Killer Robots Take the Stage

On a remote, secure island, Rossum's Universal Robots churns out a cheap, disposable workforce. Rossum's robots are strong, intelligent, and versatile, and definitely not human. What could go wrong?

This weekend local actors take the stage for R.U.R. The 1920 play by Karel Čapek introduced the world to the word "robot" and addressed questions that still challenge us today. Translated into English by David Wyllie and re-conceived for a modern audience by Mary Parker, Theatre@First's production explores the same themes of humanity, love, the value of work, and the dangers of oppression as the original, while re-imagining the more problematic aspects of a play that is almost 100 years old and very much of its time.

Parker, a Somerville resident, is often drawn to "lost" plays that have influenced the modern world, but are rarely staged. Her previous work includes The Spanish Tragedy, a clear predecessor for Shakespeare's Hamlet; and The Knight of the Burning Pestle. In this case, she quickly determined that the rampant misogyny of the original had to go. "My editing process consisted of doing a Ctrl+F to find every time the main woman character referred to herself as a 'stupid girl'." Her goal was to refocus the story on the author's main themes of the value of labor, and the contents of the human soul. "He wanted to write about how we dehumanize and discard workers."

The cast, including Somerville residents Leslie Drescher, Jenny Gutbezahl, Samantha Amodeo, and Brian Keller, have risen to the creative challenges of bringing both human and robot characters to "life". In the process, they've explored the central idea that the "evils of technology" are only human evils projected onto a different medium, and discovered how tricky it is to find a washable substitute for blood.

Theatre@First presents
R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)
http://www.theatreatfirst.org/...

Unity Somerville, 6 William Street near Davis Square
March 15-24 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets $15 for adults, $12 for students/seniors.

Photo credits: Johanna Bobrow 2018