October 13, 2010 at 6:21 pm | RobotTheatre
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| Image from opera.media.mit.edu |
There’s a fascinating new production that just opened last month of Death and the Powers, that uses all sorts of technology in the story and in the production. The story surrounds a rich, successful older man who starts to fear his mortality, and thus decides to upload his consciousness into The System, which takes the form of everything on stage, include big video displays, a robotic chandelier and robotic furniture. Plus, there’s a chorus of robots called Operabots.
This does a lot of the things that I think robot theatre should do. It uses technology as not only an integral part of the production, but also as a key theme in the plot. At the same time that the characters on stage are considering the human relation to technology (the uploaded character) and how it relates to identity, the robots on stage are being controlled by aspects of the humans’ performance. I’m going to see if I can get tickets and head up to Chicago to see it in the spring.
Thanks to Auston Montville for the tip.