Comic Potential by Alan Ayckbourn is a romantic sci-fi comedy. It is set in a TV studio in the foreseeable future, when low-cost androids have largely replaced actors. Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE (born April 12, 1939) is a popular and prolific English playwright. ... Sci-fi is an abbreviation for science fiction. ... The android Data, portrayed by Brent Spiner, from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation An android is a robot made to resemble a human, usually both in appearance and behaviour. ...

Idealistic young writer Adam Trainsmith mets Chandler Tate, a former director of classic comedies, who makes a living by directing a never-ending soap opera. The leading-role android makes a series of mistakes. Supporting role android JC-F31-333, spots his lapses and laughs. The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... Self-portrait of Joseph Ducreux shown laughing. ...

Later on, while Adam is watching old slapstick comedy, JC-F31-333 laughs again. She is afraid that the sense of humor is a production fault. Adam sees it as an advantage. He nicknames his favorite android Jacie and persuades Chandler that they should to make a comedy for her. This article is about comedic slapstick. ...

Regional TV director Carla Pepperbloom threatens to ruin the project. She is jealous of Adam's sympathy for talented Jacie and orders to take the android to parts. Adam panics and decides to kidnap Jacie. While on the escape, Adam and Jacie fall in love. Jealousy is an emotion by one who perceives that another person is giving something that he/she wants or feels is due to them (often attention, love, respect or affection) to an alternate. ... Love is a condition or phenomenon of emotional primacy, or absolute value. ...

Comic Potential is Ayckbourn's fifty-third full-length play. It was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1998 and received its West End premiere at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue in October 1999. Chandler Tate was played by David Soul, Jacie by Janie Dee. Janie's performance won her the Best Actress category of the London Critics' Circle Theatre Awards (1999), the Evening Standard Awards (1999) and the Laurence Olivier Awards (2000). (She had also created the role in Scarborough). The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Premiere, from French language première meaning first, generally means a first performance. Premieres for theatrical, musical, and other productions are often extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media attention. ... The Lyric Theatre is a theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue London, the heart of the West End. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... David Soul on-stage in 2006 as Mack Sennett in Mack & Mabel David Soul (born August 28, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American-born actor and singer best known for his role as the handsome police detective Ken Hutch Hutchinson in the cult television program Starsky and Hutch (1975... The London Critics Circle Theatre Awards (Drama Theatre Awards until 1990) are presented annually for achievements in London Theatre. ... The Evening Standard Awards are presented annually for oustanding achievements in London Theatre. ... The Laurence Olivier Awards, previously known as The Society of West End Theatre Awards, were renamed in honour of British actor Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier in 1984, having first been established in 1976. ...

The play is about the ability to laugh and the ability to fall in love. They are both illogical and therefore differentiate humans from androids. The comedy also explores the Pygmalion syndrome and competing desires for autonomy and certainty. Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or knowing man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Étienne Maurice Falconet: Pygmalion & Galatee (1763) Pygmalion and Galatea (1890) by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) Pygmalion is a fictional character from the Roman poet Ovid, found in the tenth book of his Metamorphoses. ...

Awards and nominations

• Tony Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play (nominated)
• Tony Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play (nominated)
• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy (nominated)