Lifeline Theatre’s new adaptation of the 1898 H.G. Wells novel “The War of the Worlds” has many of the hallmarks of a campy sci-fi B movie: cheesy dialogue, exaggerated stock characters and visuals with the low-budget charm of mid-aughts “Doctor Who.” With these bold stylistic choices by adapter John Hildreth and director Heather Currie, the play satirizes contemporary American society in an unconventional take on the science fiction classic. While Lifeline’s version has its entertaining moments, the comedic approach comes at the expense of the story’s human drama.

Hildreth’s loose adaptation changes the setting from southern England to northern Illinois, name-checking a litany of familiar cities, suburbs and rural townships throughout the play. The scientists who first discovered unusual

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