Jellyfish @ Omnibus Theatre

I was killing time, chain-smoking against my better judgment in Clapham Common, before going to watch Jellyfish at the Omnibus Theatre. Which is fitting considering this play is what happens when time is medically mutilated to prolong life. Written by Jess Coppen-Gardner, she plays Nova alongside Teddy Walker who plays her brother T. On their hundredth birthday, the twins are being interviewed by the voiceover of an AI named Brian. Lillith Freeman’s sparing direction gives the whole thing the vibe of being shot in front of a live studio audience. The masses want a peek into the pair’s lifestyle – just how do they look so good at such a ripe old age?

More like over-ripe. One can’t tell an avocado is long past its prime until you prod and cut it open. Nova and T guard their brittle exterior in a similar way, refusing to touch each other or over-exert themselves in case of injury. Tapping into the longevity community – bored millionaires obsessed with increasing their lifespans – Jess’ characters are the culmination of their sterile rituals. IVs filled with unpronounceable fluids for breakfast, waves of red-light therapy, regular electroshock treatment and blood transfusions. Decades of this stuff has fried their basic human programming, but their elitism makes you wonder how much humanity was there in the first place. At times, even Brian the AI exudes a more stable personality than the pair. They even dress like automatons; Nova’s black leopard-print bodysuit powered by Jess’ luscious red hair while T is in the non-descript wardrobe of a test subject. Nova mispronouncing words like flat, fat, rat, penis, and machine is giving Nigella Lawson and microwaves.

Jess and Teddy play these over-the-top siblings with nuance, creepily infantile and laced with calculation. Moments of genuine distress are carried out with the suddenness of a chemical imbalance. Somehow even incestuous insinuations are rendered hilarious. All the while the AI is goading them, especially T, into incrimination. With the interview going off the rails, the cracks in their relationship by the end of the play have formed into a deep chasm. Woven into their seemingly inane conversations are cutting insights into the ethical contradictions of medicine. Just where is line past which our activities are a perversion of the natural order?

The set remains the same, all white, a table and two stools framed by a sheet. Interludes between scenes are marked by these lurid projections of colourful liquids reminiscent of a petri-dish. Lillith’s direction here is working well with the budgetary restrictions of a small production.

While watching this play I couldn’t stop thinking about the sweet irony of Bryan Johnson – one of the most vocal longevity freaks – contracting an incurable autoimmune disease. Let’s see those millions do their work now… This techno-absurdist fever dream is heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe next month, so if you’re in town go see it and ask yourself what you’re willing to give up if immortality was on the table.