Capital Stage’s The Nether

The indulgence of personal desires in the darker digital realms of virtual reality is fertile territory for contemporary playwrights, and The Nether—a prize-winning script that’s been staged in London, New York and Los Angeles, and opens this week at Capital Stage—delves into a mix of total sensory immersion, disturbing forms of “entertainment” (in which avatars mask the identity of some participants), with elements of crime drama and science-fiction thriller in the mix.