The Trial of Romeo Oscar

October means one thing for us: Alan Ayckbourn's latest play at the Old Laundry Theatre (sorry now renamed the Victoria Wood Theatre) in Bowness on Windermere. We certainly weren't disappointed this year!

For play number 92, Alan Ayckbourn returns to his preoccupation of exploring where we, as a species, are heading, through a science-fiction lens. He goes back to the future. In The Trial of Romeo Oscar, the playwright famed for his domestic comedies looks to the year 2194 when humans have spread about the galaxy and androids live alongside us. One of them, RSDO83, or Romeo Oscar, is on trial for the murder of a teenage girl in his charge.

This is Ayckbourn philosophising about the future of humanity as we sit at an obvious inflection point, asking what this moment in our relationship with technology means and where it will lead us. 

The questions running through the play are manifold, complex and echo those asked by sci-fi writers for decades: can robots hurt humans? Do they have souls? He is also questioning the value of art and even its purpose.

The acting was amazing. The Stephen Joseph Theatre actors were as fabulous as ever. The fact that there was a play within the play really appealed to me. The acting of Romeo and Juliet was excellent and very moving, and somewhat unexpected.

This must be one of Ayckbourn's longest plays, at almost 3 hours, but it was totally engrossing and the time simply flew by.