This ambitious co-production was always going to throw down the gauntlet for large-scale, special-effects theatre: how to adapt Philip K Dick’s fast-paced, futuristic crime thriller for the stage and distinguish it from the Hollywood sci-fi action film with Tom Cruise? If any director was qualified to give it a go, it was Max Webster, who made such a splash with Life of Pi.
This female-led version begins with a lecture by Dame Julia Anderton (Jodie McNee), creator of the pre-crime system, which lays out Dick’s philosophical and ethical arguments around free will. It is 2050 and state surveillance has been extended into the human brain, with a chip implanted into citizens to monitor transgressive thoughts. We follow Julia’s fugitive sleuthing when her own system identifies her as a future murderer and she goes on the run.
