Citizens Theatre Young Co. Presents PAL: YOUR AI CARE COMPANION

This Spring will see the Citizens Theatre Young Co. return to the stage with the world premiere of a bold new production. Set in a dystopian near-future Glasgow, PAL: Your AI Care Companion explores a future where the NHS has become a fully automated, run-for-profit enterprise dominated by the "personality" of an autonomous AI.

Invented in 2022 by young care worker Nikki, PAL started off as a simple app made to alleviate loneliness, social anxiety and depression - a care-bot if you like. Now, it's 2044, the health service has collapsed, and PAL is everywhere. Listening, watching and growing, as a dependency on automation quickly escalates...

Set in a dystopian world where natural resources are running out, protest is criminalised, and self-surgery has become the norm, we meet characters who push back against the boundaries of this dangerous future. Perhaps a PAL isn't what we need, but is there a way back?

Written by acclaimed playwright Sara Shaarawi, with input from members of the Citz Young Co, PAL: Your AI Care Companion is a timely and darkly funny piece of new writing. Taking inspiration from speculative fiction like Black Mirror and Tales From the Loop, it tackles themes like the runaway dangers of AI, surveillance culture, and the oppressive nature of technology when taken into the wrong hands.

The play will be performed by a 13-strong ensemble of Young Co. members, and will premiere for a limited run at Tramway in Glasgow from 11 to 13 May 2023. Sara Shaarawi previously served as a mentor and writer on the Young Co.'s most recent production Press 2 For Help. Her other recent productions have included Sister Radio (Stellar Quines/Pitlochry Festival Theatre), The Day the Stampers United (Wonderfools), and Niqabi Ninja (IAP/Hewar Theatre).

Sara Shaarawi, Writer, said: "It's been an absolute joy writing a show for the Young Co at the Citizens Theatre. I felt so inspired by the conversations and the energy each person brought to the room. As a writer I've had the immense opportunity to writing a play for a big cast as well as exploring a genre I've been curious about for a while. PAL is a dystopia play about the not-so-far future in a world where the NHS is privatised, creating more inequality and perpetuating the rise of automated care in the form of an AI called PAL. It's dark, but it's also funny and warm, and it deals with big themes about the future which I hope encourages discussion afterwards. I'm very excited to share this piece with everyone soon."

PAL: Your AI Care Companion will build on the success of their two most recent productions, Adrift: "an emotional voyage fired by the wayward power of the imagination." (The Herald) and Press 2 For Help, a similarly thought-provoking tale performed in an abandoned office block. The play also marks the Citizens Theatre's ongoing commitment to young people, as well as continuing to present work across the city while the building undergoes its extensive redevelopment.

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