The year is 2050 and AI is sentient. Tech has taken over.
This is the premise of the new play by Prevail Presents opening at Alliance Française this weekend, 13 – 15 September.
Many of us use or interact with AI (Artificial Intelligence) in our daily lives now. Around the world people are debating whether this is positive and creative, or detrimental to us as individual humans and within global society.
Sanctuary is a two-hander starring Kenyan award-winners Martin Kigondu and Joyce Musoke. The play follows a couple as they differ in opinion on the mandatory governmental introduction of a new technology for all citizens. They grapple with the intrusion of AI in their relationship, which is already experiencing difficulties and a new level of incompatibility.
Martin Kigondu (L) and Joyce Musoke (R) Photo credit: @murathengigi
The play is an original adaptation by director Santa Mukabanah based on the dystopian sci-fi piece The Girl in the Machine. Mukabanah has used elements of her experiences in her personal life to shift the focus of the play slightly. Actor / producer Martin Kigondu, who plays husband Owen, tells us that while the play tunes into our contemporary concerns about technology, it is “deeply about human connection”.
While the play explores themes around technophobia, alienation and government control, it’s also about the navigating failing relationships. Although there are only two actors on stage, technology literally becomes an enticing and disruptive outsider, embodied by amplifications of voice actors into the sound space of the stage, emphasizing how our difficulty in navigating complex interpersonal relationships is leading humanity to seek alternative connections with technology.
Owen is the partner who is skeptical of the new technology, while his wife is embracing it. As Kigondu sees it,
One of the ways that humanity has survived everything that is thrown, is that we are slightly cynical”.
He reiterates that there are aspects of AI which are exciting, but the technology also requires caution around it.
Musoke and Kigonu in rehearsal. Photo credit: Dikaiosyne Muriithi Kigwa
This play tunes into many of our contemporary concerns: the rise of AI, the difficulty in distinguishing AI from human created content, control by big data and big corp, and concerns that these complex, opaque systems may do more societal harm than greater good. Kigondu tells us that the play aims to be intriguing and profound; it is anticipating a world that is even more embedded in technology than we already are and the paradoxes of feelings within that conundrum. In the words of Musoke,
There’s something very thrilling about it, peppered with terror”
We are looking forward to seeing this production which promises to be compelling and provocative in its exploration of both high ethical issues and human love.
The play will take place at the Alliance Française Auditorium. The opening performance is Friday 13 September at 7pm, followed by a Saturday 14th matinee at 3pm & an evening show at 6pm. The closing performance is Sunday 15th August at 3pm.