Bite-size Plays Presents: Neverwant

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) ☆☆☆☆

“We all have value here – relative value,” says the woman in the breezeblock grey suit. It’s been decades since ‘the Trump-putin wars’ and the longest period without conflict the world has ever had. However, peace comes with a price, as we find out in this playful but profound, witty but unsettling sci-fi drama by Billy Knowelden and Thomas Willshire

It’s set in a future that might be free of violence and abuse, but is restricted in other ways.

A “network of like-minded individuals” has replaced families and every personal question begins with “would you consent to”. Elsewhere, coffee shops have ears and algorithms predict your every move.

It starts off with a series of storylines that slowly connect: a faceless corporation has created a new robot – part sex doll, part cyberpet and part opportunity to complete ‘tasks’ and win stars. Meanwhile two ‘protocol compliance officers’ enforce the rules that they, secretly attracted to one another, struggle to subscribe to themselves.

Navigating this fascinating dystopia-disguised-as-a-utopia is a young male employee who, seemingly like Winston in George Orwell’s 1984, falls in love but dare not say it.

While the society depicted is also reminiscent of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, it’s sinister how much of a logical continuation it feels from our own 21st-century one, with human connections outlawed, but also relinquished by people who no longer see them as important when offered a never-ending supply of technology that fulfils every need and predicts every want.

Do you “fight, fly or freeze,” the woman in grey asks. Freeze ultimately seems to be the answer, as, through one of many sharp little twists, love and freedom are willingly sacrificed for compliance.

It’s a pertinent reminder of the things that can be lost in the past, as well as gained in the name of future progression.

SALLY STOTT

Until 27 August. Tomorrow 2:15pm.