Wild Life @ Tron, 25 Feb

Wild Life juggles Pamela Carter’s preoccupations with evolutionary psychology and the pressures of an isolated modern life. At first coming on like a realist drama – a couple, alone of an evening, speculate on their situation, fear a baying mob outside and prefer staying in to reaching out – it feels awkward as it shifts into a virtual reality where they decide to “create” a child, something between a Tamagochi and a Daily Mail feral hoodie.

Nicholas Bone’s naturalistic direction, the side-show language of the interludes and the mundane setting in a modern, luxurious living room distracts cleverly from Carter’s idiosyncratic approach. She twists this apparently recognisable world into the sinister and alien: the couple communicate with the outside world through a computer, and their child, thanks to the lack of context they place around him, rapidly turns into a national outrage. It is difficult to understand what the child really is – eventually, he is switched off like a bad game of Grand Theft Auto – but this suits Carter’s purpose.

The naturalistic dialogue is a con: Carter is examining ideas about parenthood, social stigma, the disconnection of the individual and community. Grounding the play in a surreal evocation of reality TV, her technique is closer to contemporary dance than most scripted drama. Facets of the ideas are inspected, possibilities explored. The final conclusion is blunt, insisting that the apparent violence in the street is merely voices longing to be understood: this is a rare moment of polemic, since the first hour rotates notions of childhood and inclusion at a pace that invites contemplation.

Carter’s writing is difficult: her research into nurture and nature was last revealed in An Argument About Sex. While this time she concentrates on the alienation of a generation rather than the gender gap, she structures the drama in a more fluid manner. This is intelligent drama, deceptive in its apparent simplicity, and given a warm, clear direction by Magnetic North.