Comic Potential

by Alan Ayckbourn

A sci-fi comedy thriller, Comic Potential is a play set in the foreseeable future, when everything has changed--except human natureComic Potential is set in a television studio in the near future, where the director--an alcoholic has-been--and two assistants are making a daytime soap opera of the usual appalling sort. However, the difference here is that they are using actoids--robots programmed to act--and there are no scriptwriters. Into this situation comes the idealistic Adam, the nephew of the millionaire station owner, who wants to write comedy of the quality that Chaplin and Keaton once embodied. But when Adam falls in love with Jaycee Triplethree (JC333), one of the actoids on the show, everything is turned upside down as she grows more human and the line between actoid and human diminishes. When in anguish Jaycee finally cries that she can't say anything she hasn't been programmed to say, Adam points out that no one ever says anything original anyway.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

Paperback

First published May 29, 2000

About the author

Sir Alan Ayckbourn is a popular and prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967. Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man Of The Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations, and one Tony award.

Reviews

[Christine Pietz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly very much enjoyed this engaging play. Set in a future where the technology is advanced (but not too advanced, if that makes sense) and androids have replaced a lot of the low level actors /some service people. I thought it made some good points about technology , love, and projecting on to people what you want to see. However, knocked a star off because I go back and forth about whether the end (particularly the last two pages) un-did all that.

[Alfie Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read, I genuinely really enjoyed this. I know I didn’t really end up getting any good speech material from it, which is a shame too because Adam would be perfect age and person for me to take from it, but he just didn’t have any good adaptable monologues.
However the play as a whole was a blast to read and the entertainment really came through the page, I loved reading it. I also read it partially on the way to Paris on the ferry, and partially at the Airbnb in Paris so it’ll be a memento story for me I’m sure. Even though I couldn’t take anything from this one specific, it’s put Alan Ayckbourn and his writing style in my books for sure.
God bless Adam and Jacie, especially Jacie, I hope she finds herself.

I would love to see this play one day.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, for a play from 2000, this one has a lot of 2025 in it.

- AI replacing humans in the workforce,
- AI struggling with true creativity and recycling the work of previous creatives,
- A man falling in love with his AI tools.

The conclusion was a little bit weak, but the concepts were still strong. It's definitely a play to get your gears going. Or your brains if there are humans in the future to read these reviews.

P.S. As someone who has built robot TV performers, I found the experience very relatable—although I've managed not to fall for any of my creations.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining zoom-play-reading fare. :)

[Duncan Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ayckbourn seems to be a playwright who's underrated because he is so prolific. But this doesn't disappoint - funny, inventive, clever, truthful. And a hoot to perform...

[Sherry (sethurner) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading plays with an eye for possible local production, and in particular wanted some lighter fare, and I thought this sci-fi sex farce might do it. Ayckbourn has written plays I liked lots, Woman in Mind, The Dining Room, but this one didn't do it so much for me. I liked the idea - a man falls in love with an android television actress, a sort of Pygmalion story. There are interesting ideas about the nature of the relationship between man and machine, about how love and humor are connected, and about what makes people laugh. There are some nice moments where the hero, a writer/director pays homage to Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. I liked the satiric comments about the nature of creativity in conflict with corporate interests. The problem for me was I thought much of the humor was overly crude, to the point where I think many people would be more offended than amused. Maybe I'm turning into a prude.

[Ethan Mathias · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing and witty play! Given the fact it was written in 1999, it was fun to see what has and has not come to pass since then. In our digital age, with movies like Her exploring some of the same themes (albeit 14 years later), Ayckbourn's play is clever and, in some moments, compelling. It will not keep the reader/theatergoer on the edge of their seat or doubled over in laughter, but it provides some food for thought that includes some delicious one-liners and exchanges, making it worth a read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not top flight AA but still an interesting and prescient look at art v. business. the nature of comedy and what the future might hold. It really isn't o fr from the replicants that the media boost on Xfactor and the like.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but just okay.