I have taken time to mull over this show before writing my thoughts. I call it a show and not a play, because it is multi-faceted and it has been very cleverly devised. For the most part I applaud its uniqueness, it challenges convention. But I will discuss what I perceive as a basic need in theatre – storytelling, and did this play get the balance right between being inventive, and telling its story?
I had done a little research before heading into the theatre, so I felt reasonably confident in understanding the premise of the show. The organisers very wisely gave out a handout as we walked in, which set out the back story, and the basics of the scenes. For those who had not done some research before going in, this would have helped to ease their mind into the world of ‘Drone’.
So, here are the basics. Written by playwright and director Dimitry Melkin, Drone is set in the future, but not too far ahead so that we do not recognise that it could be a reality in our increasingly digital world. Humans and machines are co-existing, and our central character is Drone. Drone is a prototype, an autonomous machine that is being used to train other machines, she has been assigned a gender and is referred to as ‘she’. She is highly advanced and has personal relationships with other machines such a Console, who is Drone’s only copy and is her closest friend and lover. Drone is also the lover of Dr Stoner (Alan Cox) who is Drone’s human psychoanalyst, who is weaving a very tangled web of deceit, and is using Drone to capture her data. GC, is a coffee machine who is heavily involved in the resistance who are suspicious of humans, the machines have gained autonomy, but they are keenly aware of a threat that humans may retain control, and have ownership, and to therefore lose their autonomy.
Once inside the theatre space, your eyes will rest on a large screen, and a DJ deck, where actor Gladstone Mahib acts as an interpreter and mouthpiece for the machines, including Drone. The screen is used to project images, and to show the pre-recorded conversations with Dr Stoner (Cox), and some very ingenious technical wizardry is used to use Mahib’s body movements and interpret them as the machine character on the screen. Confused? Once you have immersed yourself into the experience, it all becomes clearer, and if you strip away the technology, it is a story about love, and deception. As the machines have been downloaded with human characteristics, they are likely to respond in a human way to emotion, and there is a strong theme of love and sex here. I wonderful touch was to weave in quotations by Gandhi, and other voices from ancient philosophy, as another virtual nudge to encourage us to question being human and how technology integrates with this.
The storyline is where I was not quite sure if it worked so well. The only human person that we see is Dr Stoner, who is allegedly having an affair with Drone, but we see little evidence of his attraction to Drone, or any lingering affection. He clearly has a weak character, manipulating her and using her data to sell to on, but we only see affection coming one way, from Drone. Due to the technology used, it would be difficult to create a show with a more in-depth storyline, due to the audience brain only being able to absorb so much information in one sitting, so the storyline remains fairly superficial, without diving deeply into the relationships that Drone is involved in. It is sometimes sexy and sensual and follows the movements of Mahib which works really well, using the technology to best effect. The technical side of the performance is spot-on, and as an audience member, you are required to focus to be able to follow the storyline, due to the wizardry going on around the plot. There is also a political side to the story, whether machines should be allowed by the government to be autonomous, and in our current world, we would indeed as humans be suspicious of any such suggestion, but we must remember that this is set in a future that must have successfully back tested this technology, so that this is now their norm. As I said at the beginning of the review, there is a lot to think about with this show. It is not just about the technical wizardry, it opens a pandoras box, of machines living independently to humans, and in our rapidly changing technical world, where we are adjusting to a world with AI, will this be the next step?
I came away from the show with questions, and it was still humming around my mind a while later. Any show that can do this, has been a success, as it stimulates, and encourages us to question our unknown future.
In summary, I was impressed with the technical achievements and thought process that this play evoked. I was not entirely sold on the storyline, but it is an interesting, trailblazing show that should be experienced, to encourage you to form your own opinion about how our future world may look.
Reviewer: Caroline Worswick
Reviewed: 20th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: