This is how Parable is described online: “James is an average student at University number 1179. However, his world is turned upside down by a series of unexpected and increasingly outlandish events.”

Those unexpected and increasingly outlandish events stem from James waking up one morning and hearing voices. Primarily it’s the voice of his conscience – but for the purposes of Parable, it’s also the Narrator. Or Steve, for short. An unwelcome intrusion at first, James eventually starts to follow the Narrator’s bidding, including starting a friendship with a sword on his table.

Joshua Rowlett has constructed an extremely surreal one-man, but multi-voiced, play, with an internal monologue that gets more and more out of hand with the ridiculous events that the narrator and the sword create for him. Although relatively short, it’s a very ambitious piece that relies on split second timing as Mr Rowlett’s words and actions have to dovetail into the pre-recorded soundtrack that provides the other voices we hear. And on the whole it worked pretty well, with just one or two occasions where the timing didn’t quite work – but the nature of the play means we move on rapidly and any errors are quickly forgotten.

It’s very funny and provides several laugh out loud moments for the audience. Does it contribute to our understanding of the human condition and the future of society? Probably not. But it does offer twenty minutes of entertainment and comedy surprises!