THE world premiere tour of E. M. Forster’s The Machine Stops on stage visits The Point next week.

Neil Duffield’s exciting new adaptation of the chilling short story predicts and explores our increasingly intricate relationship with technology in our lives.

Directed by York Theatre Royal’s Associate Director Juliet Forster and featuring a brand new soundtrack composed by John Foxx, pioneer of electronic music and founder of Ultravox, and analogue synth specialist, Benge, The Machine Stops will be in Eastleigh on Thursday, followed by two nights at New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth.

In a dystopian world where humans have retreated far underground, Kuno alone questions their now total dependency on technology to live and communicate with each other. But in his struggle to break out, can he reach the Earth’s surface before the Machine stops?

British novelist, essayist, and social and literary critic E. M. Forster is best known for his exquisite novels such as A Passage to India and Howard’s End, both made into Oscar-winning films, but his short story masterpiece published in 1909 is astoundingly prophetic and poignant in 2016, providing a chilling warning of the dangers of isolation, reliance on computer technology and the effects upon society.

Playwright Neil Duffield said: “It’s an amazing story, and even more so when you discover it was first published in 1909. What’s so astonishing is not only the accuracy with which it foresees the extent of the technologic take-over of almost every aspect of our modern-day lives, but the effect that has on us all – on our relations with each other, on our minds and bodies, our philosophy and culture, on our very sense of being."

Director Juliet Forster added: "I came across the story in 1998 and the truth is it came from the fact that my husband used to read to me and still does at bedtime. He might not be happy with me for telling you that, but it’s true. He would find short stories to read to me. This one particular night he had a book of British short stories and he was asking me which one I’d like, he said he’d read out the first line of each of the stories that look interesting and I could choose which one I wanted to hear. He read the first line of The Machine Stops: “Imagine, if you can, a room which is hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee.” It was just so - my imagination caught fire. I didn’t even know it was EM Forster but straight away I was saying ‘that one that one’.

"It just kept becoming more relevant and I kept pulling it out of the desk drawer and thinking that this is the one I really want to do. Eventually it all came together at the right point.

Tickets: 023 8065 2333 or thepointeastleigh.co.uk (Eastleigh) and 02392649000 or newtheatreroyal.com (Portsmouth).