You don't have to be interested in artificial intelligence to enjoy "R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)."

I caught the Sunday afternoon performance at the City Lit Theater, which is located in an intimate space on the second floor of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church.

Bo List adapted this version from Czech writer Karel Čapek's 1920 play "R.U.R." List eschewed a direct translation in favor of a modern interpretation. The tone and clothing of Director Brian Pastor's production suggest a steampunk version of the world seen from a century ago, but the story has a timeless air. The original script has the historic distinction of coining the term "robot" to describe artificially created humans.

The story begins with a giddy Harry Rossum announcing the creation of his most lifelike version of robots that look and act like humans. These robots are improved because they can learn and act outside their original programming. He insists this will forever free people from work, but he ignores warnings about the dangers of enslaving sentient beings. Rossum's factory is located on an island across from the capital city of a fictional country. The President's daughter, Helena Glory, arrives on the island to announce her opposition to his robots and her plans to speak out against them at an upcoming conference. She changes her mind when Rossum proposes marriage and offers a job for her safeguarding the ethics of robot creation. When robots discover her planned speech, things take a terrible turn, inspiring them to revolt against their overlords.

Brian Breau, who was excellent as Stan Lee in last year's "House of Ideas," provides an over-the-top performance as Harry Rossum, and Madelyn Loehr is fun as the naive Glory. As Harry's stepmother, Dr. Gall, Mary Ross adds enough mad scientist flavor to her character that Harry remarks that she thinks she is a fascist - a line that drew laughs from the audience. But Alex George stole the show as the robot Sulla, who leads the inevitable uprising. Her shift from stoicism to anger to tragedy is subtle and delivered with understated perfection.

City Lit brought to life a classic tale. It is easy to forget that the dangers of A.I. were once a fresh idea. "R.U.R." is a morality play, a comedy, and a tragedy. It warns of the potential risks of artificial intelligence, told decades before "The Terminator" and a century before the current hype around A.I.

This play was entertaining, funny, tragic, and fun!