“SPAWN was a well realised show around a very topical subject. The text, which was to a large degree self-generated, was intelligent and well researched, addressing issues of sex/gender and race, framed by an ‘investigation’ of what it means to be human. Having said that, the complexity of the relationship between ‘human nature’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ severely challenges the possibilities of a thirty minute show. As a result, you almost inevitably resorted to the use of well-known tropes and stereotypes. Among the range of roles – (female) androids, (male) sales representatives and Sian’s (somewhat androgynous) ‘controller’ – the latter was by far the most interesting and promising, representing, to my mind at least, everything that is messy, contradictory, ambiguous and (emotionally) complicated about humanity.”

Ernst Fischer – University of Roehampton

© Copyright Sian Alexandra Williams 2016. All rights reserved.