Steve Branch has come unstuck in time, has a liaison with an alien from another planet, and when he flits to the part of his (after) life where he is dead, it is all a purple hum. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut will recognise these reference points from his 1969 novel Slaughterhouse Five, and this clever, lyrically written multimedia show from Superbard (aka George Lewkowicz) also has an at times surprising melancholy among the comedy - another trait shared with much of Vonnegut's work.
The one-man show consists, in non-linear order of course, of scenes from Steve's life and death, narrated and sung by our host Superbard, and featuring some beautifully synched interchanges with characters on a video-projected backdrop, as well as self-penned groovy accompanying music. Among other snapshots, there is a most amusing sneak insight into "The Greatest Movie Ever", rendered with stop- motion animation and an Action Man, the plot of which makes Surf Nazis Must Die look like Tarkovsky.
The "quantum" bit from the title really only enters at the end - the idea from that branch of physics that there are an infinite number of parallel universes out there, in which our lives thus may be infinitely different. This theme is underdeveloped, and the choice of paths Steve is offered, and the price of making that choice, is more Sliding Doors than Niels Bohr.
This is a technically well crafted and poetically written show, but with an underwhelming climax and uneven tone, it comes over as a series of tenuously threaded but essentially disparate sketches. At least, that's my string theory.
Superbard And The Sexy Quantum Stories
Soco C, till 29 August