OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Eugene O'Brien  Gavin Quinn 

• Synopsis

  In the early 1960s, MIT developed artificial intelligence software called ELIZA, its title a direct reference to Shaw’s Pygmalion. ELIZA made certain kinds of natural language conversations between humans and computers possible. But of course, intelligent response is a trick. It all has to be scripted. So how can a robot write poetry? This Eliza is sent into an anonymous motel, where she interacts with four characters who are all mysteriously booked into the same room. Some of them seem to be barely alive, others too much so, and others may not be real. The audience is an observer to a test: Eliza is both learning from and assessing these individuals. In a series of scripted scenes, they explore love, death, metaphysics, evil and evolution, probing the points in our society where boundaries may be on the verge of disintegrating: between technology and organic life, or between consciousness, non-consciousness and unconsciousness.

• Play Type

  Plays General
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  2

• Female

  3

• Total

  5

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  04 October 2018

• Production Notes

  Produced as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. 

• Producer

  Produced by Pan Pan

• Original Venue

  Samuel Beckett Theatre
  

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme, with additional information taken from the Dublin Theatre Festival programme.