Oikos

Imagine Noah's ark sitting in a school playground in London and you get some idea of what Britain's first recycled theatre looks like. One end resembles a ship's stern, the other a prow made of discarded doors and chairs. I can't improve on what the Guardian's Jonathan Glancey called the Jellyfish theatre: junkitecture. And I can only echo his praise for the capacity of the Berlin architects, Kobberling and Kaltwasser, to make imaginative use of everyday materials, including timber pallets. The building, which will be dismantled in early October, is a disposable triumph. But, however much one admires the project and the 96 volunteers who created the 120-seat theatre in 11 weeks, its opening play is a more mixed affair. Simon Wu's Oikos (pronounced ee-kos) certainly lives up to the building's ark-like contours. The story concerns a high-flying, Indian-born financier, Salil, who returns late one night to his riverside home in London to find his life in chaos. His wife, Assana, accuses him of having an affair with his secretary. Their daughter, Lily, is apparently missing. Worst of all, a storm turns into a deluge and, as the Thames rises, their precious home is flooded. Obviously, the play gains horrendous topicality from the crisis in Pakistan; and Wu is shrewd enough to suggest that Salil, whose Indian family was devastated when the Ganges overflowed, learns that ecological disasters are the result of human actions rather than divine intervention. But, while it is always good for environmental issues to be dealt with through individuals, Wu's play strains belief. I can't help feeling that, with the waters rising, there wouldn't be much time for marital disputes about Salil's infidelity or his wife's failure to entertain his bosses. Too much of the dialogue, such as Assana's claim, "It's a trophy home with a wife in it", has a soapy feel. When the Thames does ultimately break its barriers, I don't imagine people will sit around reviewing their domestic failures. Topher Campbell's production, staged by the Red Room in association with The Junction, does successfully incorporate live action and film, to convey a sense of watery engulfment. Neil d'Souza as the saturated Salil, Dido Miles as his wife, and Amy Dawson as their returning daughter give it their all. But it's not so much the play, to be followed shortly by Kay Adshead's Protozoa, as the whole project that is moving. Something remarkable has been built, with loving ingenuity, out of reclaimed materials: it's an object lesson both for theatre and society. Until 18 September. Box office: 08444 77 1000.