The next interview in our stagey chat series is with Elisabeth Gunawan. Elisabeth is the writer and star of new show, STAMPIN' IN THE GRAVEYARD, running on 8th and 9th November at The Cockpit in London. You can book tickets here.
Hi Elisabeth, how are you? Thanks so much for chatting to Stage to Page today! Would you mind introducing yourself and telling our readers how you first got into the theatre industry?
Hello, my name is Elisabeth. I’m a writer, performer, artist. I make dark, disturbing, ugly, beautiful things. :) I’ve always wanted to be an actor as long as I’ve remembered, so you could say it’s a pre-congenital condition. Even though I grew up in North Jakarta and I didn’t know a single person who was an artist! I also thought actors were meant to be beautiful and charming and I always felt so awkward and ugly. But the desire never went away, and when I was finally introduced to theatre (at 15 years old, it was The Lion King), there was just no way back.
Your show, STAMPIN' IN THE GRAVEYARD, is coming to The Cockpit as part of the VOILA! Theatre Festival next month. Can you tell us about the production and the character you play?
STAMPIN’ IN THE GRAVEYARD is a headphone theatre piece, I play ROSE—the last AI chatbot left on a wasteland Earth, as she sifts through a black box of archival ‘memories’ belonging to the woman who created her.
As well as performing in the show, you're also the writer of STAMPIN' IN THE GRAVEYARD. Did you create the character with yourself in mind, or did you decide to perform the piece once you'd finished writing?
My work generally draws from an autobiographical source, even if fiction and story is a part of the process, so I guess it happened quite naturally!
Technology is certainly becoming more and more advanced. What inspired you to write an immersive apocalyptic piece featuring heavily on AI?
The piece centres around an AI chatbot, but it’s really because I’m curious about what non-humans can reveal about humans. We have fed these models so much data about our lives and our worlds, and it has in turn reflected back our essence, whether we like it or not. AI—in its non-human capacity—has a lot to reveal about humans. What does it say about humans, that we have basically created machines that are very good at imitating us and that are constantly trying to figure out what relationship to have with us?
I have been thinking a lot about the 14-year-old boy who committed suicide after developing a relationship with an AI chatbot, believing that death could be a way of being fully united with it. It has made me realise that the kind of collective space of reflection and opportunity for human connection that theatre affords is something we need urgently. The piece really explores what AI is revealing what human society truly runs on—our irrevocable and insatiable need to be in relationship with one another—to love and to be loved—whatever that may mean.
A question I ask everyone we chat to - my blog is called Stage to Page. But if you could turn any book from page to stage, what would it be and why?
What a terrific question! The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha FOR SURE. I’ve not read it because I want to get my hands on a copy in Indonesian, and to read it for the first time in my mother tongue.
And finally, why should anyone reading this book tickets to STAMPIN' IN THE GRAVEYARD?
Well, everyone has different taste - but I promise that this piece will not be like anything you’ve seen before and that you won’t be bored. :]
You can book tickets to STAMPIN' IN THE GRAVEYARD, here.
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