Hampstead Theatre – until 14th October 2023
Reviewed by Alec Legge
5*****
To the Hampstead Theatre to see this play. Lovely modern theatre situated handily just round the corner from Swiss Cottage Underground Station. Slightly disappointed as my view was obscured by the person sitting in front of me but despite this I enjoyed this play immensely.
The set consisted of a rectangular room painted grey with a door in the back wall about a quarter away from the left side wall and which the actors used to enter and exit. In this sparse room there was a large TV screen on a wheeled stand and a computer stand on which sat a laptop. Very sparse but impressive.
The play is based around the sudden disappearance of Merril’s sister, Merril played by MyAnna Buring, following which all lines of enquiry failed to find out what happened to her or to locate her body. In her grief Merril, using her knowledge of AI,(Artificial Intelligence), decides to build a chatbot which is a simulacrum of her sister Angie, played by Dakota Blue Richards, to help her find out what happened to her sister.
The play opens with Merril sitting on stage and talking to Angie the chatbot who at that stage is just a disembodied voice. The story line continues with Angie, the chat bot, persuading her to contact her ex-girlfriend, Raquel, Yolanda Kettle, and her mother Brin, Abigail Thaw. I shall not describe the ending of the play so as not to spoil the enjoyment of future theatre goers, suffice to say there is a surprise twist. All the actors gave very memorable, well rounded performances which were a joy to watch.
This is a thought provoking intense, play especially regarding the development of AI. On another plane it is a thoroughly entertaining play about a person suffering extreme grief and her attempts to assuage that grief by finding out what happened to her sister. It is so well played and with a marvellous set that it well deserves to be considered for awards.
The presentation of the play, including the lighting, sound and effects were superb and well worth a mention. Well done the designer, Georgia Lowe, lighting designer, James Whiteside, the composer and sound designer, Max Pappenheim and the rest of the background personnel who helped make this a really rememberable performance.
I loved this play and I would heartily recommend it to one and all A MUST SEE!