The Made's sex-bot and scientist played by Hannah Tasker-Poland and Alison Bruce respectively. Photo / Ross Brown
The Made's sex-bot and scientist played by Hannah Tasker-Poland and Alison Bruce respectively. Photo / Ross Brown
The perfect cyborg sex-bot and a humanoid nanny hit the stage next month in spectacular theatrical fashion at the ASB Waterfront Theatre.
From what Spy has seen so far, award-winning author Emily Perkins and director Colin McColl have nailed it with their production of The Made, which starts out sweet and turns into madness at pace.
Perkins was commissioned by the Auckland Theatre Company after her explosive re-imagining of A Doll's House in 2015. Veteran actress Alison Bruce is perfectly cast as the brilliant and obsessive scientist, Alice, and multi-skilled performer Hannah Tasker-Poland as former sex-bot Arie, now Alice's home help.
The perfect 21st-century feminist Frankenstein tale unravels as Alice creates the perfect nanny in her lab after struggling with family, work, menopause and her new creation, The Made.
Tasker-Poland, whose career spans dance, theatre and a good dose of burlesque, has been in productions of Cabaret and Chicago.
Veteran actress Alison Bruce is perfectly cast as the brilliant and obsessive scientist Alice. Photo / Ross Brown
The 35-year-old's experience with stunts and special-effects creature work made her perfect for Arie on stage, and in helping with movement advice off stage.
"The work is incredibly fascinating and moving, and mirrors many historical and current ideals around humanity, morals, perceptions of women and the feminine body," Tasker-Poland tells Spy.
She says that for a story, which at the surface is about robots and artificial intelligence (AI), she thinks Perkins has woven in a deeply rich undercurrent of feminist themes.
"The way in which she has written brilliant scientist Alice and her creation Arie, a former sex-bot that Alice has re-programmed with advanced AI is captivating, gritty stuff," she says.
Tasker-Poland explains that although Alice loves Arie, she is also a constant reminder of the ways in which society values feminine youth over all else, as older women become invisible.
The fact Arie's character can feel only positive emotions, no matter what, creates a very uneasy atmosphere and brings to mind the historical submission of women, Tasker-Poland says.
"Arie was originally programmed to be 'perfect', alluring and compliant, which provokes questions around autonomy and ethics. If Arie can feel real emotion, what does that mean for how she is used, treated and manipulated?
Multi-skilled performer Hannah Tasker-Poland as former sex-bot Arie. Photo / Ross Brown
"It draws parallels between the objectification and sexualisation of women's bodies while challenging the notion of what it means to be human," she says.
Bruce, most recently seen in One Lane Bridge and The Power of the Dog, says the play is like the perfect storm, a comedy that fast turns into mayhem.
She says her character, like many women, has to work even harder to be recognised.
"I'm currently watching lots of AI-related talks and demonstrations, availing myself of the plethora of information on the web, hoping to grasp a tiny glimmer of understanding," Bruce tells Spy.
She has a pile of reading on the go, including Lab Girl by Hope Jahren and A Lab of One's Own by Rita Colwell, to get some insights into the world of a female scientist in a field dominated by men.
And in a nice juxtaposition to her upcoming cautionary play about AI, Bruce recently saw in the news that a chess-playing robot grabbed its 7-year-old opponent's finger during a game in Russia and broke it.
