With Twitter celebrating its fifth anniversary this month, Facebook boasting over 750 million active users (with 50% logging on each day!) and online gaming moving into a whole new environment of social interaction that’s attracting both hardcore and casual players, it seems we are slowly becoming a civilisation well and truly glued to our screens.

In Mark Wilson and Izzy McKenzie’s play Connection Unsecure: Continue? Frankie [McKenzie] and Charlie [Ben Pritchard] are two such online-obsessed individuals – so ensconced in the world of online avatars and virtual profiles, they live and breath a virtual relationship.

Conflict arises when the two cyberfriends arrange to meet in the real world.

“It’s quite an exciting moment when they come face to face. They can’t handle it at first so they start barking comments at each other like, ‘I had toast today’ – the kind of inane things people write online,” laughs Wilson.

“Then they calm down and realise that they can actually see each other and hear each other’s tone of voice, so they get a whole different experience.”

However, as that real-life bond grows, they struggle to deal with the personal issues that don’t necessarily arise in an online relationship.

“It’s a rough with the smooth situation. They play around with each other – re-enacting the moment a pet dies or a moment of excitement – however, the playing then turns to look at the more uncomfortable aspects of their lives,” explains Wilson.

“Parts of it are satirical, while others are quite serious. The underlying theme is one of thought-provoking humour and comedy – there is a lot we hope the audience will laugh at. We’re certainly not out there to preach at all.”

This is a highly stylised work, with both actors facing the crowd, their faces framed by screens as they type and chat.

Behind them, a visual “friend counter” is projected, monitoring in real time the number of virtual companions each character has. As the couple slowly drag themselves out of cyberspace and into reality, the friend counter begins to drop.

“It’s sort of based on Facebook. Izzy and I began chatting about friends and how relationships form. People tend to scuttle back to a comfort zone when they think they’ve revealed too much about themselves,” Wilson explains.

“Starting with that idea, we looked at what happens online. We have a real world and we go into a false world. It developed from there, playing with the notion of how we really interact with people.”

Starring local performer Izzy Mackenzie and Ben Pritchard, who starred in Broken Leg Theatre’s Argus ngel-winning My Second Life at last year’s Brighton Festival Fringe, the show has a slightly futuristic edge.

“These people are very much trapped behind their screens, but that’s how it can go. I read of people who have these entire other lives online. They can get quite serious and have caused marriages to break up due to individuals getting too involved with fantasy characters,” says Wilson.

“It’s very interesting the way fantasy becomes reality.”

However, when it comes to social media, Wilson is strictly a casual observer rather than a hardcore user.

“I email and text and that’s it. Someone who has just come off Facebook – that makes it sound like some alcoholic addiction! – said you form friendships gradually and over time they fade away or continue naturally,” he says.

“With Facebook, you cannot shed friends – they’re just there, collecting. This person experienced a real cleansing moment when she came off Facebook – a bit like when you lose a mobile phone. You start again and define who you want on there.

“All of that warns me to stay away. Life is busy enough.”

* 7.45pm, £7-£9, call 01273 746118 or visit www.newventure.org.uk