Imagine a wryly witty comedy of manners that also happens to take place in a virtual reality chat room, and you have the rudiments of “An Invitation Out,” the new play by Shualee Cook now getting its West Coast premiere with San Francisco’s Quantum Dragon Theatre.
But there are larger questions of identity and the nature of life and reality underlying the playful banter in Cook’s clever comedy.
Quantum Dragon specializes in science fiction and fantasy plays, and “An Invitation Out” certainly qualifies, set in a far-flung future in which people communicate primarily through online avatars (which doesn’t exactly seem far-fetched) and have affected the trappings and mannerisms of Victorian England, or at least the wickedly witty version of high society that you might find in an Oscar Wilde play.
In fact, they spend their entire lives in virtual space, redesigning themselves at will, to the extent that they’ve forgotten entirely how life and even physics work in the offline world, and Cook deftly examines the complications and consolations of such a life.
Details: Through Dec. 29; Potrero Stage, San Francisco; $30; www.quantumdragon.org.
