AiTopia: Community theatre’s chilling thriller explores impact of tech
A community theatre company will premiere its very first production later this month.
The Collective’s AiTopia will run at the Young Vic in The Cut by Waterloo Station, from January 25 until February 1.
In a foreboding take on future society, AiTopia is set in a self-governing community where the police have been defunded.
Within this dystopia, the opportunity for an AI After Life promises peace, order and financial reward.
But behind closed doors, five families are discovering that innovation has a price.
As cracks begin to form and relationships are threatened, AiTopia offers a chilling and poignant thriller exploring the impact of fast-changing technology on human relationships.
Shereen Jasmin Phillips, creative director of Taking Part, the Young Vic’s Creative Engagement Department, said: “Community theatre is often seen as the underdog, with this production we make it explicitly clear that our work continues to be professional, ground-breaking and relevant.
“With the world changing before our eyes, protest, war, and technology fast escaping our hands, it shed lights on the topics of Ai and the possibilities of a world that could defund the police.”
Featuring a cast and creative team of more than 50 artists, AiTopia has been created from scratch by the members of The Collective, led by director Michelle Payne.
The Collective is a brand-new cohort of multi-disciplinary artists from Southwark and Lambeth, all former members of the Young Vic Taking Part Neighbourhood Theatre project.
Over an eight-month period, members of The Collective have honed their skills to create, stage, and perform a show from scratch.
Alisha Artry, Neighbourhood Theatre Producer, said: “It has been incredibly exciting to witness The Collective devise and develop such a timely new production for the Young Vic stage.
“By giving this extraordinary group of artists, not only a platform to explore the issues that sit at the heart of their communities but creative autonomy over the production, we’re establishing a new model of collaborative theatre-making that places communities at the heart of the creative process.”
Tickets are free and will be available to book here: https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/aitopia
Pictured top: The Collective in rehearsals for AiTopia (Picture: Courtesy of Taking Part)