Review: TRUTHMACHINE – ADELAIDE FRINGE 2019 at WP Rogers Room, University Of Adelaide, RCC

Reviewed by Corinna Di Niro, Thursday 28th February 2019.

Making its world premiere, Truthmachine is a 20-minute interactive experience to test how true you are in a post-modern, fake news environment. Presented by Counterpilot, the show runs almost every afternoon and evening of the Adelaide Fringe Festival season, with shows running at approximately 30-minute intervals.

The genius behind Truthmachine is Nathan Sibthorpe, an award-winning theatre artist in Brisbane, Australia. At each show, Sibthorpe invites a maximum of nine participants into the small interrogation room. The technology is state of the art, as each participant answers questions fed to him or her via individual headphones. Participants answer 'true' or 'false' by turning a dial on a very sophisticated triangular machine.

At one point, we were introduced to a detective who chose one of us to be put through a series of personal questions while being hooked up to a custom designed polygraph machine. The interrogation, of course, took place in front of the remaining participants and, last night, I was delighted to be the chosen one. A range of sensors monitored my heart rate, skin responses and breathing patterns. No question was too personal, it seems, as the detective's questions covered topics such as relationships, fear, personal hygiene, bad habits, and uncomfortable situations.

On each topic I scored a very low rating for having responded untruthfully, so, was I able to cheat the system and get away with lying, or was I completely truthful the entire time? That's something that I won't reveal.

This is a very fun and interactive experience. If you're at the RCC (formerly the Royal Croquet Club) Adelaide Fringe hub at the University of Adelaide and looking for something unique to do, why not test your skills at beating a real-life lie detector machine?