Blackwood Players are a long-standing and valued member of Adelaide’s community theatre scene. This production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential begins a decidedly new direction for the company and they have stepped out with purpose and drive. With the experienced Greg Elliott as director, the cast has realised the playwright’s exploration of where the intrusion of AI could be leading us. It largely treats the topic with light humour but there is an underlying sense of warning.

“It’s not enough to be programmed to say something funny. You’ve got to feel it’s funny. That’s what comedy is — a human reaction, not a mechanical reflex.”