R and D, Downstairs Hampstead

[foxa]

There is really only one reason to go see this play and that is Jess Murphy's incredible performance as April, a very life-like robot (that is revealed in the first moments of the play, so no spoiler.)  Her movements, her voice, the way her character develops are all really intriguing.

Unfortunately, the script is disappointing.  There are four characters: a recently bereaved writer, his scientist/inventor brother, the writer's daughter and the aforementioned April who, at the brother's insistence (and there is a lot of clunky exposition trying to convince us that the writer would agree to this)  moves in with the writer in order to be assessed on her human-like qualities. (At one point the brother declares that the writer will be paid '£3 million for the month' - that's some grant he must have.)  The casting is odd, with what looks to be at least a 15 year age gap between the brothers.  The daughter and brother are pretty thankless roles.  Aden Gillet works hard at fleshing out the writer.  For me, part of the problem was the beautiful female robot - isn't that a trope we've seen before - maybe even quite a lot?  The writer briefly references that it's a cliche 'I'm a woman, so I'll be subservient' but that still didn't wash with me. Now a play about beautiful male robots...

It lasts one hour 15, no interval.

At the end, the audience wasn't sure it was over, so there was that awkward, 'do we clap?' thing.  When the lights came up the man sitting in front of us turned to his companions and cheerily said, 'You can't win them all.'

[Deleted]

I thought it was dreadful

Incomplete
Dated

And cliched

Like a one page draft for the TV show Humans

I think playwrights need to realise other mediums are better for some subject matters

And bear this in mind when faced with the constraints of a stage and live acting

[perfectspy]

I'm seeing this on the 19th October. Normally the plays downstairs are pretty decent. I'll let you know my thoughts after I see this.

[showgirl]

Well, for all its flaws, I loved this, and I've seen a more positive review on Ian Foster's blog (Thereoughttobeclowns).

My criticisms would be that the play is far too short and contains far too many issues; the amount offered to Lewis to participate in the experiment was ludicrously implausible, as was the fact that a researcher could only use his brother (and that his company would agree to that) and there was some really clumsy and unnecessary exposition to reveal that the two men were brothers.

But that aside, there was so much to enjoy; I thought all the performances were excellent; I was really engaged and on the strength of this would look out for other work by this writer. Plus, how often do I leave the theatre wishing there'd been more!

So all in all, a palpable hit for me.