Writer and Director: Christos Callow Jr.
Mayuri, or The New Human is a challenging new play by Greek British writer and academic Christos Callow Jr. Mayuri’s hour-long monologue, in a polished performance by Liza Callinicos, aims to explore the intersection of Callow’s interests in Greek tragedy, anime, posthuman philosophy and cyborgs.
The monologue begins as a surreal sermon, a reading from the work of Mayuri, who has now achieved the status of a god. Callinicos is a compelling narrator of Mayuri’s journey from human to machine. “I don’t want to shock you,” Mayuri begins. She befriends the android Riza, renounces her human life, and agrees to have her brain transferred into a machine. Slowly parts of her physical body are replaced with robotic equivalents.
Mayuri admits she is addicted to this transformation. She feels liberated from pain and pleasure. Disturbingly, she is indifferent to losing contact with her daughter. By this point the play seems to be asking the big question of what makes us human. But as it progresses, it’s harder to hear the answer. Riza, the android, drowns herself. Central Government spreads a virus. Later Mayuri dies and returns as a ghost. As the staging suggests, she has inspired a cult following who gather to hear her words. There is talk of our relationship to the cosmos. At one point Mayuri shouts coldly at the audience “I disown you!”.
It’s a piece full of ideas, but as a drama it becomes increasingly impenetrable. Callinicos is a hypnotic presence throughout, fully committed to her strange journey. But it’s a essentially a chilly work which, in its abstruse musings, is in danger of losing its audience. In his publicity, Callow teasingly describes his work as “Fleabag meets Fullmetal Alchemist meets Zorba the Greek”. The reference to Fleabag implies wit, intimacy and above all a refusal to take oneself too seriously. Callow’s piece takes itself very seriously indeed.
Reviewed on 11 August 2021
The Reviews Hub Score
Chilly not chilling
