Want to see a bad episode of ‘Black Mirror’? Then Lauren Gunderson’s new play might just be for you.
The set up has promise. The play opens with Merril (MyAnna Buring) chatting on the phone with her younger sister Angie (Dakota Blue Richards). Normal enough, right? Well, things are not quite as they seem because we quickly learn that Angie actually went missing a few months prior and is thought to be dead. Using her online data, emails, texts and voicemails, software nerd Merril has programmed AI to make as close a version of her missing sibling as possible.
Built out of so much information, the digital sibling is a nearly perfect replacement for the real-life Angie. But then the AI creation starts to interfere with Merril’s life. She texts her girlfriend and mother without being asked and offers Merril advice on her personal and romantic problems. Even more chillingly, she tells Merril she can find out what really happened to her missing sister.
This is when the action should really begin. But, all we get is unnecessary family politics. The reveal about Merril’s fate happens suddenly, removing any potential ‘whodunnit’ and mystery from the writing.
There’s almost no reference to the negative consequences of AI, and just as the drama begins to consider whether a digital personality could ever be as fulfilling as reality, it frustratingly draws to a close.
The actors cast are all very capable – Buring is flustered and frustrated in exactly the right measures and Yolanda Kettle is very strong as Merril’s overwhelmed and totally flummoxed girlfriend. But the writing just isn’t up to scratch. Perhaps AI would have done a better job.