Would you take a genetic test that could lay bare your destiny?

You have a 50-per-cent chance of carrying a gene that will radically change and then destroy your life. Do you want to know if you have it?

This decision is at the heart of Plaques and Tangles, Nicola Wilson’s first play, on now at the Royal Court in London. The protagonist is Megan, brilliantly played by Monica Dolan, who we see at various stages of her life.

Her mother has died of early-onset Alzheimer’s, a rare type of the disease, and Megan faces a dilemma that is becoming more and more common. Does she take a test that might lay bare her destiny?

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Talking about it with my colleagues, some were quick to say they definitely would take the test. Others said they definitely wouldn’t. To me, it didn’t seem an easy decision to make, and in any case you can’t know how you’d actually react until you are in that position for real.

If you take the test and find you are negative for the gene, you have your life back. If you test positive...