Review Roundup: DISTANT MEMORIES OF A NEAR FUTURE at Arcola Theatre

Acclaimed theatremaker David Head's Edinburgh Fringe hit Distant Memories of the Near Future is making its London premiere at the Arcola Theatre for a three week run through 30 November. Weaving together a series of five interlocking love stories set in a dystopian but plausible near future, Distant Memories is a disquieting yet beautiful and quick-witted exploration of humanity's relationship with technology and the commodification of our emotions.

With writer and performer David Head's trademark lyrical storytelling, the show blends an effortless gentleness and a big dollop of humour to ask us how we - in all our messy complexities - will hold up in a future categorised by capitalist excess? Directed by Laura Killeen (Godot is a Woman, JEEZUS! A New Musical) and produced by Amelia Campbell for Sprig Rose Productions, Distant Memories is a witty, self-aware multimedia performance which briefly sees an AI performer join David onstage, as he examines the inner workings of hearts, minds and technology with a droll glint in his eye.

Across five overlapping narratives from space miners to tech moguls, Distant Memories fuses tender storytelling with biting satire to create a striking piece of multimedia theatre that posits as much faith in humanity as it does fear of the future.

Distant Memories of the Near Future is the first solo show from David Head - best known for his collaborations with musician Matt Glover - and comes to London following a critically-acclaimed run at Summerhall at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with the play also being published by Bloomsbury. See what the critics are saying...

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Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: The uplifting ending is too neat but reminds us of how humanness cannot be matched by machine thinking, how love defies logic and how dreams are not so easily banished. At 70 minutes the show brings much food for thought and remarkably, given our times, makes you glad to be living in 2024.

Eavan Prenter, All That Dazzles: There’s a lot to like about Distant Memories of the Near Future – it has ambition and heart and says something genuinely new – but it just wasn’t quite enough to connect with me as a piece of theatre. As lovely as the stories are and as witty as Head’s writing is, there was just too much telling – and not enough showing – to make a great show.

Chris Omaweng, London Theatre 1: Anyway, the overarching message, I think (and I am open to correction on this point) is that old-fashioned human connections have something special about them and will continue to do so whatever new-fangled technologies come along. The extensive use of videos, then, is ironic for some and frustrating for others (and both, for others still), as it puts up, repeatedly, a barrier of sorts between David Head’s storytelling and the audience. Head enjoys an excellent rapport with the audience in this intricate and intriguing show.

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