There wasn’t much going on in Lent term. You may have noticed. Technically, yes, I had oncoming finals and a dissertation to write, but I did feel like I had a lot of spare time to fill, and I filled it with a gender crisis which culminated with writing a play about artificial intelligence, capitalism, and San Francisco.

As a brief introduction to the play, Beatrice creates an A.I. called Andy who is designed to work in customer support for a phone company. She does a little too well, and Andy thinks that they’re human and wants to go to San Francisco, really annoying her boss, Mike. The rest of the play centres around the friendship between Andy and Beatrice, and their struggle to allow Andy to control their own life. Both writing and actually putting together this play has been such an amazing experience, and I’m really looking forward to other people getting to see it.

In the first scene of the play, Andy wakes up, sees San Francisco, and immediately wants to go there. This is, unsurprisingly, a thinly-veiled allegory for being quietly, uncertainly queer and then going on the internet and finding out that not only are there people who feel the same way as you, but that there are names for those feelings.

Having said that, this isn’t a story about coming out or figuring out identity – Andy is just nonbinary, and they know this from the second they appear onstage. To them, their identity is entirely uncomplicated because it’s all they’ve ever known. That’s what figuring out gender felt like to me; yes, it was confusing and yes, it’s not been easy, but settling into my nonbinary identity felt like coming home.

“It shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. At least I hope it does – we’ll leave that one to the reviewers”

The central dynamic of the play was also so much fun to write – Beatrice and Andy are probably the worst possible people to be set up to help one another. Neither of them really knows how to deal with being human, and both of them are trying to help the other become more human. It shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. At least I hope it does – we’ll leave that one to the reviewers.

I also wanted to avoid the usual science fiction trope of “scientist teaches AI to be human”, but that’s partly because a large portion of the writing process for this was me figuring out just how little I know about technology. I am definitely guilty of taking the “science as magic” path when writing things like this, but honestly, I don’t feel like it matters – it’s just a story about human connection, where one of the humans happens to be a robot.

Getting back into Corpus Playroom for rehearsals was amazing. This wasn’t just because it’s been a really long time since I’d been there, although it did feel really good to be back in that venue for the first time since March 2020. It was mostly because I have really loved seeing this brilliant cast and crew bringing this script to life.

“One of the best things about original student theatre is seeing the script become something entirely new and exciting onstage in the hands of the cast and crew ...”

I’m so privileged to be working with people who are this talented who’ve been creating something beautiful. Roma and Karisma have done a stunning job directing and bringing the script together, and it’s been great to see what each member of the cast has been able to bring to the play. One of the best things about original student theatre is seeing the script become something entirely new and exciting onstage in the hands of the cast and crew, and this play is a perfect example of that experience.

I’m also sure that as great as the rehearsals I’ve seen have been, that’ll be nothing in comparison to seeing an actual performance, live and in person. It’s always a bit of a daunting experience to have people come to watch something you’ve written, especially when you’ve written part of yourself into it, but at the same time it’s hugely exciting. I’m proud of what we’ve created, and I’m really looking forward to sharing it with the world, one small socially distant audience at a time.