Southwark Playhouse Borough, London
A thirtysomething couple try a biotech breakthrough in Emma Hemingford’s time capsule of hot button issues

If you want to live longer, you could try exercise, eating well and increasing your sleep. But the couple in Emma Hemingford’s play are embarking on a considerably more radical alternative to guarantee themselves extra decades. Zealous biotech entrepreneur Jay and more hesitant primary school teacher Alice have signed up for gene therapy. After a few consent forms, a quick bit of surgery and a hefty bill, they will gain abundant time – “the most valuable resource there is,” assures their smooth medical consultant.

For Jay and Alice, both in their 30s, it means the clock is no longer ticking on important life decisions. They marvel at their newfound freedom and pressure-free privilege as they plot fancy holidays and consider reserving a whole year for sex. But in this near dystopia, which Hemingford cannily uses as a time capsule of our own era’s hot button issues, they find that this biotechnological breakthrough leads to greater division, inequality and catastrophe.

At Southwark Playhouse Borough, London, until 19 October