Forget Fire

Ambition is fundamentally a good thing in theatre. The innocent hubris of throwing every available idea at a production and seeing what sticks is generally to a company's credit, even when not all those ideas pay off. Forget Fire, its non-traditional narrative an overpacked demi-monde of philosophical conceits and whimsical devices, is certainly proof of this. While there are many areas where it could be tightened or retuned, audiences will respect the combined efforts of 2012 Fringe First winners Pepperdine Scotland and playwright JC Marshall for their sheer imaginative scope.

Following an internet hoax that shakes her sense of reality, a young girl decides to abandon her phone and swear off the online world. This leads to a series of encounters with other eccentrics traumatised by technology, forcing her to consider some much larger issues.

No matter how influential social media and its attendant gadgetry have become in our lives, art concerning its growing dominance dates quickly, and often has a tendency towards preachiness. Fortunately, it appears the creative forces of Pepperdine and Marshall figured that out for themselves, allowing them to avoid such pitfalls. Instead, the play utilises the legend of Prometheus, the medium of stargazing and an injection of magical realism to create an ethereal yet irreverent atmosphere.

While some of the performances suffer from over-earnestness (though one side-character who replaces her phone with a balloon almost steals the show), Forget Fire is a brave experiment that will reward audiences willing to drift wherever the story takes them.