Sayonara: Android-Human Theatre Comes to Melbourne, 8/24 & 25

Featuring an extraordinarily life-like humanoid robot, Seinendan Theatre Company (Japan) brings their breathtaking and intimate performance Sayonara: Android-Human Theatre to Melbourne on 24 and 25 August. Robot Geminoid F stars alongside Canadian actress Bryerly Long in a performance that asks the question, "What does life and death mean to humans and robots?"

Sayonara is an internationally acclaimed short play that tells a story of a young girl facing a terminal illness and her gentle caretaker robot who reads poetry to her. Written by award-winning playwright Oriza Hirata in collaboration with robotics specialist Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, Sayonara is a compelling fusion of arts and science.

Oriza Hirata is one of Japan's leading playwrights and directors, and his company Seinendan has toured throughout Japan and internationally, including North America, Europe and Asia. Hirata began collaborating with ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communications Laboratory and Professor Ishiguro, director of robotics at Osaka University, who is noted for his achievements in robotics, which include creating an android clone of himself called Geminoid. A female version of Geminoid, known as Geminoid F, will perform in Sayonara.

In this exclusive season, Melburnians will be the first to see the extended version of Hirata's play outside of Japan, which features an entirely new second act performed in English and Japanese.