- Title: USA: Robots make their acting debut off Broadway in "Heddatron."
- Date: 2nd March 2006
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK USA (FEBRUARY 23, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF OF HERE ARTS CENTRE
- Embargoed: 17th March 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA3CSC34IQ0UYN5UZ6SPW35WVWQ
- Story Text: They may just be a flash in the pan, but the 5 robots in the off-Broadway production "Heddatron," are stealing the show.
The plot is a deconstruction of Henrik Ibsen's classic "Hedda Gabler," with a cheeky, quirky and futuristic twist.
In the opening scenes, Nugget, a young school girl gives a report about Ibsen's life. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Nugget's pregnant mother, Jane, who toys with the idea of suicide while reading "Hedda Gabler," has been kidnapped by alien robots.
As the story develops, scenes swing between Ibsen's torturously funny marriage and his creative endeavours to the quest for a missing Jane who has been kidnapped and taken to the rainforest where she is forced to enact scenes from "Hedda Gabbler" with the robots.
Les Freres Corbusier, the troupe behind the production, have garnered a solid following with young, New Yorkers looking for humorous and intellectual theatre.
Director Alex Timbers, says initially, the duo were inspired by automatons featured in Disney's Hall of Presidents and Carousel of Progress. Once they decided to combine automatons with their interest in a kind of deadpan acting featured in experimental theatre, "Hedda Gabler" made perfect sense.
"I think a lot of people enter the show hoping to see the robots and think of it as a gimmick production and then they're kind of wowed by the fact that it is really funny and it has sort of emotional depth to it, and it's really smart and also really sophomoric and has all these different elements beyond just a sketch comedy show with robots, which I think is what most people are anticipating," Timbers says.
The production is well crafted and the robots display a great sense of comedic timing. But, that timing is really in the hands of Cindy Jeffys and Meredith Finkelstein of Botomatrix. The two designed and developed the robots with the direction of Timbers and Lemon-Strauss.
Finkelstein says the robots are very functional, but since they are not human, they do have limitations; some of which, were installed purposely.
"We were going to install little computers in each of the robots and they were going to generate their own text and react to the actors, but in the design process we sort of decided between ourselves and the director that anything that we could sort of, any activity we could take away from the robots and put in the hands of a human being we would go in that direction. So, while yes, we could develop an R2-D2 robot, for the theatre it's probably not such a good idea."
Actress Caroline Baeumler, who plays Jane, says that as the play goes on, the robots' acting gets better and better. She jokes that she has humanized them, but she points out that their stage fright, or what some might call glitches, are getting dissipating with each performance. Although there is an additional challenge working with non-humans, Baeumler says it is exciting.
"I had to do some ad-libbing but it was, it ended up being really exhilarating, sort of like doing a sporting event where at the end you're like that was scary, but it was actually really fun."
So should actors beware of robots joining the actors union? The cast and crew all agree, that won't happen anytime soon. But, for now, the five non-human stars of "Heddatron" are getting their five minutes in the spotlight. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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