For his 76th play, Alan Ayckbourn transports his audience to a decades-distant future where children are rare, centenarians are common and time-travel is possible. Human-looking androids are just beginning to interact with people on an emotional level, to their mutual confusion. One of these new models, Jan (out-of-this-world Richard Stacey), puzzles over his hard-shelled, soft-centred lawyer boss (glorious Sarah Parks): "She's uncertain as to the nature of her nature? That's not natural!"
Genre-blending Ayckbourn mixes futuristic hi-tech with farcical comedy into a bitter-sweet romance that, as he says, "reflects the present by extending the trends of today to their logical conclusion". Act I introduces teenage love and time travel; Act II explores adult heartbreak and machines with feelings; Act III combines all of these with the physical, psychical and emotional effects of protracted longevity.
This tightly plotted, multi-faceted interweaving of the messily complex problems of love and ageing is joyously delivered by six actors dizzyingly playing 13 roles. More than almost any other contemporary director, Ayckbourn understands how the movement of the performers through the space of the stage opens up the audience's imagination to its make-believe world. Meanwhile, the practical elements of creation are elegantly effected by designer Michael Holt with witty technical touches, such as the "Hipro" communication device (hovering holograms!) and "avatar collars" (think Second Life plus sexily sensual virtual reality). Ayckbourn's allegorical science fiction delivers serious fun.
