EDINBURGH 2023: Review: DISTANT MEMORIES OF THE NEAR FUTURE, Summerhall

Welcome to the near future. Resources have run out, there are no flowers left in the world, and pizza is synthetic. The Department of Productivity has teamed up with Amazon to deliver ten minutes of mandated advertisements and Artificial Intelligence has solved the question of love.

David Head crafts an exquisite exploration of the relationship between humanity and technology with a big dash of capitalistic doom. Five stories are tied together by the dread and threat of an artificial future. With deadpan, confidently dark humour, Head paints an alarming picture of a world that’s not too far away from where we’re standing.

The commodification of romance goes hand in hand with the illusion of consent and agency, while humans simply have to abide with the new dynamics of a robotic society. Head’s calm, gentle presence accompanies the audience through dystopian ads, his bleak sarcasm easing the horror that comes from the feeling that it all looks a tad to realistic for comfort.

A precise structure and a gorgeous, lyrical script imbued with empathetic wit lead the investigation of a world where data is sold by individuals to make money and diamonds come from space mines. How do you find love when you're undesirable? And how do you go on when everything seems lost? It’s a tenderly striking piece of theatre.

Distant Memories of the Near Future runs at Summerhall on the following dates:  7-13, 15-20, 22-27

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