Continunity at Cockpit Theatre Review
Written by Eleanor V for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Following the story of a tightknit family, struck by tragedy, Continuity poses the question of how far any individual would go for a longer life and the possibility of immortality. Stevie is propositioned by a wealthy billionaire who is able to use high-tech means to increase his quality of life, but his final decision comes with a catch – one which his family argue may not have been worthwhile.
This topical play has some merit, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy it, nor did it make me deeply question the issues raised.
Continuity opens by establishing the key relationships between the central family, with the differing views of each generation being highlighted. I appreciated these scenes as they are able to have open and honest discussions and present differing opinions to the audience. Some information about the family does not get revealed until later in the play, to create intrigue, but the way this is later revealed didn’t really work for me. Similarly, the pay off from some later scenes isn’t particularly successful as characters were somewhat underdeveloped.
As the first half progressed, the scenes were fairly snappy and well-paced. The strongest moments were the larger group scenes where the characters could feed off each other. The lack of this in the second half I think led to a weaker narrative. I also appreciated how writer David Sear has tried to make the narrative applicable to modern day audiences with the mention of up-to-date technology and trending topics. But this did sometimes take away from the more human story, which I found to be the more enjoyable element.
Continuity repeatedly raised contentious topics, which are important to discuss in theatre. But the fact that these were not really challenged did sour my experience of the show. I also think it tried to tackle to many of these topics, and the discussion could have been more effective if they focused only on aging and privacy, for example. Most of this stemmed from the billionaire character. Although it may well have been the aim of the piece to dislike him, this did not make for a pleasant viewing experience. It also meant that when it came to Stevie’s main quandary about whether to accept the offer being made to him, there were no stakes for me as the answer was a clear ‘no.’
The overall sound design of the production was good and added an extra element to some scenes. The lighting design was also effective in showing a different time and/or place. There were also some screens being used, but I did not think these were necessary. Although it did add a more transcendent element at times.
By the end of the play, the show had devolved into a bit of a shouting match, in some cases directed at the audience, which did not result in a fulfilling conclusion.
Overall, Continuity has some potential with a core set of interesting characters and a family dynamic which could be interesting to explore. But with some disjointed elements, it was not particularly impactful, and I was unfortunately not as invested as I hoped to be.
Continuity is playing at The Cockpit from the 19th November 2025 – 22nd November 2025.
★ ★
