Simple Machines – Fruitmarket, Edinburgh
I am a little bit afraid of robots. I was concerned that the automatons in this production would be sinister denizens of the Uncanny Valley. However, my expectations were turned on their head.
Here, choreographer Ugo Dehaes has created a cynical alter ego. At least, I hope this is an alter ego: Dehaes’s performance is very convincing. Apparently, this soft-spoken character got into the arts with the intention of getting rich. When unlimited wealth and power fail to materialise, he looks to mega-corporations for inspiration, and decides to replace his workforce – the dancers – with robots. However, plan B doesn’t work out as he expected either.
The philosopher Rene Descartes regarded non-human animals as “mere machines”, a view with profound ethical consequences. But perhaps we ...