A couple crouches on the floor assembling a flat pack — but this isn’t your typical IKEA home interior. As the woman pores over the instructions, a flash of a skin-coloured toe hints that the man isn’t building furniture.

Instructions for Correct Assembly unfolds like an onion, each layer revealing something deeper and darker. A blackout transition brings us to a man on the phone, complaining to a provider that his delivery is missing parts. Only when he begins listing body parts do we grasp the surreal twist.

Written by UK writer Thomas Eccleshare, the subtle script references to a funeral and a sentence cut short about how much the boy “looks like…” reveal the heartbreaking motive behind the construction. Through cleverly placed flashbacks, we meet their real son, witnessing the love they once had and the grief now driving their choices.

Direct from London’s Royal Court Theatre, the production features a sharp ensemble of six: Ben Chapple, Jacki Mison, Jane Wallace, Nick Curnow, David Allsopp and Kyra Belford-Thomas, under the direction of Artistic Director Hailey McQueen. While the cast delivers across the board, it’s the robot, Jan, who truly steals the show. Played with mechanical brilliance by Chapple (who also plays the role of the couple’s real son Nick), nails the precise tempo, facial control and stilted charm of an AI prototype son.

Jacob Parr has created a sterile white set — from the walls to props like tennis rackets and a clock with no hands — that at first feels pristine, but the creeping mould betrays that something’s rotting beneath. Victor Kalka’s clever lighting design, including flickers and glitches, heightens the tension, while Charlotte Leamon’s sound design weaves between anxious pulses and playful beeps.

The funniest moments are when the couple “tune” Jan’s personality — adjusting his enthusiasm, training his manners — until teething glitches result in awkward and at times vulgar responses. With AI development advancing fast, the play offers a potent reminder: emotional intelligence must be part of the programming.

The play shifts between humour and grief – at its core, this is a story about parents who have lost their son and consumed by heartbreak and blame, willing to attempt to recreate him or a version of him, through a flatpack option.

Dark comedy, Instructions for Correct Assembly is a unique imaginative story, and one can’t help but think what if you could do this in the future? Adjust the response dial on your partner or child? Mute them when they say something you don’t like or keep switching their responses, like you’re switching through the TV, until you find a response you agree with or want from them.

The play touches on complex issues around control, identity and change. How far do you alter someone when you have the power to adjust their thoughts, perspective and communication.

Highly recommend Instructions for Correct Assembly if you’re looking for thought-provoking theatre.

4 stars

Run time: The performance runs for 105 minutes (no interval)

Presented by Clock & Spiel Productions, Instructions for Correct Assembly is playing at Flight Path Theatre until 5 July 2025. 

For tickets visit Flight Path Theatre