Artificially Yours

Moments of comedic brilliance are plentiful in the fast-paced 80-minute play which tracks the influence of AI in three rocky relationships.

The performance is billed as a dark comedy but while the notions of AI's potentially detrimental development hang over the room, it's the relatable bickering of the couples that leave the biggest impact.

Star of the screen, Leslie Ash plays the divorced Pippa and is first on stage as she walks on mid-argument with ex-husband Martin, played by Paul Giddings - the two jousting over whether it is in fact 'hunky dory or hunky dunky'.

Thakar's writing is at its best when weaving those tight-knit quarrels between characters. There's something recognisable for anyone who has ever been in a relationship and it's easy to spot couples in the audience casting side-eyes at each other in a friendly 'you do that' type of acknowledgement.

Destiny Mayers and Jake Mavis are the two standouts on the night. The former's Lilah is a busybody journalist who seems the one most clued-up to call a spade a spade as she struggles to find common ground with Thakar's Ash.

Mavis only stepped into the fold late on to replace the well-known Tyger Drew-Honey but his lycra-clad, running-obsessed goofball of a lover is so convincing you can't quite imagine that the actor isn't like that every day - he's complimented by Ella Jarvis confident interpretation of the grating jealousy-driven Ellie. Impressively, Jarvis has also produced the spectacle.

If you are going to Artificially Yours looking for a more searing commentary on AI and social issues, it perhaps isn't the performance for you. The Alexa-like bot of Agape punctuates the play but a few big plot swings in the final minutes are perhaps misses serving to distract from what is a really strong comedy.