Chronicle by Clara Angela Roman
The phrase “Uncanny Valley” invented by Japanese professor Masahiro Mori refers to the strange sensations caused in a person when they are in the presence of a robot that does not completely resemble a human being. The show by Stefan Kaegi and Thomas Melle explores exactly these feelings. The robot Thomas, a simple machine that does not have artificial intelligence, tells us about the writer's (the real Thomas Melle) struggle with bipolarity and about his book that reveals this struggle. Thomas believes that he needs a rescue, something to detach him from the burden of social responsibilities and bring him, at the same time, closer to himself: "I do not want to expose myself like this any more, not as a real person".
Discussions about human randomness, and mental dysfunction open up, and we are asked: What makes us human? Maybe our emotions or the fact that we are unpredictable. What distinguishes us from a machine? Perhaps the body and the perception of the world through physiological senses. Through the robot Thomas we learn about the perspective of his model: that (often) people with mental problems are perceived as machines, that he himself tends to become mechanized or robotic in everyday life and that chance is the essence of our humanity. Through the process of creating a copy of himself, the character suffered "a metaphysical death" that opened the way to the much sought-after release.
We see in our daily lives how technology causes a detachment from reality: we use the phone excessively when we are stressed, we watch a series or a film to relax, we tend to postpone solving some tasks we are afraid of or which we do not really like. Creating a robot is just another (more advanced) way of technological escapism, which, whether we want to accept it or not, we all practice to a certain extent.
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“Ph[r]ases”- Creative Formulas is a programme conceived by Diana Katharina and Daniela Șilindean together with the team of the German State Theatre Timișoara, dedicated to the theatre chronicle within the Eurothalia 2023 European Theatre Festival, held between 20-30 September 2023, financed by the National Cultural Program Timișoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023.
