is picking you off one by one. That's the premise of Orphan Black, a brilliant sci-fi series with many "stars", who are all portrayed by one phenomenal actress, Tatiana Maslany.
When Canada's SPACE network and BBC America teamed up in 2013 for Orphan Black – which debuts on Friday on BBC Entertainment – they had no idea that one young woman's struggle to survive a genetic nightmare would capture the world's imagination.
The series has won many honours, including a prestigious Peabody Award for excellence in storytelling. Orphan Black was hailed by Peabody jurors as "a clone cyclone, a whirling dervish of a series that ponders identity, humanity, nature-versus-nurture, bioethics and genetic research – when it occasionally pauses for breath".
Maslany is a marvel in multiple roles. She begins her odyssey as Sarah Manning, a British orphan brought to North America, who is living as a streetwise punk in Toronto, trapped in a bad relationship and painfully separated from her daughter Kira (Skyler Wexler), with whom she hopes to reunite.
When she witnesses the horrific suicide of Beth, a stranger who eerily looks a lot like her, Sarah jumps at the opportunity to shed her nasty life by assuming her lookalike’s identity – boyfriend and money included. But her new life is far from sugary.
As it turns out, Beth was a cop ensnared in a deadly conspiracy and now there’s a big bullseye on Sarah, who must fight for her life. As she plunges deeper into jeopardy and global intrigue, her acerbic foster brother Felix (Jordan Gavaris) emerges as a true confidant who also brings fine comic moments to the proceedings.
The four other major clone characters, played by the 29-year-old Maslany, include: Alison – a mum and devoted housewife with substance-abuse problems; Helena – Sarah’s twin, a victim of severe abuse as well as a fanatical assassin for an entity called the Proletheans; Cosima – a graduate student and clone expert in evolutionary development; and Rachel – an executive with the Dyad Institute, who grew up with full knowledge that she is a clone.
To create a distinct voice, physicality and manner for each character – not to mention just keeping everything straight in her head and correctly motivated for the camera – is no small feat for any thespian. Maslany often finds herself talking to a tennis ball dangling from a stick as a placeholder for her other clone in the scene, as the Technodolly, a special telescoping crane, replicates movements between each shot to add layers of players to the scene.
"The writers are incredible," Maslany told Interview Magazine. "A lot of the work was done for me in the writing. It was about physicalising and embodying that, putting it my body, walking differently depending on how I look at the world.
“Alison [one of the clones] looks at the world in a completely different light than Helena [another clone] does, and consequently they move through that world differently.
“I worked with dance a lot, for each character – different ways I could move my body, different music. It’s the most fun thing in the world, because I love each and every one of the characters and I’d be happy just to play one of them, but the fact that I get to play upwards of six, seven, eight or whatever, it’s a total dream.”
Yet it’s a sophisticated and troubling dream that also raises important questions about the true nature of femininity and the factors that shape who a woman will become.
"Orphan Black is so thematically connected to feminist issues," says series creator Graeme Manson. "Who owns you? Who owns your body? Your biology? Who controls reproduction?"
The series has already been renewed for a fourth season.
• Orphan Black is broadcast at 9.45pm on Friday, June 5, on BBC Entertainment
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