The Urmetazoan

The Urmetazoan is a stand-up and comedy show at the Hampstead Theatre in London, built around a story about two sisters on the eve of a one-way mission into deep space.

The show follows Alice and Abigail, two sisters whose relationship is tested when one of them prepares to leave the Earth permanently for deep space. Alice has a Nobel Prize for Medicine and is departing on the mission, while Abigail is a homebody with a sharp sense of humour. As they rediscover the pleasure of being close again, saying goodbye becomes much harder than either expected, and the countdown to departure is already running.

The piece is presented as a stand-up and comedy show, with the family relationship at its centre. The material is a comedic study of sisterhood, playing on the contrast between a sibling who looks outward to the universe and one who prefers the sofa.

The production is written by Alex Rugman, a graduate of Hampstead's Inspire Programme and co-artistic director of Freight Theatre, whose earlier work includes How To Save A Rock and Move Fast and Break Things. The director is Anna Ledwich, who has previously worked at Hampstead on Bird Grove and The Billionaire Inside Your Head.