As he dutifully washes and handles the limbs, he moves in and out of time contemplating key moments in his complicated interactions with his father, words and visuals bursting into life behind him, an overwhelming assault of stimuli, compounded by a bass-heavy soundtrack of traditional Hindi music. No regrets, no unfulfilled dreams, nothing to wake me up from my everlasting rest but the sour remembrances of those who knew me (trust me, there are a few of those). These are the first words that Sam (Gemma Lawrence) speaks to her mother Kath (Eve Ponsonby) in over three years.

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Travelling to the small town of Taos to identify the body, she discovers Kath has become embroiled in a shadowy enterprise, offering Sam an unimaginable chance to rebuild their broken relationship. Because really, this is a play about love and betrayal, and the way that selfishness clouds us to the needs of those closest to us. Brought to the stage of the Marylebone Theatre, the production retains the fable-like quality of the original; Samantha Spiro plays the narrator, telling the fable from a storybook with the help of only sparse props, mainly confined to an armchair.

Through a series of flashbacks, we discover more about the rebellious free-spirited Kath and her life before and after marriage to Sam’s father, including a truly heart wrenching Sliding Doors moment.Dominic Thorburn also has different roles all of which are played excellently, as some of the male influences in Kath’s life. Eve Ponsonby brilliantly brings ‘Cyborg Kath’ to life with an eerie accuracy in her flat and robotic voice.

There’s an ethereal, Don DeLillo quality to these opening minutes, setting a lethargic pace for the play to explore its Big Questions.We learn about very different phases and stages in her life that lead to her spending her life’s savings to become an artificially intelligent robot and relive her life with those people she was unable to maintain relationships with.

Hats off to Designer Ti Green, Lighting Designer Katy Morison and the Composition and Sound Design team of Ben and Max Ringham. Rachel Bagshaw ( The Shape of the Pain ) directs the world premiere, in a co-production by Arcola Theatre and Fuel.When Sam goes to investigate she finds the ultimate in glossy American lifestyle salesmanship offering ‘to take humanity into the third millennium. David Farr, who adapted both The Night Manager and the Midwich Cuckoos for TV, is the pen behind this piece of near sci-fi which explores how artificial intelligence is shaping our lives and deaths.