REVIEW: Scottish Ballet's Coppelia mixes science and art to create something equal parts beautiful and horrifying

"We've made Coppelia as fake as any human."

If you could customise your perfect partner, would you do it? Even if it meant that they were not entirely human?

Coppelia follows journalist Swanhilda as she gets behind the scenes at advanced technology firm NuLife, interviewing Dr Coppelius about his latest creation - taking 'flawless' AI beyond the screen.

Much to her horror she finds her fiance Franz to be infatuated with the robotic girlfriend Dr Coppelius has created, even after she malfunctions, but as Swanhilda delves deeper into the company she comes to realise that the line between what is real and what is not does not exist at NuLife.

Is the table even real?

Coppelia plays around with numerous opposing ideas - science and emotion, day and night, professionalism and party, male and female, for and against - to create a performance which is both a visually enjoyable show and a deeper delve into the morality of advancing technologies.

It leaves the audience pondering how far technologies can be advanced before they stop being beneficial.

Coppelia is definitely a production to connect 21st century audiences with the classical art of ballet as it utilises an energetic score and both a live and pre-recorded stream to reflect the futuristic nature of the story.

While the ballet usually brings fascinating costumes, Coppelia's dancers spend most of their time dressed 'like normal people' which somehow adds to the uncomfortable clinical feel of the setting.

While Coppelia forces the audience to question their feelings on rapidly advancing technologies it also forces them to question their preconceptions of ballet, as it succeeds in modernising 'a night at the ballet' and has the potential to bring the often overlooked art form to new audiences

This show will leave the audience thoroughly entertained, uncomfortable and slightly suspicious of the world around them, making it the perfect show for these autumnal evenings.

Scottish Ballet's production of Coppelia is in His Majesty's Theatre until Saturday, October 1.

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.