TAMARA

What happens when a coming technology finally arrives? When something moves from the realm of science fiction to being the new reality?

TAMARA, a timely new play by Irish playwright Denis Burke, explores the arrival of robots into our everyday lives and the unexpected challenges that brings. But this is not a story about the technology itself, which, like the all too humanlike robots, simply blends into the background. At its heart, the play is an examination of relationships and ethics.

Set in a contemporary student flat in London, newly arrived Naomi is forced by illness to spend time with the robot of flatmate Leonard. She is faced with the dilemma of how to treat something she knows is not human but that looks and behaves like a human.

As their relationship grows and student life goes on around them, difficult questions arise about whether robots have feelings or agency and thus the morality of forcing them to do our bidding.

If how we treat robots is a reflection of how we treat each other, then the answers are not always comfortable.

TAMARA previewed at
De Nieuwe Anita
Frederik Hendrikstraat 111,
1052 HN Amsterdam
in April, 2018

Images courtesy of Daniel Fornies Photography
Graphic design & retouching: Julian Deleij – De Beeldmaecker