Hampstead Theatre, London – until 15th March 2025
Reviewed by Celia Armand Smith
3***
You can hardly move for stories about AI and how it is on the verge of destroying everything and/or making everything better, and it is also at the centre of this new play from playwright and screenwriter Beau Willimon. East is South explores how AI, ethics, and faith can co exist and at what cost. Set in a mysterious and secret tech company called Logos where the coders work in pairs and never see anyone else, two employees, Lena (Kaya Scodelario) and Sasha (Luke Treadaway), are developing a powerful new AI model that is on the verge of thinking for itself and understanding the very human quality of contradiction hence the title East is South. Lena is from a tech free Mennonite community and her fellow coder and love interest Sasha is a Russian ex-pianist who may or may not be a double agent. Within the grey walls of the soulless Logos offices, they are questioned by good cop/bad cop government officials (Alec Newman and Nathalie Armin) and a professor/colleague/government agent (Cliff Curtis) to find out if they have committed a serious security breach.
Kaya Scodelario as Lena is a stand out in an impressive stage debut, and Luke Treadaway is believable as the passionate and troubled Sasha. The two tiered set designed by Alex Easles is sparse with stark, pale grey institutional walls on the lower floor for the interrogation, and a rich dark green on the floor above for the surveillance. The same colour palette is used in a similar way in Severance which I immediately thought of and a show that Willimon I later found out is a writer and producer on. As the story shifts between increasingly brutal interrogation and flashbacks, the lighting by Azusa Ono indicates a change in scene and mood making it easy to differentiate time and place. When the AI explodes into spectacular technicolour, Zakk Hein’s video design is a welcome change in pace and tone and for a moment, I forgot that it was symbolising the beginning of an extinction event and enjoyed the lights and colours.
Under Ellen McDougall’s direction, there is an ebb and flow of tension and pace in what is very dense subject matter. In the 100 minutes that we are sitting in the theatre, there are big questions posed around philosophy, human and technological ethics, religion, identity, love, suicide, and abuse, but few answers are proffered. Much of the tech terminology and heavy philosophical statements went straight over my head, however if you are very into coding, AI, and bleak outlooks, then this is the play for you.