The Machine Stops is a spookily relevant short story written by E. M. Forster in 1909. It imagines a future where people live underground in isolated cells, never seeing one another and communicating only by audio and visual devices. A 100 year old ago about lockdown, isolation, what we stand to gain from technology and what we stand to lose from the absence of human contact. The Machine Stops is a live, engaging and creative illustration of Victorian culture and psyche. The complex multiple layers of the era’s culture, thinking & fears just as the western world begins its accelerated journey into modernity.... It's pure zeitgeist theatre. Victorian age - parlour games, vignettes, picnics and punting. It is thought-provoking, imaginative and fun, bringing an audience together as a community to celebrate the connections between people and our resilience and capacity to bounce back. Big Telly creates an escapist adventure into a steampunk world of curious Victoriana - flowers with secret messages, dining in the dark, tea-duelling, crystal gazing, parlour games, vignettes and charades, punting and picnics. Nostalgic and surreal gatherings and characters of another era in a world of isolation.