Dramatist Martin Crimp is known for plays with unconventional structures that prompt questions about the dramatic process. Now, he takes to the stage for the first time, directed by Christian Lapointe and supported by a cast which does not exist.
‘Not One of These People’, which came to London’s Royal Court Theatre for three nights in early November in a co-production with Québec City’s Carte Blanche and Carrefour international de théâtre, is based around use of deepfakes: media (in this case, images and videos of faces) generated using artificial intelligence. It begins with static StyleGAN-style portraits projected onto a gauze while Crimp reads their dialogue off-stage. As Crimp joins them on stage, they begin to blink, frown and eventually ‘speak’ alongside him like uncanny ventriloquist’s dummies.
In all, 299 different characters appear and disappear, sometimes almost second by second. There is no narrative; only semi-connected snatches of dialogue...