The Time Machine is a comedy special that incorporates all the best things of theatre; audience interaction, impeccably-timed jokes, and of course, a time machine.  This play masterfully incorporates all the things about theatre that we’ve grown to love and appreciate, whilst honouring the original story by H.G. Wells.

The Time Machine follows a plot line of three friends George, Michael and Noah, who stumble across one of their grandfather’s old possessions. Their findings strongly indicate he had discovered time travel. George convinces the others to act out his grandfather’s stories, which describes how he managed to travel several years into the future. His grandfather suffers a personal conflict as he sees his fiancée married to his best friend, all grown up with children in a matter of seconds. He pushes further and ends up in a post apocalyptic world, in grave danger. George, attempting to recreate the story to its due accuracy, attempts to escape that era using what he believes to be a fake time machine, and finds out he is capable of going back in time. He finds himself constantly reliving the same scene over and over as he begins to come to terms with this revelation. Suddenly, due to George’s diverted attention, a stage catastrophe occurs and Noah, acting out the fight scene, accidentally stabs Michael with a swapped prop knife. As Michael lays lifeless on the floor, George then is on a mission, to spend the rest of the play convincing Noah and Michael that he discovered a time loop and trying to save Michael from a temporal paradox of his continuous death.

What this play manages to do particularly well where others lack is it takes an older story and incorporates modern concepts. A number of times I’ve watched an attempt at a Shakespeare adaptation that gives the original characters chav accents and calls it a day, however this performance uses modern references sparingly and deliberately. It also upholds the authenticity of the original story, exploring a lot of interesting themes such as the Grandfather and Hitler paradoxes with exceptional comedic ways that have the audience in stitches. An incredible example of these actor’s talent shines in the second act, as they pull members of the audience on stage. To make Michael’s last 30 minutes a lot more enjoyable, they set him up on a hilarious date with an audience member that shows the natural skill the actors had with improvising their jokes. Here, George attempts to try and salvage his play, and brings up an audience member to play a monster of the future. This, alongside the date, was an amazingly unique and creative situation that anyone would struggle to not enjoy. This as well as some Northampton-specific references really makes it feel like the actors are connecting with the audience on a personal level and going to extra mile with attention to detail.

For the night in question there is an understudy to take over the role of Amy, played by Noah Marullo. This switch is performed so naturally with the actors, who have such great chemistry, it had me questioning if it had been deliberate from the start. The characters have such distinct personalities complimenting each other well, Michael’s loveable innocence paired with George’s strict rulings that lead to special friendship moments. In a short amount of time, the actors have the audience engaged in their character’s complex personalities, which is impressive enough without considering their recent understudy situation. It was, for me, one of the most impressive dynamics in theatre.

While the design itself was absolutely stunning, boasting a spectrum of greens, a special shout out must go to the sound designer Gregory Clarke. His sound effects add to the play beautifully, especially as they hold a lot of importance, for example when Wells is attempting to convince everyone he had travelled in time by predicting what noises happen. A number of deliberate sound “mistakes” added on impressive layers.

Despite the entire play being completely top tier, the one thing that gets me  is the dance at the end, incorporating a strangely successful mashup of hip hop, break dancing, and Irish jigs to “C’est la vie”. This shows off not just the charisma of the actors, but ultimately solidifies them as triple threats, alongside, of course, their performance of Cher.

Overall, The Time Machine is a particularly enjoyable watch. The actors were consistently giving 110% and were able to make snappy, comedic responses out of audience interactions, including professionally dealing with a particularly repetitive heckler. If time travel were possible I would likely use it for the exact same purpose as them, to go watch this play again… although not before seeing the dinosaurs.

The Time Machine runs at Royal and Derngate until 30th March 2024