Writer & Director: Susanne Crosby
Assistant Director: Andy Crosby
Tackling unrealistic expectations and the capacity of the human race to create their own crises after crises, this charming play is set in the not-so-distant future. It follows a team of scientists tasked on solving the energy shortage. Professor Stephanie Locke (Susanne Crosby) and her team have an urgent mission but they are rather more distracted by personal matters. Lab tech Jude (Alex Louise) is pining after Dr Fisher (Sam Razavi), Fisher loves Steph, and Steph is infatuated with her seemingly useless computer, AID (Teresa Carlile). AI AID predicts the percentage of the majority of things happening at 50% and does so with a familiar delay that leaves everyone hanging. Still, Steph has boundless enthusiasm for encouraging others to acknowledge sentience in AID. She does so while crowbarring irrelevant film quotes into any situation, much to the audience’s pleasure and her colleague Jude’s frustration.
Although a thoroughly intriguing concept, wrapping your head around the science in this play can be a challenge. There’s a gap between the team stealing a day from the past and explaining how that converts into energy. Is it the energy that has been used that day which is being stolen or the energy generated by events? The scientific team are shockingly naive and seem to make very little preparations for testing their experiment. How do they know if the people due to get born that day did still get born or not? We could do with the science being leant into further to show how the team test their theories and practical experiments. However, it also reminds us how bumbling, distracted and reckless humans can be.
The multimedia is generally very well used. The news reports, presented brilliantly by Nicola Russell, are particularly effective and stirring. The sound recordings of the AI could be handled differently in order to play the individual clips when needed and to avoid errors which otherwise interrupt the illusion. A highly entertaining moment in the play is when Steph has stalked Fisher’s once-girlfriend, Alison (Cathy Byrne) and taken action shots of her going about her day. The revelation of the ominous man (AJ Powley) in the photographs is really humorously handled.
This is a fun play with a nice twist. Overall, it’s a charming production which will likely warm your heart even when there’s not the energy for an electric blanket. It’s a reminder that regardless of all the devices and technology we create to sap at our limited energy reserves, human interactions and bonds are what really make life worthwhile. Jude’s headphones, Steph’s laptop, and even computer AID, really just become a barrier between people who could care much more about each other. As Fisher rather aptly says, “It’s just a computer.”
Reviewed on 18th May