Until Saturday

A NEW creation from Alan Ayckbourn is always eagerly anticipated. This master of modern comedy always has a quirky slant on the human condition.

Surprises is no exception in that respect. But is it
ultimately disappointing, despite some excellent individual performances.

It is set some time in the not-too-distant future and moves on 50 years from there. Technology rules and a fertile imagination has created a sparse world where people and android servants can all be programmed.

A stroppy teenager can have implants to block swearing  and make her say please and thank you – what a lovely idea. But, mercifully, in Ayckbourn’s world the emotion of love,remains ungovernable.

This is a sort of love story in a world where time travel is possible, but the disadvantages of seeing into the future become apparent. No surprises, you see.

Ayesha Antoine charms as the wayward teenager in love with a young man her father deems unsuitable – nothing very futuristic about that, except the discussion about the absent mother, a technician zooming around distant planets fixing gadgetry for years on end, is comically off the wall.

My favourite character, and I suspect he won over most of the audience, was Jan, the blond-wigged Android 60, modified version. It was a beautifully calculated performance from Richard Stacey as a robot who was halfway to replicating a human being but whose wiring was being over-stretched in the emotional data department.

Each cast member played two or three roles, hard work demanding some quick changes. There was no stinting on commitment. But the ending is odd, an anti-climax, unless I am missing something.