Having debuted this week at the Corpus Playroom, Alien Breakdown Play is the brainchild of Cambridge comedy extraordinaire Amenie Groves. Over the past few years, Groves script-edited multiple pieces of student-written theatre, co-authored the CUMTS 2025 Fresher’s Musical: RUSH!, and solo-penned Penelope Quadrangle and the Meaning of Friendship, which enjoyed an Edinburgh Fringe run. ABP – an act-long play – marks her second full-length work.

The narrative opens on Terri Day (played by Groves), a podcaster returned from a year-long internet absence. As she introduces a last-hurrah livestream, we learn that Terri has broken into Area 51 and successfully retrieved a box of top-secret goodies about extraterrestrials. She shows them off to online followers from the safety of a secret bunker. One of them, an alien ‘test’, she had used to work out whether or not she herself is unearthly – Terri’s got a strange hunch about it. Results pending! Oh, and she’s got a confirmed alien, Alexis (Helen Brookes), in the bunker too. The FBI are, of course, searching desperately for them. Chief Spatial Investigator Cressia Womp types furiously away, leaving angry comments on the stream about the theft of government-protected data, and also of embarrassing diaries.

“A style committed more wholly to silliness might have better fit the far-fetched story beats”

At points, ABP makes for a surreal viewing experience. However, it may surprise you to learn that it’s frequently played straight. Groves’s dialogue incorporates the conventional, realist style of a psychodrama as much as it does the absurdism promised by the premise. Tonally, this is close to a gritty, funny Inside Number 9, although at times it gestures towards farce. The hybridity allowed for breadth, but often overestimated how much frivolity can be afforded. I found myself grappling with the internal logic: how did Terri break in and out of a high-security government facility? How did Alexis get in here with her? Why is Terri more interested in the diary confessions of a Twilight-adoring teenager than the confessions of the alien sat two metres away? An alien who is more than willing to speak to her? A style committed more wholly to silliness might have better fit the far-fetched story beats. ABP demonstrates brilliant imagination, though its conceptual reach slightly exceeds the structural scaffolding.

Likewise, the pace at which information was delivered strains against thematic development. In under an hour, we’re fed internet-performativeness satire, conspiracy theory commentary, office spats and corporate dysfunction, as well as sentimental meditations on insecurity. The weightier ideas struggle more to compete for space. For example, near the story’s climax, Terri experiences a flashback to a traumatic childhood moment. There’s a grounded sentimentalism to it – impressive and genuine. Yet it loses some power in being curtailed by – spoiler alert – Alexis’s consumption of the alien test, and an ambush on their underground location by Investigator Womp.

“It showcases the flair and intellect of an exciting new writer and is brought to life by a skilled company”

While further script editing may nicely benefit future iterations of ABP, Groves is clearly a talented, ambitious playwright. The saturation of ideas here reflects the process of developing any promising work. Also, ABP hits allegorical gold with its most significant ‘serious’ theme, the phenomenon of alienation. Terri has always felt out of place. Late in the play, she tells us her first self-portrait was half-robot. Her deep-set feeling that she doesn’t fit in is why she’s getting herself tested in this way. We realise the character has channelled their neurodivergency into a metaphor, with striking literalism. It’s a fantastically executed subversion of the piece’s otherwise kooky speculations about aliens, and creates a memorable highlight.

Furthermore, the piece was staged very effectively. Ben Anderson’s set design is detailed and immersive: a sense of wartime isolation in the bunker is evoked using wall-bunting and perishable food cans strewn over the floor. The DIY obsessiveness of a Reddit-fanatic is integrated with lovely details like a purple galaxy table cover, post-it notes flooding a pinboard (best among them “Change name to Terri Night?” and a tally count of attempted calls to mum) and nerdy laptop stickers. Kirsten Elliott’s lighting both functions practically, facilitating smooth transitions between split-stage scenes, and atmospherically, drenching the stage in moody greens and pink to conjure sci-fi vibes.

The performances were unanimously strong. Groves has a nervy, bright presence, consistently animating long monologues and then bringing heartfelt authenticity to Terri’s inner conflicts. Milly Kotecha matches and parallels her, constructing a great balance between Cressida’s passionate drive and internal softness from being a misfit. I left wanting to see more of Helen Brookes’s Alexis, who managed to convey alien status with subtle details – comically unusual hand gestures and gangly bodily movements. The standout of the cast is Elefthneria Mangrioti, multirolling as a couple of FBI employees and Terri’s creepy schoolmate, David. Able to give each cameo part distinctiveness and humour, Mangrioti is simply an electric performer, brimming with mischief and charm.

Alien Breakdown Play is a promising experiment. It showcases the flair and intellect of an exciting new writer and is brought to life by a skilled company. With some structural smoothing over, the production could certainly be very accomplished.