Mechanical Souls: switch yours on

I am designed. I am a product. Biologically (thank you, nature). Socially (screw you, society). I am constructed as are you.

Made in South Africa. #localislekker.

Where were you made? No, naughty minds: not conceived, but formed. Did mommy and daddy wake you up with butterfly kisses? Were you a young teenager raising younger siblings? Steers brat packs every Friday? Or stretching the budget to make sure every mouth gets a share of the meal? Monotheistic upbringing? Which particular tale was used to strike fear and obedience into your squishy malleable baby mind? Pink is for girls. Kissing catches. Woodwork is for boys. Didn’t you get a Valentines? Shame. Detention for shaving your head. “Why on earth do you want to look like a man?” Asking for trouble in that outfit. Play it safe. We are the Rainbow Nation. “Being friends with them is one thing, but hugging and stuff… you need to know where to draw the line.” Love thy neighbour.

We are By Design. Tick the boxes. Apply settings.

“Do you mind being different?” was the poignant question of the day during Mechanical Souls.

Live performance on everyone’s new favourite zoomy-woomy, and 360˚ video. Interaction! I’m trying new things. That interactive format informs the thematic (the topic of the season) – we want company, we crave connection, we rely on each other. Humanity is necessary to humanity’s survival, we seem to be discovering.

Mechanical Souls is off-kilter. It’s self-aware and awkward in a good way, tongue-in-cheek, actually rather cheeky… a stab at revealing what we’re passing off as ‘human’ these days.

Our hapless android, “Ah-Hui” is her name, is the most human character in that world… humble, trusting, curious, vulnerable. It’s only through the damaging interference caused by those who ‘adjust’ her ‘natural’ inclinations [her programming, if we muuust]… that the bzz-bzz of crossed wires sparks a glitch.

That the problem-causers are mothers – those we’re meant to be able to trust – opens up the highways and byways of interpretation pathways. I saw the state and the media – repeat, should be able to trust – and then those corporations and all them bigwigs… messing and meddling with us, playing politics and power games, re-directing our focus to frivolous distractions in case we begin to follow our instinct, in case we wake up, in case we realise that we the masses hold the sharp blade of truth in our hands. That we are a force and can change shit if we really wanted to.

I’m not sharing much description of the actual work, am I? Because that’s like telling you Colonel Mustard and his candlestick are in the Dining Room again, as you’re dealing the cards. You’ll see.

It’s about perspective. Is it old or is it vintage? Who sees what side of the truth – who is granted access? Who you’ve been brought up to be, and how you’ve had to navigate the world determines your perception. Of yourself. Of reality. Of justice. Of truth.

It’s about manipulation. Who pulls the strings? Who wires and re-wires the same old system?

It’s about responsibility. We can escape to the distractions – plug in, switch off, for a while – but once we’re back in person facing our peers, do we concede to easy answers, dance around the questions, or tell the hard truth.

Overthinking a funny, smartly handled, quirky glance at the future-world humans? Perhaps. But the title Mechanical Souls leads me to think the production-makers had more than that in mind. This Virtual National Arts Festival is going to shake things up and get our too-long-isolated little brains whirring in overdrive. Going to, because, um, er, we had a coupla roadblocks at take-off… but once the engine is properly revved, we’re here for the ride!

Watch it here

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Director: Gaëlle Mourre
Screenwriters: Gaëlle Mourre, L.P.Lee
Photography: Céline Tricart
Stereography: Thomas Villepoux
Music: Jasmin Kent Rodgman