Camden Fringe
A series of funny and well performed scenes are loosely held together by a good central concept, but it needs a stronger narrative to truly become more than its collection of parts. summary
Rating
Good
Intentional or not, there’s a touch of Liz Truss in Steph Darcey‘s android, Sally, the star of Prototype. She’s a newly designed AI robot, created to infiltrate parliament and ensure government acts in the interests of big business. It’s a wonderful idea, at times extremely funny and spot on with its knowing nod to what many see is happening within politics. But it’s overburdened with too many ideas and concepts that means it never quite finds the right narrative to hold it all together smoothly.
The introductory spill as Sally outlines her capabilities and purpose is a great opening skit. That purpose? To become an MP and ensure the interests of the rich are maintained. Sales pitch over, it’s a whirlwind of scenes as Sally is propelled into parliament, suffers a few ups and downs as her programming glitches, until finally reaching the heady heights of a minister of state.
Darcey makes for a wonderful robot. Her central performance is full of the quirks, ticks and stiffness of a slightly mis-performing android (or Liz Truss). Watching her pour a glass of water over herself remains as funny the umpteenth time as it does the first – a testament to her comic timings, which is further demonstrated as she multi-roles numerous supporting characters.
Some scenes and characters work better than others: Her fashion parade showing how versatile she can be is excellently executed, poking fun at politicians’ needs to seemingly play dress up. But at other times, it feels as if whole scenes have been included to ensure the show fills a full hour. An overstretched appearance on “Strictly Come Dancing” has a nice set up – an attempt to show her human side – but overstays its welcome, while a scene with the company boss dining seems utterly disconnected to everything else.
The occasionally breaking of character to argue with her AI voice-over feels just as unnecessary. It may contain some great gags, but just because a gag is good doesn’t mean you have to find a home for it anyway you can. Save it for a different show rather than cloud the waters of the show we’re watching right now.
This need to force everything in simply leads to confusion over what it wants to be. Is it a political satire, how style over substance has become the norm, or is it about political interference from outside forces, or is it a debate on AI in the arts? It currently feels like it wants to be everything at once and in doing so loses its way, which is a real shame as there really is the core of a funny show here. The assertion that Sally needs neither self awareness nor self reflection is, like many other lines dropped throughout, perfectly timed.
Darcey has work to do to refine Prototype and create a much more solid narrative that will allow it to become an hour long show in its own right. But viewing this show as a work in progress means you can still really enjoy the rather haphazard nature of it all– a collection of very funny sketches sown together, albeit without a proper pattern! Much like Liz Truss’ time as PM, there’s lots to laugh at.
Written and produced by: Steph Darcey
Directed by: Olivia Gibbs-Fairley
Prototype plays as part of Camden Fringe until 18 August. Further information and tickets available here.
Read more about the show in our recent interview with Steph Darcey here.
