This Alan Ayckbourn comedy has a highly contrived plot that’s more than a little reminiscent of Back to The Future. In 2020 businessman Reece (Robert Portal) is dying in a hotel room. He hires dominatrix Poopay (Rachel Tucker) and asks her to witness his last confession, in which he explains that he bumped off both his wives with the help of his creepy business partner Julian (an alarmingly manic David Bamber).
But a strange feature of the hotel’s design means that Poopay, hiding from Julian, travels in time — to the year 2000, where she encounters Reece’s wife Ruella. Later Ruella is able to go back to 1980 and meet Reece’s previous wife Jessica, and despite unhappy first impressions, the three of them end up conspiring to change their destiny.
There are notes of menace and fiendish ingenuity in Ayckbourn’s writing, which has shades of both Psycho and Doctor Who. Although Lindsay Posner directs with a rather heavy hand and there’s far too long an opening scene, the exposition eventually gives way to an intriguing mix of farce and sci-fi inventiveness. The most appealing performances come from Imogen Stubbs, stylish and persuasive as Ruella, and the permanently wide-eyed Lucy Briggs-Owen as startled, doll-like Jessica.
Until June 27 (020 7378 1713, menierchocolatefactory.com)
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