Following an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Dead Air arrives at Greenwich Theatre from 13 to 16 May 2026.
The tragicomic solo show follows Alfie, a young woman overwhelmed by loneliness and still grieving her father’s death three years earlier.
In search of comfort, she uploads 30GB of her dad’s data to AI Resurrect, a tool promising to keep the conversation going.
Alfie’s AI generated father appears before her using special glasses, offering someone to confide in.
When he fails to provide the reassurance she needs, she simply adjusts his temperament settings.
As Alfie becomes increasingly reliant on the AI companion, her grip on reality starts to splinter.
Her version of events becomes unreliable and her interactions grow unpredictable and even dangerous.
Written and performed by Alfrun Rose, the production blends psychological thriller with dark humour while reimagining Hamlet for the age of AI resurrection tools.
The show is inspired by real world grief technology and raises questions about the ethics and emotional risks of digital companion services.
Rose performs all seven characters live, keeping the production intentionally analogue even as it explores cutting edge technology.
Alfrun Rose says, “The show is rooted in personal loss. After the death of my dad, a beloved, behind the scenes guy in the music industry, I found myself grasping for traces of him: photos, recordings, fragments of his voice. In grief, my memory faltered. Oddly, what remained vivid was a surreal TV advert he once starred in, performing a burlesque routine and threatening to strip in public.”
“Around the same time, I read about emerging AI services that lets users simulate conversations with the dead, sometimes comforting, often deeply unsettling. In one case, the AI hallucinated that a lost loved one was ‘burning in hell.’ That intersection of tech, memory, absurdity, and heartbreak, lit the spark for Dead Air.”
“This isn’t a play about my dad, although I borrow a couple of his jokes. It is a modern ghost story about the glitchy, glorious ways we keep the dead alive.”
The production has received strong praise, including four stars from The Scotsman and five star reviews from The Real Chris Sparkle and Theatre and Arts Review.
After each performance of Dead Air, Rose will also share a short work in progress showing of Dream House, a new dramedy about home ownership, family tensions and the concept of home.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
