Anthro-pology by Lauren Gunderson. Hampstead Theatre, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 to 14th October 2023.

3***: William Russell.

Artificial Intelligence is an issue for the age but this complicated feminist drama by Lauren Gunderson getting its world premier at the Hampstead Theatre fails to throw any light on what we should fear from it other than that maybe women should beware robot women. There is a stunning clever box set all white walls containing only a lectern and a television and one doorway which eventually seems to disappear as well as intriguing and alarming video projections to enjoy and a cast of four who are at least watchable and know their lines, no mean feat in the circumstances. But in spite of a flimsy thriller plot it never makes the case for or against AI although it does for letting soft ware engineer Merril, a lesbian American whose girlfriend has left her, loose on setting up a virtual creature to replace her sister who has disappeared. The problem is the virtual sister starts acting up as if on her own initiative. Things get complicated when the absent girl friend Raquel, played by Yolanda Kettle turns, up and so does Merril’s mum – Abigail Thaw in a thankless role. It becomes almost impossible to know who is real and who is not. The cast is fine – Myanna During creates a believable woman more concerned with her own emotions than anyone else’s and Dakota Blue Richards extracts a deal of fun from playing the increasingly dangerous lost sister Angie. But as a story it is too entangled for its own good and the case against, or even for, AI is never made. The subject of replacement people for lost loved ones was far more interestingly dealt with in Marjorie Prime at the Menier earlier this year – it really got very disturbing indeed as the replacements took over the world so that by the end it seemed as if no humans remained. Here one could not, in spite of a polished production, care less. But as an awful warning of what happens when you let machines take your life over - laptops and phones for a start – it has something to say even if not as clearly and attention holding as it could have been.

Cast

Myanna During – Merril.

Yolanda Kettle – Raquel.

Dakota Blue Richards – Angie.

Abigail Thaw – Brin.

Creatives

Director –Anna Ledwitch.

Designer – Georgia Lowe.

Lighting Designer – James Whiteside.

Composer ^ Sound Designer – Max Pappenheim.

Video Designer –Daniel Denton.

Movement & Intimacy Director –Sara Green.

Photo credit – The Other Richard.