"It is a nightmare vision for an actor: a world, not more than 50 years into the future, in which robot 'actoids' have entirely supplanted humans in soap operas. Has hard-bitten cynicism finally come to Alan Ayckbourn Television of the future is the setting for Comic Potential, but its theme is nothing less than the human condition. We used to wonder what set us apart from the animals; now we might muse on the potential differences between humans and robots in the not-too distant future.