Thursdays.child small but perfectly formed
van Kampen (Emma Koretz) discovers she is pregnant, and downloads an artificial intelligence called FLORENCE that is specifically designed to assist expecting women.
The parameters of its programming, however, don’t take into account some of the unexpected consequences and Jessica’s expectation.
The trio of players – Emma Koretz as Jessica, accompanied by the offstage voice work of Antony Aiono and Caroline Waugh – deliver their lines with the tightness of a jazz trio. On opening night barely a fluff was heard between them.
Set in the very near future, Marama’s vision is already close to a reality for some of us lucky enough to live a first world lifestyle. We are addicted to our apps. Utterly reliant on them. But at what cost?
The moments that make you think alternate with ones that make you laugh. Anyone who has had to endure endless Windows updates and system resets – or sat through the ennui of that earlier technological terror, answerphone holding music – will find a certain familiarity in this tale.
thursdays.child is also cleverly staged. The set is backlit to convey the various functions kicking in (or rebooting). Scenes are interspersed with soundbites of corny computer commercials from the 1980s – although that ancient audio lacked a bit of clarity at times.
But while there are plenty of laughs to be had at the absurdity of modern life, the pervading impression one gets from this story is an overwhelming sense of loneliness.
It would be great to see the narrative expanded in a future version, as there is plenty of material to be mined from the implications of our increasingly inexorable interactions with IT. To paraphrase the old nursery rhyme, thursdays.child has not too far to go.
Small but perfectly formed, this one-act play is well worth your investigation – if you have the strength to break away from your iPhone screen for the evening.