The Trial of Romeo Oscar: History
The Trial of Romeo Oscar is Alan Ayckbourn's 92nd play and premiered in September 2026 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.The play is set in 2194 and is a courtroom drama surrounding the first trial against an android. Apart from being the first courtroom-set play written by Alan Ayckbourn, it also continues his exploration of the themes of artificial intelligence that he has previously visited in plays such as Constant Companions and Henceforward….
The playwright has described it as the most personal play he has written and whilst he has not expanded on this, from a historical and personal perspective, it holds some potential clues to his meaning. The play actually harks back to the playwright's earliest theatrical experiences with its recreations of scenes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; Ayckbourn's first stage role was Peter in Romeo and Juliet at Haileybury College when he was 15. It is also the first of his plays to directly address Shakespeare and the position of his works in universal culture. Equally, the play makes reference to Tchaikovsky's music, one of the playwright's favourite composers and an indication of the significance of music within the playwright's life. Finally, the play is a exceptionally dense piece of world-building - arguably the most science fiction of his speculative fiction plays - this is perhaps a nod to his passion for science fiction writing in his youth and the extraordinary world-building of writers such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Brian Aldiss and Robert Heinlein; all favourites of the playwright. In this play, he creates an entire universe and history for the next two hundred years of human 'history'.
Perhaps also telling, it is a plea to listen. The play pivots on humanity's loss of interest in culture and the arts, how we have forgotten to listen with the play making several pointed references to stopping and actually listening - be it to other people, a play or a piece of music. As the playwright has frequently noted, all good speculative fiction is rotted in the present no matter when or where it is set. It comments on the world today from an alternative perspective. Perhaps that then also makes this his most political play yet on the state of the world and where we may be going.
More details to follow….