☆★★★★ I Woke Up Feeling Electric
Bertie,
what’s the weather like?
Bertie, how’s my commute?
Bertie, define ‘ineluctable’.
Bertie, are diamonds a girl’s best friend?
Bertie, how many stars for...?
Bertie, how’s my commute?
Bertie, define ‘ineluctable’.
Bertie, are diamonds a girl’s best friend?
Bertie, how many stars for...?
Any reviewer
of theatre is ultimately faced with the dilemma of awarding stars for the work.
Having seen Jack Robson’s smart and intelligent new play, I Woke Up Feeling
Electric, I was mischievously tempted to ask my virtual assistant, Alexa, for
an opinion. But resisted as human-equivalent AI is only predicted by ‘some futurists
by 2050’. So with a probable 30-year wait, experience will once again come to
the fore.
Even trying
to shorten the title to Woke might be considered dubious by some? So, IWUFE
tells the story of two AI assistants, Bertie and Vita, trying to find a work-life
balance. Luckily for Bertie, it’s easy to enjoy as he was literally made for
it. Sending emails, making playlists, checking the weather forecast — it’s all
part of his day’s work until his world is upended by Vita, a new, smarter AI.
She invades his world, and upsets his well-constructed routine, forcing him to reassess
everything he thought he knew. A place he always loved becomes his dysfunctional
dystopia!
Giorgia Lee
Joseph’s design cleverly encapsulates our two virtual assistants within the
confines of a memory chip/SIM card - I hope this doesn’t betray my Luddite
techno proclivities. This is a confined, claustrophobic place even in a world colonised
by seemingly endless electronic minds.
Writer Jack
Robson, who also stars as the erudite pedant Bertie, gives a performance of
serious skill. It is absorbing to watch as he moves from adorably predictable
and controlled to a self-destructive, questioning and questionable piece of abandoned
technology. His interaction with Christine Prouty as Vita is smartly constructed.
If it is possible to have empathy, even compassion, with a virtual assistant,
these performances were absorbing to watch as they faced obsolescence and the
inevitability of the chip graveyard.
Director Jacopo Panizza also weaves a compelling performance from the uncredited voice of Charlie, Bertie and Vita’s demanding master, who clearly finds his virtual assistants irresistible, even addictive.
Director Jacopo Panizza also weaves a compelling performance from the uncredited voice of Charlie, Bertie and Vita’s demanding master, who clearly finds his virtual assistants irresistible, even addictive.
I Woke Up
Feeling Electric is fascinating to watch, worrying to contemplate as artificial
intelligence gets personal and smart!
IWUFE runs The Hope Theatre
until 22 February 2020
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