Roomba Nation – Dying for Technology

Presented by Hurrah Hurrah, directed by Felicity Nicol and conceived by Alison Bennett, who also stars as the lead, Pippi. Alongside Bennett is Nick O’Regan as Nursie and Kate Walder as Doc. 

As for the storyline of the play, “Pippi is a patient that comes into this experimental Nordic treatment centre where a team of care bots, a nurse and a Doc are attempting to treat her. They use care bots in many silly ways, going through an array of ridiculous treatments. It then comes to a point when they have to decide whether to stop treatment,” Alison explained.  

With the help of a multi-disciplinary artist named David Kirkpatrick, “we have made three small robots that were inspired by Roomba vacuum cleaners. We found the way they moved to be slightly hilarious.” Alison then went on to say, “with all the things we could make it seems like a waste of technology. So, we started looking at things of that nature and found loads of funny things.” 

Inspiration for the play came from experiences a few of the cast had had in the last couple of years when a parent had passed away after a long illness.

“We thought about technology and medicine and how it can be so useful and sometimes it’s not. We thought to ourselves, what drives that technology? Which then led to, when does technology start hindering or impeding on our life as opposed to improving it and when should we stop and check back in to see if we have gone too far.”

Until Jul 21. Old 505 Theatre, 5 Eliza St, Newtown. $30-$45+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.hurrahhurrah.com.au

By Riley Hooper