Writings belong of David Finnigan

True Logic of the Future reviews

July 19, 2010 on 8:36 am | In Uncategorized |

The last two weeks were spent almost entirely in the Dance Studio of the Belconnen Arts Centre. In a 19th century study, in a computer, in a tent. Specifically, in the extraordinary set designed by Gillian Schwab for Boho’s True Logic of the Future.

image by ‘pling

Science-theatre ensemble Boho Interactive is the company I co-run (with fellow deviants Mick Bailey and Jack Lloyd), and True Logic is the show we have been developing for the last nine months, along with Gillian Schwab, director barb barnett and performer Cathy Petocz. For a good background on the play (and an awesome retrospective on the company), check out Na Milthorpe’s article in the July issue of Exhibitionist.

The Canberra season of the show finished last night, with a short break before we take it on tour to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney as part of the Ultimo Science Festival. It were an intense, exhausting and exhilarating week, with packed houses and audiences testing every aspect of the play’s interactive components, but the responses from punters have been really encouraging. Initial reviews have been grand, too - here are a smattering:

Cathy Petocz as Jen Howe. Image by ‘pling.

Trevar Chilvar, Australian Stage Online

Nothing pleases me more than to have my ideas of what constitutes good theatre challenged, and the talented and immensely clever cast and crew of True Logic of the Future have done just that. This is a creative and intricately constructed performance that presents many challenges for the reviewer, not least of which is the question of whether it should be reviewed at all.

The work is driven by the ideas of William Stanley Jevons, a nineteenth century philosopher whose work had substantial impact across a number of fields. While this is a potentially didactic and dry theme for a play, it is nonetheless a fascinating experiment when it is turned on its head to be about the audients’ capacity for rationality. And so rather than emotive elements like character and plot providing the work’s movement, this is provided by the audience’s interaction. The play insists that the audience, wherever they’ve come from, is capable not only of understanding Jevons’ ideas, but of constructing them. A far more interesting proposition than the story of a dead man’s life.

And far more interesting than the portrayal of dead man, the three onstage writer/performers; David Finnigan, Jack Lloyd and Cathy Petocz are simply remarkable. With a script that can change direction at a moment’s notice, depending on audience interaction, and clearly defined objectives, their professionalism is of the highest standard. They are likewise supported by musician Michael Bailey, without whose sense of the moment their performances would fall flat.

Some might argue that True Logic of the Future, as a production developed in conjunction with a museum, isn’t really theatre; but I think it rather challenges us to define what theatre really is. At the end of the day (or the performance), what really matters is the nature of the experience and how, as a member of an audience, you’ve related to it. True Logic of the Future takes ideas that are philosophically dense, and not only presents them in a narrative that’s easy to relate to, but also provides engaging experiences that illustrate their point. While this may not suit fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber, it is nonetheless the heart of theatre; it’s what keeps theatre alive.

As theatrical experiences go, this is among the most enjoyable I have ever had. The way in which the performers draw the audience into participation so effortlessly ignited a sense of playfulness and wonder most commonly associated with childhood, and while other experiences may impress with language, skill and profundity (as this one does), I simply found myself incredibly grateful for the awakening of my sense of wonder.

image by ‘pling.

Cris Kennedy, The Canberra Times

Locally-based video artist Jack Lloyd, musician Michael Bailey and writer David Finnigan work together as a collective, calling themselves Boho Interactive, and explore science through performance. Their 2007 work A Prisoner’s Dilemma looked at the science of game theory, while their 2009 installation Food for the Great Hungers was informed by complex systems science as it re-imagined 20th-century Australian history.

Their new show, True Logic of the Future, is the result of a residence at Belconnen Arts Centre and a partnership with the Powerhouse Museum. The Powerhouse has contributed a reproduction of the Logic Piano, something of a Jules Verne-era computer, designed and built by the great 19th-century thinker William Stanley Jevons, and through the narrative the Boho Team explore the life and scientific and economic theories of Jevons.

Before I enter the performance space, purpose-built in austere timber and calico by show designer Gillian Schwab, the usher warns of the interactive nature of the show, but reassures audiences participation isn’t mandatory. The set is a Victorian-era drawing room, complete with performer David Finnigan silently encouraging the crowd to search among the set to uncover key props whose relevance will become apparent during the show.

Finnigan is joined on stage by Cathy Petocz and Jack Lloyd, playing, respectively, journalist Jen Howe and statistician Alex Moore. The three characters come to realise they are avatars working within a computer environment, in reality the scanned consciousnesses of real citizens at some point in our not-to-distant future, and their role is to help calibrate the computer’s settings of a new Big Brother entity who will control government decision- making.

All of the backstory to Boho’s research for this show the work of Jevons, the plausibility of their future scenario constructs, the wonderful period reproductions by the Powerhouse gives you a richer experience as a viewer (or, if you get involved with the interactives, a participant). But you don’t really need to know any of this going in: the team don’t wear their intellectualism on their sleeves. Instead, under director Barb Barnett, they have simply produced a fine piece of drama that explores some of our bigger challenges as a society the loss of anonymity, of power, and control of our environment.

The actors are terrific, there are some nice little conceits possible in a sci-fi show, like the characters playing against their own inner monologues, and Michael Bailey sits obscured among the audience, pressing the buttons and pulling the switches like a soulful trombone-playing Wizard of Oz.

image by ‘pling.

In addition to these sanctioned efforts, there have been some insightful discussions of the play on various blogs. Check out Michael Sollis’ Island Universe, Tom Worthington’s Net Traveller and Ross Hamilton’s Wordsmiff.

Lastly, thanks to everyone that came to the show, for taking a risk on what is easily one of the weirdest performances I’ve ever been involved with. For anyone in Sydney this August, the season runs Saturday 21 - 28 (yes, opening on election day - the stars have totally aligned for us), Bookings through the Powerhouse Museum.