What makes technology scary are the unknowns: our inability to control it, our data taken without informed consent, being watched when we aren’t aware. Jesse Fox’s play attempts to explore the dangers of tech, but misses the dread and drama.

Exhausted A&E nurse Kat (Beatrice Scirocchi) walks straight into a data trap, flippantly handing control of her iPhone over to Jo (Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo), a stranger and surveillance expert. Here, she says, have it all! Monitor my every move! What a surprise when – shock horror – being watched isn’t as comforting as she imagined.

Engineer Theatre Collective’s production nods towards how vulnerable we make ourselves online but Kat’s levels of gullibility are overwhelming and, for her supposedly intelligent character, implausible. It’s hard to empathise when the warning signs are so glaringly obvious.

DDominic Kennedy’s crackling static creates a wonderfully disturbing soundtrack, and there are some playful moments of stagecraft – a standout one is when a circling chair is used to mimic the Uber GPS, tracking its way across the stage – but many of the stylish flourishes slow the narrative. Transitions are clunky and conversations packed with exposition. The regular interruptions of song and dance feel out of place, too.

Far more gristly and engaging is Kat’s relationship with her other big brother, Zak (George Evans), as they struggle to stay friends in adulthood and argue over how to deal with their declining dad. While Keep Watching provides an interesting dip into the line between law and ethics in surveillance, it offers no more of a deep dive than a conversation in the pub after a quick glance at the headlines.

• At New Diorama, London, until 4 May.