The Trial of Romeo Oscar review – Ayckbourn goes back to the future with android accused of murder
For play number 92, Alan Ayckbourn returns to his preoccupation of exploring where we as a species are heading through a science-fiction lens. He goes back to the future. In The Trial of Romeo Oscar, the playwright famed for his domestic comedies looks to the year 2194 when humans have spread about the galaxy and androids live alongside us. One of them, RSDO83, is on trial for the murder of a teenage girl in his charge.
This is Ayckbourn philosophising about the future of humanity as we sit at an obvious inflection point, asking what this moment in our relationship with technology means and where it will lead us. The questions running through the play are manifold, complex and echo those asked by sci-fi writers for decades: can robots hurt humans? Do they have souls? He is also questioning the value of art and even its purpose.
It makes for a lengthy, three-hour treatise, with a first act that sets up the trial and a second one that takes us into the courtroom as RSDO83 stands accused as the first robot to murder a human.
The robot’s name is pertinent. R is Romeo in the phonetic alphabet and RSDO83 raised a child called Juliet. They would act out scenes from Shakespeare and the drama questions if, in their playing, they acted it out all the way to its tragic end for real.
There are lengthy recreations of Shakespeare in the courtroom as part of the defence counsel’s case, so lengthy that you sometimes feel like you’re watching a concept-heavy production of Romeo and Juliet. Olivia Woolhouse as Hermione Quinque, drafted in to play Juliet in court, is becoming a star of the SJT stage in this, her third production at the venue.
There are so many questions and concepts being juggled that it would be impossible for them to arrive at resolutions: it might leave you wondering, to borrow a line from Shakespeare’s tragedy, “what satisfaction canst thou have tonight”?
For all that, it’s still an Ayckbourn, which means you will laugh and you will be left with much to ponder.
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough The playwright explores our relationship with technology, asks if robots have souls and even questions the value of art in this sci-fi…
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
For play number 92, Alan Ayckbourn returns to his preoccupation of exploring where we as a species are heading through a science-fiction lens. He goes back to the future. In The Trial of Romeo Oscar, the playwright famed for his domestic comedies looks to the year 2194 when humans have spread about the galaxy and androids live alongside us. One of them, RSDO83, is on trial for the murder of a teenage girl in his charge.
This is Ayckbourn philosophising about the future of humanity as we sit at an obvious inflection point, asking what this moment in our relationship with technology means and where it will lead us. The questions running through the play are manifold, complex and echo those asked by sci-fi writers for decades: can robots hurt humans? Do they have souls? He is also questioning the value of art and even its purpose.
It makes for a lengthy, three-hour treatise, with a first act that sets up the trial and a second one that takes us into the courtroom as RSDO83 stands accused as the first robot to murder a human.
The robot’s name is pertinent. R is Romeo in the phonetic alphabet and RSDO83 raised a child called Juliet. They would act out scenes from Shakespeare and the drama questions if, in their playing, they acted it out all the way to its tragic end for real.
There are lengthy recreations of Shakespeare in the courtroom as part of the defence counsel’s case, so lengthy that you sometimes feel like you’re watching a concept-heavy production of Romeo and Juliet. Olivia Woolhouse as Hermione Quinque, drafted in to play Juliet in court, is becoming a star of the SJT stage in this, her third production at the venue.
There are so many questions and concepts being juggled that it would be impossible for them to arrive at resolutions: it might leave you wondering, to borrow a line from Shakespeare’s tragedy, “what satisfaction canst thou have tonight”?
For all that, it’s still an Ayckbourn, which means you will laugh and you will be left with much to ponder.
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
For play number 92, Alan Ayckbourn returns to his preoccupation of exploring where we as a species are heading through a science-fiction lens. He goes back to the future. In The Trial of Romeo Oscar, the playwright famed for his domestic comedies looks to the year 2194 when humans have spread about the galaxy and androids live alongside us. One of them, RSDO83, is on trial for the murder of a teenage girl in his charge.
This is Ayckbourn philosophising about the future of humanity as we sit at an obvious inflection point, asking what this moment in our relationship with technology means and where it will lead us. The questions running through the play are manifold, complex and echo those asked by sci-fi writers for decades: can robots hurt humans? Do they have souls? He is also questioning the value of art and even its purpose.
It makes for a lengthy, three-hour treatise, with a first act that sets up the trial and a second one that takes us into the courtroom as RSDO83 stands accused as the first robot to murder a human.
The robot’s name is pertinent. R is Romeo in the phonetic alphabet and RSDO83 raised a child called Juliet. They would act out scenes from Shakespeare and the drama questions if, in their playing, they acted it out all the way to its tragic end for real.
There are lengthy recreations of Shakespeare in the courtroom as part of the defence counsel’s case, so lengthy that you sometimes feel like you’re watching a concept-heavy production of Romeo and Juliet. Olivia Woolhouse as Hermione Quinque, drafted in to play Juliet in court, is becoming a star of the SJT stage in this, her third production at the venue.
There are so many questions and concepts being juggled that it would be impossible for them to arrive at resolutions: it might leave you wondering, to borrow a line from Shakespeare’s tragedy, “what satisfaction canst thou have tonight”?
For all that, it’s still an Ayckbourn, which means you will laugh and you will be left with much to ponder.
Read the full story at The Guardian ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- Stephen Joseph theatre, Scarborough The playwright explores our relationship with technology, asks if robots have souls and even questions the value of art in this sci-fi…