Alan Ayckbourn likes his androids. He's already brought us a robot mistress in Henceforward, robot actors in Comic Potential and robot gardeners in Virtual Reality. Now he has devised a children's show about a robot sister. Needless to say, it runs like clockwork.
Luke has tragically lost one sister, so he and his mother are thrilled when another one drops out of the sky. Sadie miraculously walks clear from the wreckage of a military helicopter, but the suspicion that she is not all she appears to be arises when she first eats a bowl of cornflakes. I ought to point out here that she leaves the cornflakes but eats the bowl.
Sadie is not in fact Sadie but SADIE - a Secret Automated Destructive Independent Entity, a high-tech booby trap designed to spead chaos and destruction - though when you come to think of it, isn't this what most kid sisters are primed to do anyway?
The language and plotting are child-friendly, but Ayckbourn's philosophical argument remains as complex as ever. He expresses concern at the way technology dehumanises us, yet suggests we may be redeemed if the technology becomes so sophisticated as to mirror human frailties. Introduced into a warm and loving environment, the android cannot find it within itself to be a passionless killing machine, but settles down to play nicely with her new brother instead.
Ayckbourn's production engineers the usual range of well-oiled performances. The excellent Saskia Butler stands out for suggesting that she's made of sugar and spice one moment and chips and diodes the next. Neil Grainger turns in a winning performance as her brother and Justin Brett is good value as a dotty army captain who cannot remember anyone's names. By jingo, I'd say that Aitchburne chappy has done it again.
· Until January 3. Box office: 01723 370541.
