The brave new world of the internet and cyberspace is something at which theatre has so far nudged and worried without embarking on a full exploration.
As if to make up for lost time, playwright Marcus Markou has downloaded every possible issue concerning virtual reality into this new piece and as a result has got his gigabytes in an almighty twist.
Markou's key theme is the knotty conundrum of who we are in the "real" world and who we let ourselves become online, when imagination can run wild behind the protective screen of a computer. Only via Freetopia, the "online archive of every human experience", can Rose, who is wheelchair-bound, morph into a dominatrix. Freetopia's creator, virtual master of ceremonies and all-round God figure is the expressionless Dave, whose knowledge of his clients' personal - and virtual - lives is enhanced by the activities of shadowy hacker Gus.
Is the web a refuge or a peril? Are Freetopia's regular visitors pioneers or losers? Markou's list of questions grows and with it the audience's frustration, especially as his conclusion after all the fanfare is worryingly one-sided.
In the disjointed second act the Freetopians take to broadcasting fantasy projections of themselves. This is the cue for some terrifically complicated video work from Sven Ortel, which at least circumvents the untheatrical nature of people playing with computers.
Yet how much better it would be if Markou had concentrated on just a couple of narrative strands.
Pip Pickering's suitably stark production is boosted by some fine performances, above all from Amber Agar as the timid chatroom frequenter whose crush on Dave can't be contained online. The ever-watchable Ed Stoppard makes Dave fittingly inscrutable, but overall one can't help but wish Markou's characters would switch their machines off once in a while and get some fresh air.
Until 28 February. Information: 020 8237 1111.
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