Towards a Dramaturgy of Robots and Object-Figures Peter Eckersall

Robotic and virtual figures have become increasingly visible in live performance, functioning more as actors than simply as objects, props, or décor. Dramaturgically they link new perspec- tives on technology, media, politics, and ideas of subjectivity and existence within hybrid performance events that blur the traditional theatrical borders between live and mediated effects. Virtual figures mostly take the form of projections while robots are on some level auton- omous machines with a history of being developed for use in industry and the military. Many artworks involving both robot and virtual figures evidence the different histories of these two technologies. In relation to the works by Kris Verdonck and Hirata Oriza discussed here, it is productive to think about how they utilize these technological agents in their experiments to replicate, augment, and/or replace human actors in performance. In both examples, human and nonhuman actors are virtually indistinguishable. While they are flattened to some degree by the technical requirements and operational parameters of the machines, there is also a fascina- tion with how seamlessly these machines replicate human existence. Consequently both artists’

Figure 1. Johan Leysen performing with a hyperrealistic projected double of himself in M, a reflection (2012) by Kris Verdonck, A Two Dogs Company. Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Ghent, 25 September 2012. (Photo © A Two Dogs Company)

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124 Peter Eckersall performance group, basedinMelbourne,performance Australia. [email protected] (Palgrave, 2013). He isalsoadramaturgandfounding memberofNot Yet It’s Difficult(NYID) Chris Hudson; Palgrave, 2013),and Pacific: Regional Modernities in the Global Era (coauthored withDenise Varney, Barbara Hatley, and with Helena Grehan; Performance Research Books,2013),Theatre and intheAsia- Performance “We’re People Who Do Shows”: Back toBack Theatre: Performance, Politics, Visibility(coedited Peter Eckersall isProfessor Theatre ofAsian atthe Graduate Center, CUNY. Recent publicationsinclude: (2012:18). Communications, surveillance, andnew formsofintimacywithmachinesareevery- calls “an acceleratedreality” thatremapsourexperienceofplace, identity, ethics, andpower fundamentally transformativeandunstoppable:not “augmented reality” butwhatPaul Virilio and ever-increasing speedoftechnologyisanenergy forcepropellingtheglobaleconomy. Itis machines “are ashardtoseepoliticallymaterially” is prescient(2000:294). The transparency the “lightness” oftechnologyisnowgenerallyaccepted. Hercommenttotheeffectthatthese media-tech. What wasoncespeculativethinkingbytheorists suchasDonnaHarawayabout invisible operationsthatareevidentintheeverydaynatureof thesynthesisbetweenhumanand ronment, practicesofNMDreflectnewtechnologies and appearasnetworks, micro-forms, and dramatic ideologicalrenderingoftheactorembeddedinandalienatedbyamechanicalenvi- these objects/formsintermsofbeingdramaturgicalagentsor, followingLatour, “actors.” flow, time, body, conditionsofperformance, andsoon. Hencethereisaneedtothinkabout porating arangeofaffectivequalitiesthatappendtransformativethinkingtoelementslight, awareness ofthemachinerytheatreassomethingbeyondsingularfunctionalthings, incor nical machines” (2014:51). To thinkaboutperformativeobjectsinthiswaystressesanexpanded machinic assemblageof “human andnon-humanflows, fromamultiplicityofsocialandtech- Maurizio Lazzaratoterms(inthecontextofhisworkonproductionsubjectivity)a the beginningofanunderstandingnewmodessubjectivity. We mightdrawfromwhat a matterofanthropomorphismorprojectinghumanemotionalresponsesontoobjects;itis relations [while]socialrelations...createobjects” (SerresandLatour2014:38). This isnotjust are interwoven, imbricated, feedbackloops, a “double circulationofobjects[that]createsocial sions ofobjects. As MichelSerresandBrunoLatourhavenoted, human-objectrelationships trend towardstheprimacyofnewmediainanexpresslymaterialdirection. cal materialsinawork’smakingandreception. Object-figuressuchasroboticactorsdrivethe materials areoftenintrinsictotheexperienceofaworkandthusbecomeprimarydramaturgi- maturgy (NMD;seeEckersall, Grehan, andScheer2014), projections, screens, andmedia dramatically transformingforcewithinthetheatricalspectacle. Inrelationtonewmediadra- contemporary performance, movingfromthetwo-dimensionalbackgroundtoavibrantand ics ofperformance. Itrelatestothewaysinwhichscenographyhasbecomemoreimportant object becomessomethingthatactivatessensibilitiesandoperatesontheexpressivedynam- turer/realizer ofobjectsinthespaceperformanceandalsomindsspectators. The idea givesrisetoquestionsofhowanobjectconnotesmeaningbothforthecreator/manufac- of itsformor “passage fromobjecttothing” (Hudek2014:19). Indramaturgicalterms, this into thediscussionofdramaturgyneedstobeconsideredinmoredetail. Before consideringthis, however, thequestionofhowthesefigures/performativeagentscome expectations, ideologicalperceptions, andpossibilitiesfortheseentitiestoaddresssocialissues. too evidenttransformingpresence, apresencethatisalsoinformedbyrangeofspectatorial lapsing borderbetweenhumanandmachine. works confusetheexperienceofviewingliveperformanceandprovokequestionsaboutcol- In contrasttomodernistandavantgardetrendsexemplifiedbyscenicconstructionthe Considerable attentionhasalsobeengiventotherelational, economic, andsocialdimen- Recent thinkingabouttheobjectinarthassometimesemphasizeddematerialization I amespeciallyinterestedinthematerialityofthesevirtualandroboticobjectstheirall Performativity andEvent in1960sJapan: City, Body, Memory - New Media Dramaturgy 125 - - - 2008). He built dynamic 2008). retain the trace of their histories of assem

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more media than materials

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For example, Belgian artist Kris Verdonck has repurposed electric drills as hapless suicidal Verdonck Belgian artist Kris For example, pro- and haze, performance and installation works are made with light, Verdonck’s Many of the move is the move relations, As is the case of human-animal systems. cuits and organic nervous today by a more complex political economy [...This is] replaced metaphorization. beyond through simulation and mutual modi- that connects bodies to machines more intimately, (2013:89–90; emphasis added) fication. how we also need to persist with questions about who makes objects, For these reasons, My work on robotics and new media dramaturgy responds to collapsing borders between the borders between the to collapsing media dramaturgy responds robotics and new My work on of the lines of demarca- is such as to force a displacement The posthuman predicament for instance between the or ontological categories, differences, tion between structural electronic cir and metal, flesh the born and the manufactured, organic and the inorganic, blage, or their uses and abuses in other fields? How do we avoid techno-fetishism, or work with or their uses and abuses in other fields? How do we avoid techno-fetishism, blage, - These questions are dramaturgi and systems? degraded technologies and localized networks processes and their outcomes are interconnected. cal in that dramaturgy anticipates that artistic visible in the creative process and to make that a Dramaturgs work to make the invisible more contemporary performance very often anticipates a crit- Meanwhile, problem for consideration. contemporary performance is inher In other words, ical and dramaturgically aware audience. and artistic dialogue between theory and practice, ently dramaturgical in its insistence on a “beyond meta- In relation to NMD this mode of dramaturgy is process as/and artistic event. but have it; the works don’t necessarily suggest allegory or symbols, as Braidotti would phor,” tasks. are actual machines and objects that perform belching 2008) and featured an unmuffled petrol engine onstage, #1, performers (DANCER fumes and noise as a comment on environmental catastrophe (END, as a commentary on exis- “figures,” performative intended to work as uncanny sculptural robots, 2013; Grehan 2015). Baarle et al. Van and citizenship (see Eckersall 2012; belonging, tence, Dogs Company to produce his work (previously he pro- Two A has a company called Verdonck Dogs has been a company in residence at the Kaaitheater in Two A duced work as Stillab). Brussels since 2010. along with machines and live actors “figures” as performance elements that he terms jections, “creations are positioned in the transit zone explains that his Verdonck (Eckersall 2012:68). between dance and installation and performance, between between visual arts and theatre, This statement offers further insights into the propositional dramaturgy of robots and object- This statement offers further insights into beyond met- It acknowledges the materiality of objects and the fact that they are now figures. political economy of simulation and mutual modification. giving rise to a complex aphor, entanglement and composite bodies that hint at Following from this is a sense of aesthetic and technoscience. evolution, politics, themes impacting theatre such as ecology, and under what circumstances they come into the performative environment. they are made, more powerful and reliable of ever cheaper, NMD is predicated on the rapid development How much as well as portable interface mechanisms. computer and projection technologies, do these objects human and the vibrant object-machines of NMD (see also Grehan 2015; Scheer 2015). Instead 2015; Scheer 2015). object-machines of NMD (see also Grehan human and the vibrant separating performance ele- or ontological hierarchy or difference of an assumed dramaturgical “unprecedented degrees of as the to what Rosi Braidotti describes NMD is a response ments, between humankind and non- that characterize contemporary relations intimacy and intrusion” human forms: where and their effects are usually invisible or only revealed to make a point about control. This about control. revealed to make a point invisible or only their effects are usually where and on politics but the effects of technology the heart of not only realignment goes to systematic mediums and engage art will adopt new It follows that of art. reorganization also the aesthetic techno-economic imbricated in the but it then also becomes of social critique, in new forms political infrastructure. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00474 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00474 by guest on 01October 2021 126 F workshop at Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia. (Photo © A Two Dogs Company) Originally produced in 2010 at Theater der Welt, Essen,

Peter Eckersall igure 2. Kris Verdonck’s by gender, ethnicity, andage sion seeminglymadebysomeunwrittensocialcode. A diversityofbodiesisdepicted, varied indistinct: peoplelaughsharingsomeprivatejoke, andthen they aresuddenlysilent, adeci- sized rowofpeoplewhisperingtoeachother(fig. 2). Thesoundmodulatesandismoreorless of theseactivities, presentedinpartnershipwithPerformance Space. event was developed by Edward Scheer, Helena Grehan, and Peter Eckersall as a way of exploring NMD Wales. held inSydneyatthePerformanceSpaceCarriageworksand theUniversityofNewSouth In 2014, Verdonck’s workGOSSIP(2010)wasfeaturedinthenewmediadramaturgyworkshop Kerkhoven, therenowneddramaturgwhoworkedcloselywith Verdonck, writes: protect theireyes. The lightbecomessobrightthatitmakestheworlddisappear. Mariannevan more brightlyandlookingatitbecomesimpossible. Peopleneedtoweardarksafetyglasses observe whatlookstobeasculpturalobjectonmetalstand. The workbeginstoglowever formers orinteractingwiththeaudience. InBOX architecture” (n.d.). Manyofhisearlyworksfeaturedobjectscontrollingtheactionsliveper 1.

The workusesfoursynchronizedprojectorstoshowasix-minute performanceofalife- with whichmanprovescapableofassigninghumancharacteristics tomachines. (n.d.) the unknownononehandandotherempathy, thetendernessalmost, a machine, whichfluctuatesbetweenpanic, thepanickyfearforuncontrollableand Kris Verdonck playsdeliberatelywiththeambiguousbehaviourofmanwhenfaced (http://newmediadramaturgy.wordpress.com). The Performance Space, and the production staff at the Io Myers Studio at the University ofNew South Wales media in performance. We gratefully acknowledge for the event fromsupport The Australian Research Council, in a practice-led research setting, and was produced in collaboration with a who groupwork of with artists new This 1 Verdonck wasaguestattheworkshopandGOSSIPinstalledaspubliccomponent GOSSIP

(detail). The projected figures but manipulated to all be the same height.are life-sized,

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but theyhavebeendigitallymanipulatedtomakethemallthe GOSSIP

was re-installed for the 2014 new media dramaturgy

(2005), theaudienceentersawhitespaceto - New Media Dramaturgy 127 ease dis processional shows a line of “personages” in a state of insistent happi- in a state of “personages” shows a line of (2012) are also interesting to consider for the a reflection (2008) and M, END

mixes the faces of humanity with the machinery of intolerance and fear. The figures of intolerance and fear. GOSSIP mixes the faces of humanity with the machinery Verdonck’s which stages a END, contrasting ways that they utilize machines and virtual forms. ness. Verdonck states that these are depictions of “pseudo-happy men and women, young and young “pseudo-happy men and women, states that these are depictions of Verdonck ness. text Fellowship Inspired by Franz Kafka and taken from his short (2014). all grown-ups” old, exclusion and border GOSSIP deals with the contemporary problem of 1909), , (Gemeinschaft is persistent in Kafka’s story describes five friends and their rejection of an outsider who panic. use of Verdonck’s hard-hitting relevance to contemporary politics, With his need for inclusion. to each other “Deformed but equal community. the text explores the formation of an intolerant They abyss. Representatives of a society that stands at the edge of an and extremely satisfied. n.d.). (Verdonck ” confusion and sense of Unheimlichkeit have suppressed their fear, everyday features and expressions are magnified. are rendered in extraordinary detail so that more a ways in an expression of unease, Faces twitch and bodies jostle in uncomfortable and endless cycle of gestures spotlight the ugliness The enlarged effects of their own making. as when has to be repressed and hidden, rightfully so, which, of mediatized self-satisfaction, bureau- the spokespeople for the politics of fear make their public statements in expressionless, - But GOSSIP captures the trauma in this by showing telltale signs behind the flat cratic speech. movements of their and slight unsynchronized shifty looks, In the jarring smiles, tened exterior. foreshortened by their discom- The personages are fixed in their fears, bodies we see hysteria. repeat forting and anxious alignment with each other; they cannot move but merely endlessly One way to think about GOSSIP is as an operative projection like a machine. the same hubbub, The scale of the projection and replication of fears and the registration of its effects on a body. of fear of the human is intended as a distorted feedback loop of our own condition: one image feeds another. same height. The effect is to make a row of different expressions of embodiment also appear The effect is to make a row same height. GOSSIP regulated and truncated. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00474 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00474 by guest on 01October 2021

128 Peter Eckersall apocalypse thatwecannotresist everyday thatitsexistenceisunquestioned. The engineissitedhereasamediumofglobal often hidetheirkillingmachinesandyetsomethinglikeacarengineissomuchpartofthe and destructive, yetitisalsocommonplace, visceral, andprosaicinthesameinstance. Societies is itactuallypoisoningtheaudienceandstagetechnicians?Itsnakedmachinestateshocking while itisfiringintheperformance, itmakescarbonmonoxideandflames. Forabriefmoment machine anditsdevastatingimpactonsociety. The enginehasarawexpressivebeauty, yet, stage, belchingfumesandun-mufflednoise. Here Verdonck emphasizesthematerialityof “end times,” includesasequenceshowinganexposedautomobileengineslowlytraversingthe tableaux ofimagesecologicaldevastationandpresentsavarietyhumanbehaviorsatthe include hisplayI, Worker founder oftheIntelligentRoboticsLaboratoryinOsaka, Japan. Hirata’sdeploymentofrobots the brainchildofHirata’s Andoroido Gekijô(Robot Theatre) collaborator IshiguroHiroshi, likeness andabilitytoperformwithapparenteaseofrapport and senseofagency. Actroids are and afemale “actroid,” atypeofrobotdesigned toactlikeahumanbyshowingstrongvisual to thebody(seeSeinendan2010). Hiratawrotetheplay Sayonara withrolesforahumanactor comes attheexpenseofother. liferation ofhybridsubjectsandtheviolenceencounterarefinelybalancedhere. One machines, humanandthevirtual” (in Van Baarleetal. 2014:60). Boththeawarenessofpro- Verdonck andhisteamdescribe astheviolenceofconfrontationbetween “two identical masking. Forthiseffecttowork, thescrimdimsandremediatesliveactor. This showswhat jection matchestheintensityoflivebody, abalancethatisachievedthroughlightingand spectator toseebehindit. The imagesonandbehindthescrimareinbalancewhenpro- jected images. The semi-porousscrimshowstheprojectionofbodieswhilealsoenabling ing downoftheliveagentsothatitmatcheslowerintensityandsofterfocuspro- humanity couldcometotermswithitshistoryandfuture” asanoutcomeofthiswork(61). the subjectincrisis: “new opportunitiesemergefromtheruinsofdisruptedidentities[...and] to berealbuthidesitsontology” (Van Baarleetal. 2014:60). This createsaproductiveimageof of replacingthereal, effacingitstracesandcreatinganauto-referentialsystem[...]thatclaims NMD setting. fragments ofimagesandunstabletranshistoricalreferences, andisentirelysuitedto Verdonck’s and acopynolongermakessense. Ofcourse, Müller’sworkisalreadyknownforitsassembled tion andtheinevitableattempttospotdifference, theimpressionthatthereisanoriginal logue. in somescenes, theliveactorisnotpresentandinsteadreplacedbytwoprojectionsindia- double ofhimself(fig. 1). Theperformersareindistinguishablefromeachother, and, infact, Müller, theworkfeaturesactorJohanLeysenperformingwithahyperrealisticprojected the endofshort 20-minutesceneweassume thewomanhasdied. Then, intheaftermath of robot showsempathyfortheyoung woman’sconditionandcomfortsherbyrecitingpoetry. At Long, andherfemalerobot comforter. They discussartandthemeaningofexistence. The of actorhasemergedinthetheatrical world” (2010). ing: “It won’tbethatarobotreplaces humanbeingsonadramastage, it’smoreasif anewtype decline. Intheseminimalisttextsthepresenceofrobots isseenasroutine, withHiratasuggest- actor, anactroid, andanonhuman-like androidinaversionoftheplaysetsmallcity in domesticlifeJapan. In2013, Hirataalsoadapted Chekhov’sThree Sisters foracastofan of theirfunctionalvaluebyhumanownersinacommentary ontheadvanceofrobots Hirata Oriza’srobottheatreisverydifferentinitsmanifestation ofthemachinicrelation But thiseffectrequiresakindofdimmingpresenceandwhatmightbetermeddial- For theartisticteam, M, areflection drawsattentiontothefactthat “virtual realityiscapable By contrast, Sayonara We simplydon’tknowwhoisactinghere. Followinganinitialmomentofdisorienta- begins asaconversationbetween aterminallyillyoungwoman, playedbyBryerly M, areflection makesmachineryalmostinvisible. BasedonlettersbyHeiner (2008), inwhichandroidsthatfunctionasdomestichelp arereassured

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a fatalattraction. New Media Dramaturgy 129 expressive, and able expressive,

they are functional,

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bad technoscience.

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. As Jennifer Robertson writes in her essay “Robo Sapiens Japanicus”: “Some kami “Robo Sapiens Japanicus”: writes in her essay As Jennifer Robertson kami.

The actroid then is a complicated figure in this situation. It is very much a product of The actroid then is a complicated figure in this situation. A dramaturgy of robots and object-figures is noteworthy for the ways that it is extending This situation is leading to a new set of questions about robots in society, many of them exis- about robots in society, This situation is leading to a new set of questions are it is also true that Hirata shows how robots While Robertson’s findings are important, The fact that a robot can perform these tasks may not be so unusual in Japan, where it is in Japan, can perform these tasks may not be so unusual The fact that a robot about the themes of the robot plays are not primarily however, For the roboticist Ishiguro, , the theatre , in his discussion of Sayonara Thus, to create moments of reflection and critique. of making the robot recite poetry that gives the scholar Hibino Kei argues that it is the act the robot to perform funeral tasking Moreover, play its sense of authenticity (Hibino 2012:42). for a society that needs to acknowledge and but is understandable rites is not a farfetched idea, spaces address the rights of dead people whose unrequited spirits continue to inhabit irradiated around the Fukushima reactor. a fact that lends itself exceptionally well to Ishiguro’s reductive ideas of human communication, it is Yet Robertson’s scathing exposure of the ideological basis of the robotics industry in Japan. to deal with also a somewhat liminal and transgressive figure; a machine that seems to be able dealing even more radical, existential concerns such as empathizing with the dying girl and, with phantasmic forces beyond the perceptible world. with the displacement of the lines of demarca- Braidotti’s concern the idea of performance. directing for him, tion between structural differences is exemplified in Hirata’s theatre where, tential and political. For example, Robertson concludes that Japanese roboticists, on the whole, on the whole, concludes that Japanese roboticists, Robertson For example, tential and political. of differences stand in place in her analysis, Robots, are uninterested in progressive social issues. are instruments of She argues that robots foreign workers. and ethnic groups, posed by women, purity and hyperconformity (Robertson 2007:381). of racial “good old days” nostalgia for the given Hirata shows that, for the good of society. up to the task of performing productive roles robots can be good actors the right circumstances, estimated that more than 50 percent of the world’s total number of robots are in use. Robots of robots are in use. than 50 percent of the world’s total number estimated that more with a life force or essence of life considered to be living things already, in Shinto terms, are, called as well as human animals and humans, insects, rocks, streams, infuse trees, are cosmic and others (2007:337). cars and robots” creations like dolls, His essay his search to make robots more like humans. life and death but are a testing ground in proposes engi- Android Robot for Studying Human-Robot Interaction” “Development of an motion and for allowing contingent eye contact, neering systems for making the robot establish and inti- all with the view of establishing greater degrees of interaction and reflex responses, the human; it’s the robot can be exactly like Ishiguro, For 2004:424–43). macy (Minato et al. able to closely mirror human gestures and that is, simply a matter of making better actors, likeness is reproduced in a the assumption that human sensibilities or human However, quirks. and auto-response mechanisms might gestural stimuli, range of proto-authentic feedback loops, also be seen as too narrow and essentialist the Fukushima earthquake in March 2011, Hirata wrote an additional scene in which the robot scene in which the wrote an additional Hirata 2011, earthquake in March the Fukushima Fukushima nuclear around the damaged exclusion zone to go into the radiation is re-tasked people who died there. suffering spirits of offer comfort to the say prayers that might reactor to to have more empathy the robot that seems in the fact that it is strong sense of irony There is a - with her own immi woman is preoccupied The dying play. characters in the than the human play and in the additional the first part of the In a functionary. and the technician is nent death rites normally in the domain of a with spiritual matters and performs the the robot deals scene, are going to a place where “You the technician who re-tasks the robot says: As Buddhist priest. [...] Many people died want you to keep reciting poems there. We [...] there are no people. [...] So I’m asking you to do it” and we can’t recite poetry to them. go there, but we can’t there, (Hirata 2011). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00474 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00474 by guest on 01October 2021

130 Peter Eckersall placement thatisevermoreresponsivetotheneedsofmachine. The artistandspectatorarebothimplicatedhere, embedded inapoliticsofengagement/dis- of robotsandobjectfiguresisalwaysinmotionastaterearrangementadjustment. that onedisplacestheotheronlytofinditselfdisplacedinturn. Thissuggeststhatadramaturgy us andaroundus. Moreover, theconstantlychangingrelationsofobjectsandhumansissuch that, as Verdonck’s workshows, cantellusthingsaboutwhattheydoandhowexistwithin that isimportanthere. There isnosuchbinaryanymore. Ratheritisthematerialityofobjects mance outcomes. ble actorswhoareabletotranslatehisexactingdirectorialrequirementsintosuccessfulperfor human wage-laborerwithamachine. And Hirataalreadyhasacompanyofwell-trained, capa- economy ofthesamescaleasmanufacturingindustrywhereitisefficienttoreplacealowly expense oftherobot, whywouldonebothertouseone? Acting andtheatredonotoperateinan purpose ofthismightbe. Ifrobotsandhumansareequallygoodactors, then, givenallthe similitude heanticipatesoftheandroidtheatre, onemightwellbegintowonderwhatthe tions abouttechnologicalsociety. Ifinthefuture, however, hedoesachievethecompleteveri- with bothbecomingactor-entities that, inperformance, haveidenticalqualities. human androbotactors. Hisisapropositionfortotalintimacybetweenmachineandhuman ity. Bycontrast, Hiratahopestoarriveatthepointwheretherewillbenodifferencebetween sense thattheyreflectbacktothespectatordistortionsanduncannystateswithabrightclar Verdonck’s workishypersensitive (2015). GOSSIP also instructive. As EdwardScheerhascommented, thevisibilityofmachinicrelationin vibrancy ofbothismoderated. equally balanced. They appeartobeinterchangeabletheeyeofspectatorbutonlyif human formintheseworks. Humanornonhuman, objectormaterialfigure:theformsarenot being humanandconnectedtoaworld. Yet thereisalsoadwindlingoftheregister lems, creatinganimaginativespacefortheviewertothinkaboutuncannyexperienceof and animprovementregimeforhisrobotcreations. actroids andhissingularinterestthattheatrefunctionasbothacommunicationsexperiment Robertson’s critiqueoftheutilitarianscienceworkroboticistscanbeappliedtoIshiguro’s times seemmoreawareoftheirpredicamentthanhishumancharacters. At thesametime, differently ineitherhiswritingordirecting. Yet theironyisthathisroboticperformerssome- human andnonhumanactorsrequiresexactlythesameapproach. Hiratadoesnottreatthem Hibino Kei. 2012. “Oscillating betweenFakeryand Authenticity: HirataOriza’s Android Theatre.” Haraway, Donna. 2000. “A CyborgManifesto:Science, Technology andSocialist-Feminism intheLate Grehan, Helena. 2015. “Actors, Spectators, and ‘Vibrant’ Objects:Kris Verdonck’s ACTOR #1 .” Eckersall, Peter, HelenaGrehan, andEdward Scheer. 2014. “New MediaDramaturgy.” InTheRoutledge Eckersall, Peter. 2012. “Locations ofDramaturgy Braidotti, Rosi. 2013. ThePosthuman. Cambridge:Polity. References In thefinalanalysisthenitisnotcompetitionbetweenobjectsandhumansforexistence As Ihaveargued, thesignificanceofHirata’sworkinpresentistoposeexistentialques- The differencesbetween Verdonck’s andHirata’susesofthesefiguresinperformanceis Verdonck’s projectionsshowinexactdetailtheprognosticationofsocialandpoliticalprob- ComparativeReview Theatre 291–324. London:Routledge. Twentieth Century.” InTheCybercultures Reader, edited byDavidBellandBarbaraM. Kennedy, (T227) 132–39. Companion toDramaturgy, editedbyMagdaRomanska , 11, 1:30–42.

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