I’m very happy to write about this short play (or monologue/monodrama?) as I have a clip of the performance that I did of it; those who haven’t seen it can now see what I’m talking about below. Delightful!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B19VubGv1mE
When I was asked about it after the performance, I totally drew a blank on what my inspirations were for this piece. I tend to let ideas snowball and often when they hit their peak and shower down, I lose the trail of thought I went down. Yes, it is true that I wanted to explore the reasoning behind our consensus realities and the prioritising over sight in order to create this, but after the event I started remembering crumbs.
If you have superb memory, you may remember I was writing a play about a House AI – how someone has created the ultimate safety in an otherwise empty environment, and how the memories stored in the house are her way of repressing memories. I hit a block on the play and started to write around it rather than carry on with it.
I was thinking about the way in which SF as a genre creates an ironic distancing between humans and the subject, objectifying our sense of self and individualism when seen through the lens of created “other”. I didn’t want to create a definitive identity for the “voice”, so in a way the object informs the subject (which is why it is called Object, Meet Subject and not the other way round). Humanity is being observed but to an ends that is uncertain. Is it just her projection or is this the interaction she believes from an alien entity?
As you may be able to tell, I was influenced by Solaris (the reflective surfaces), Asimov’s three laws of robotics (very originally mentioned as the three laws of humanity, which I did enjoy writing), and of course HG Wells War of the Worlds about the ants/human divide.
As I mentioned in my video pitch, I’d like people to comment on what they think the thought might be. There was a mention of ventriloquism and tulpas by those who talked to me afterwards, which was extremely interesting and makes me want to research the topic in more depth. Let me know after seeing/hearing the clip! 🙂
Object meet Subject was performed on the 1st November, 2013 at the Creative Centre of Collaboration.
Susan Gray Writes 