Following the journey of two Artificial Intelligences, this October The Chemistry Test will delve into the meaning behind true romance, exploring the boundaries of face-to face connections in our increasingly digital age. Forced together in a testing chamber on one of Saturn’s moons, Steve and Evie, an AI couple, will immerse the audiences in this bonkers sci-comedy to test if it is possible for them to recreate genuine human connection?
The test takes Steve and Evie through the highs and lows of online dating from meet-cutes in coffee shops and blood banks, to having a wild night out clubbing, and hosting a double-date dinner party. Members of the audience will test the controls and will be regularly invited to participate to measure their effectiveness. With the clock ticking down and their chances running out, can Steve and Evie work out their true purpose, can they decode and replicate romance, or is love one thing that a computer just can’t understand?
Playing by the rules and priding herself on being quick to recognise the indicators of love, the role of Evie will be performed by Hannah Adams (We Wrote a Show, The Hope Theatre). She will star alongside, writer and performer Jack Cray (We Wrote a Show, The Hope Theatre), who will perform as Steve. The two will explore frustrations of forcing love, as the more they push, the further away from it they become.
Writer Jack Cray comments, The moment I approached Hannah about this show was at the start of the SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023. The thought of Artificial Intelligence being used to replace actors on screen was something that left us dumbfounded. I love comedy for so many reasons, one of them being that it’s a fantastic way of delivering important messages. For me, there are two key approaches to comedy – putting abnormal things in familiar situations or putting familiar things in abnormal situations. For The Chemistry Test, we’re pulling through our shared concern with the strikes by placing two very abnormal Artificial Intelligences in very familiar situations.
The Chemistry Test is at The Stage Door Theatre Tuesday 22nd – Saturday 26th October 2024
