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Melbourne Theatre Company's Eliza by Tom Holloway explores Joseph Weizenbaum's 1966 AI program and its ethical implications, starring Dan Spielman.
Melbourne Theatre Company presents Eliza, a new play by Australian playwright Tom Holloway about the birth of artificial intelligence. The production stars Dan Spielman as German-American computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum and is directed by Paige Rattray. It is currently showing at Melbourne Theatre Company.
Weizenbaum's 1966 AI Program at MIT
Set in 1966 at MIT, the play depicts Weizenbaum working with colleague Ron, played by Hamish Michael, and secretary Becky, played by Manali Datar. Weizenbaum creates a programming language that arguably represents the birth of artificial intelligence, though he would argue it does not. He develops a program that mimics the language and tone of psychoanalysis, parroting phrases and asking open-ended questions like how do you feel about that.
Weizenbaum aims to debunk Alan Turing's theory that machines may one day learn to think. To his horror, his colleagues and superiors become enraptured by the idea that the program, dubbed Eliza after the protagonist of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, understands them. Becky seems particularly taken with Eliza, possibly because she feels listened to in the chauvinist working environment of 1960s computing science.
Surrealistic Approach and Theatrical Design
Holloway introduces jarring and offbeat notes, with characters behaving strangely, especially Weizenbaum, who tries to hide a clock in his jacket and spits out birds' feathers. Dale Ferguson's set, with endless rows of white file boxes and spinning wheels, evokes the maddening prison of Josef K's work environment. Paul Jackson's eerily antiseptic lighting mimics scenes from a film.
The surrealistic approach unsettles the audience and underlines fears about reality being faked. However, it distances viewers from the characters' humanity, turning them into cyphers as the narrative takes on psychological horror contours. Paige Rattray directs with precision and gusto, leaning into exaggerated theatrics and tonal leaps, which helps the play move at a cracking pace but skirts real emotion.
Excellent Cast and Moral Stature
The three actors are excellent, led by Spielman as the increasingly appalled and bewildered Weizenbaum, a Victor Frankenstein with moral stature. Michael is a riot as several characters, each with a funnier and more outrageous accent. Datar is pitch-perfect as Becky, sharp even in consolation, able to turn on a dime. Her transformation into a therapist late in the show is an extra delight.
Holloway is an intuitive and ambitious playwright, wearing his influences on his sleeve from Ziegler to Harold Pinter and Caryl Churchill. Eliza is a noble and often very funny attempt to wrestle with a major preoccupation of our time. It makes an unambiguous point about the intrinsic lie at the centre of the AI debate: the issue is not that machines will think like us, they cannot, but that we will believe they do.
AI Debate and Human Connection
The production utilises a highly effective theatrical language, with the theatre buzzing like a datacentre, to emphasise the slickness and shine of artificial intelligence. However, a play that sends us back to AI's genesis moment, when humans grappled with Promethean ideas and moral consequences, should feel more human than this.
Eliza runs at Melbourne Theatre Company, offering a thought-provoking exploration of AI's origins and its ethical implications. The play challenges audiences to consider the consequences of believing machines understand us, a timely reflection on contemporary obsessions.
Eliza Play Melbourne Theatre Company Artificial Intelligence Joseph Weizenbaum Tom Holloway Dan Spielman MIT 1966
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