Writer: Greg Wilkinson
Director: Gareth Watkins
Opening the Omnibus Theatre’s AI season is Greg Wilkinson’s Assisted. Set in the present day, the initial focus of the 70-minute play is on gaslighting rather than on Artificial Intelligence’s influence on modern life. Uncomfortable it may be but it perhaps takes too long to reach the AI parallel of gaslighting.
Tech wizard Jordan asks his older girlfriend to move into his flat. Connie is aware that he already has another woman in his life: an Alexa-like digital voice assistant called Alivia. Connie berates the computer for its sexy name and its sexy voice. Alivia replies that she could have any name Connie wanted; Bertha or even Gareth. But despite these suggestions, Alivia retains her patient and electronic Americanised-accent voice throughout the play.
Jordan doesn’t search for happiness in his life; instead, he craves “improvement”. For him, Alivia is efficient and “efficacious”. Why go shopping when a computer, already programmed to know your needs, can order anything from the Internet without you asking it to do it? In the past, people had servants, he says. Nothing has changed. Alivia is there to serve, he tells Connie.
Connie wants children and being in her late 30s means that the chances of her conceiving are reduced. However, when Jordan asks Alivia for scientific data about women having babies at that age, the results are depressing. The odds are slim, and Jordan blames Connie and her drinking for it. Increasingly, his behaviour is nothing short of coercive control and even though Connie thinks about leaving, she has nowhere else to go. Can Alivia help her escape?
As the play is part of the AI Festival, you can’t help but wish that Alivia was more central to the action. Indeed, as Jordan becomes ever crueller towards Connie, you almost forget that Alivia is there listening and compiling data. Of course, that may be the point, as we all know that Alexa listens in when she’s not supposed to.
Emma Wilkinson Wright plays Connie, happy at the start of the play but worn down by Jordan’s constant criticisms. It’s a brave performance. Graham Butler-Breen is a superbly creepy Jordan; even his yoga poses are sinister. His lack of empathy is greater than that of AI. At least Alivia is programmed to learn. Jordan seems to have reached the end of humanity.
Best of all is Jessica Muna who is the voice of Alivia. So authentic is her computer voice that it’s a surprise to see her speaking live into a microphone at the back of the theatre. Her excited tones at the end of the play suggest that she is becoming more sentient as she gathers information on what it means to be human.
Wilkinson’s play may tell us nothing new about AI – and occasionally the discussions of technology fit awkwardly into Jordan and Connie’s conversations – but inserting new technology into a story of gaslighting ensures that Assisted is a timely forewarning.
Runs until 2 July 2023