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Remote at the Camden People’s Theatre, London NW1
4/5
THE TECHNOLOGY magazine Gizmondo recently reported that some Facebook employees had used a company poll to ask its founder Mark Zuckerberg whether the company should try “to help prevent President Trump in 2017.”
Such is the power of the social media giant that some of its workers believed that they could engineer its algorithms in order to fix the results of the US presidential election.
In this extremely timely production from Coney “the world’s largest corporation” goes by the name of Remote and, like Facebook, it relies on algorithms to manipulate your choices.
But unlike Facebook — at least for now — it wants to control every aspect of your life by reducing each decision you have to make to two simple choices, choices the audience is asked to make.
As the latter directs the action, a sinister undercurrent soon begins to emerge from the facade of “choices,” particularly when Remote is unhappy with those being made and decides to overrule them.
After 40-odd minutes of decision-making, though, the excitement begins to fade and the visual stagnation of two performers sitting on an almost blank set is draining.
But credit must go to Kieran Lucas, whose layered sound design keeps the senses alert throughout.
Luckily the makers of the show — or possibly game — who describe themselves as “interactive theatre makers” recognise the juncture at which the initial excitement begins to wane and Remote spins speedily off into a surreal future.
At times it’s difficult to follow the thread but even so Remote raises some profound points about how technology is slowly creeping into every facet of our existence.
This is a meticulously clever exercise, which places immense trust in its audience to the point where I found myself delivering the final 10 lines of the show.
One thing becomes clear. Nothing is for certain in this dystopian future.
• Runs until April 30, box office: cptheatre.co.uk