The premise of A Better Memory by Kerr Arts Collective at Pleasance Courtyard, The Green, sounds like a Black Mirror episode, but fortunately for us, it evaded being creepy while still bringing a dead husband back to life. This play asks a long-running science fiction question: if we can keep the ones we love, will we ever need to feel alone again?
The play follows Eleanor (Lubna Kerr), or ‘El’ to her caretaker and friend Mia (Kathryn Mowper), who lost her husband of 40 years, Harold (Codge Crawford), just a year ago. Eleanor has moved to a new apartment and has been slowly unboxing her worldly possessions, including an AI device containing all the digital detritus of Harold’s human existence, which has been reassembled into a semblance of the man.
Understandably, Eleanor has been reluctant to turn it on. Mia insists because Eleanor has been so lonely, though we learn from the rest of their conversation that Eleanor has been to life drawing and Pilates classes after Harold’s death, so she is putting a new life together. When Mia departs, Eleanor caves and turns on the AI. We learn that Eleanor is also losing some of herself, potentially through dementia, and the AI is simultaneously a caretaker so she won’t be alone. AI Harold takes this job very seriously.
Lest that sound too creepy, don’t worry: the show focuses more on the messiness in our closest relationships, though there are occasional whiffs of control. Rather than devolving into horror, though, the control Harold exerts over Eleanor is, we learn, more her desperation for his love and approval, which eluded her much of their marriage. It is more co-dependency than hostage situation. Developing a relationship with an AI is unhealthy, but human relationships are notoriously unhealthy, too.
There are a few shows at the Fringe this year dealing with AI, and A Better Memory is not the only one using a physically present human actor to embody an AI character; however, the simple staging of this production, like Harold’s unassuming entrance and constant presence, is quite evocative. The simple blocking on the small stage keeps Harold and Eleanor, and Eleanor and Mia, in close proximity to each other, so the actors feel fully engaged with each other. Sometimes their movements feel awkward or unnecessary, when they could simply stand and speak to each other, and sometimes the broken eye contact deflates the scene, but overall, these are relatable characters performed with grace.
The plot’s big reveal and the lovely interactions between the performers are well worth the ticket price. See A Better Memory written by Ihsan Kerr at Pleasance Courtyard, The Green.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
