Alarms and Excursions

Eight short playlets, to be performed together in a single evening, examine with hilarity difficulties modern technology has added to life. In Alarms, two couples embark on a dinner party that is doomed to failure as, one by one, labor saving devices and even furniture become hostile. Doubles sees two couples having similar problems in adjacent hotel rooms. In Leavings, the dinner party is revisited to great amusement. In Look Away Now, passengers ignore the airline's safety lecture. Heart to Heart deals with the impossibility of communication at a noisy cocktail party. Glasnost presents a political speech that is sabotaged by a harassed autocue operator. Toasters shows the problems of trying to eat and work standing up at a social function. The last play, Immobiles, is acted out entirely over the phone as a couple try to decide where they should meet their German guests: Gatwick or Heathrow?