The Supposed To Be review | Rising: Melbourne | Footscray Community Arts

In Chenturan Aran's The Supposed To Be, people can have a clone of themselves made and observe them living the life and being the person they were supposed to be. In this instance, Kavitha, wanted to be an actor, but due to the pressure of being in a migrant family, settled for a job in the corporate world. 

Over the years, Kavitha has been granted opportunities to interact with her clone, a young woman called Kaye, but without ever knowing who Kavitha us. She is explicitly warned never to let Kaye see her, as she is not meant to see or learn who she became to be. However, during one encounter, she seemingly forgets this instruction and quite quickly reveals her face to Kaye with little hesitation. Strangely, it seems that Aran is equally unconcerned with the consequences of this decision, because Kavitha faces no repercussions for breaking such a serious rule.

Ghostware review | The Motley Bauhaus

The reach of AI into everyday life is becoming both alarmingly blatant and quietly ingenious. We’ve grown used to fabricated videos, fake news and dodgy deepfaked interviews cluttering our feeds. In Cat Finch and Rose Bishop’s Ghostware, that same technology is recast as something at once unsettling and strangely tender, giving the audience room to consider death, grief and the stubborn persistence of love through AI.

Jordan Barr steps into the role of Gertrude, with sharp comedic timing and genuine emotional depth, letting us feel every wobble in her world as she continues to live in the shadow of her sister’s death. Then the impossible happens, she gets a phone call from her sister, or at least an AI imitation of her. These so-called GriefBots let the bereaved cling to their loved ones, whether out of guilt, longing or plain old affection. But when the AI version of Beatrice starts spruiking discounted Ray-Bans and cut-price therapy sessions, Gertrude sets out to have the GriefBot shut down, only to discover that getting rid of it is far tougher than she ever expected.

Love Machine is turning oversharing into coded confessions (Melbourne Fringe Festival)

Tom Richards is stepping into new territory with Love Machine: his first installation, first hardware build, and first time coding. The project, presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, pairs humans with a slightly clunky computer, inviting participants to share, reflect, and explore the nature of intimacy in a digital world. It’s equal parts experiment, theatre, and cheeky curiosity, with a touch of AI.

Richards has faced plenty of hurdles and even a few tears along the way in bringing this project to life. "There were loads of firsts with Love Machine!" he laughs. "Straight out of the gate, coding and hardware. I was relying heavily on AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) while learning Python in parallel."

"Now I know that AI is a bit of a dirty word in the arts industry, and rightfully so, I don’t trust it either, but it has been an interesting process nonetheless," he tells me. "For clarity’s sake, AI did not create this idea, it is not designed by AI, I designed it and I am using AI to achieve things out of my technical range. It's been the biggest obstacle and boon, because the amount of back and forth with AI has been incredibly time consuming, far more than it would have been with a programmer or creative technologist, someone I didn’t really have access to."

Beauty Queen review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Trades Hall

Narcissus takes centre stage in Emily Carr's new work as a young woman hell-bent on winning the Miss World Australia beauty pageant. With Carr's strong character comedy and a story that takes its audience to a few unexpected places, it's laughs aplenty and then some with Beauty Queen.

Carr is in full control of all the characters she portrays, clearly defining the various mannerisms and personality traits of each one. Voice and body language are distinctive and she doesn't take a misstep with presenting each one. Her interactions between "herself" and the AI program helping her write a feminist play that doesn't scream feminism are comical and it's amusing watching the tension and power battle between the two of them intensify.

Your Mother Chucks Rocks And Shells review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

With less than a week left of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, I think the most bizarre yet most fascinating show I have seen is Ange Lavoipierre's Your Mother Chucks Rocks And Shells. I mean the title alone... As we take our seats Lavoipierre is on stage in a nightgown holding a pillow, trying to sleep but insomnia is a bitch and keeping her up. With a few tricks up her sleeve, Lavoipierre attempts to tackle her lack of sleep head on with incredibly hilarious results.

It's 2am when Lavoipierre’s brain, with a charming French accent, begins speaking to her and preventing her from falling asleep. She deduces that watching a movie will help her fall asleep and of ALL THE FILMS in the world, she decides the 1973 horror film The Exorcist is a suitable option (and if you’ve seen this you’ll have a better understanding of where the title for this show came from). From then on, we are treated to an absurd exploration of her twilight musings on religion, sexuality and the patriarchy through The Exorcist along with its 'deleted scenes' set in random alternate movies, such as The Matrix. Sounds weird? Buckle up. It gets weirder.

The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes review | Back to Back Theatre | Monash University

Originally staged in 2019, Back to Back Theatre's The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes returned for a two night season in which we witness a group of people with disabilities setting up for a public meeting in a town hall. While we are not quite sure what the meeting is about, it eventually shines a light on all of us with regards to the society we want to be part of.

With over 15 years of experience with Back to Back and having co-authored the work, Sarah Mainwaring and Scott Price are joined on stage by fellow performer Chris Hansen. The three share a natural and organic energy flowing between them. Their engagement with the audience constantly changes from humorous and light-hearted to authoritative and knowing, making it difficult to prepare ourselves for what's to come and generating an air of uncertainty for everyone present.