I really wanted to like this production, I honestly did. From the premise “a stitch in time saves nine,” to a heavy media release of an online comic, an immersive audio story and information sheets on the plays premise – a physics student meeting the primary forces of the universe – I was hooked (or should I say stitched?) to the idea.

By all accounts it should have gone well.

But it didn’t, instead of a kooky scientific fantasy reminiscent of Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett (authors who present theories and hypothetical constructs as living breathing characters); I was presented with a tangled tale as tortured as Adam, the physic student’s stitching skills.

Adam struggles with a physics essay to the point where Time, and eventually the other forces of the universe, intervene causing a tear in time-space. This plot has potential, but lets down its premise due to a lacklustre direction, and a failure to stage these incredible characters (the physical forces) in their own light. Both Adam and Time, played into extreme caricatures of nerdiness and haughtiness, overshadow other characters of the play such as Space (played by the writer Daljeet Singh), or Relativity (Jeremiah Thomas Brown), who despite their small stage time, presented much better.

There were parts that I liked: the character of Light/Joey (played by Cat Leonard), the pun-ny banter between Relativity and Light, the representation of World of Warcraft (an online video game) with shadow play. Yet this wasn’t enough to keep the weave flowing. There were still too many holes left to tie up.

The lengthy stitching of the time-space tear, the distanced treatment of physics, the unexplained importance of stitching (I’m assuming string theory), all take away too much from the positives of this play. With increased length and a renewed emphasis on physics this play would definitely be improved.

Two other criticisms:

From the fourth row to the back it is difficult to see the stage, as often the characters were sitting down.

Also the production while advertised as a 60 minute production went only for 30 minutes.

Despite this I heartily recommend a visit to http://www.flamingparasol.com for potential viewers, as while the play may be flawed, the concept is brilliant.