Stuart Bowden’s one-man show explores a dystopian future, where love is a luxury and loneliness common currency. Bernard, Sarah and Celeste are the only people that the narrator meets in fourteen years, and it turns out that Sarah and Celeste are one and the same person. Perhaps loneliness is a tricky subject for a whimsical solo show, as it may border on self-pity and self-indulgence.

Space travel is the narrator’s solution, on a mission to rid the world of solitude. A cut-out set frames the space exploration and we’re taken to ‘once upon a lingering time’ in 2054. Programme notes suggest that the space fantasy originated in a childhood game, with Stuart’s imaginary friends Bissy and Nevermind setting forth into a limitless galaxy.

The World Holds Everyone Apart, Apart From Us is stylised. The literal jokes, for example, can start to grate. ‘I’ve misplaced my meaning, perhaps it’s under the bar stool – oh no, only a peanut,’ is fairly typical. If you don’t fall for the twinkly-eyed charm of the performer or perhaps if you see the show on a more wobbly day, the effect is fairly shallow.

This piece was nominated for best performer, best theatre production and the Underbelly Edinburgh award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. It has nice moments, such as the story flying away at the end. However, I failed to be charmed by its self-conscious sweetness. A show for adults, it nonetheless relied on child-like wonder, but failed to generate this. The result was sentimental and underwhelming.