James Aldred as Aldred [David Monteith-Hodge]

THE UNCONTAINABLE NAUSEA OF ALEC BALDWIN
New Diorama Theatre
☆☆☆

IT’S refreshing to see experimental theatre that fuses video, sound (James Aldred) and physical performance to explore a fractured world dominated by digital media.

TG Works’ exuberant production of The Uncontainable Nausea of Alec Baldwin examines our growing reliance on AI to offer advice on everything from technical issues to personal dilemmas. Alec Baldwin (Aldred) – not the real one – spends his days in an extended conversation with an AI chatbot, asking it to interrogate his actions.

Something has happened to his colleague Lucy (Stefanie Bruckner). It was an accident, so presumably he’s not at fault, or is he?

Alec tumbles down digital rabbit holes or is assailed by rolling news clips. Some of the funniest moments come from AI-generated reconstructions of the incident that left Lucy bloodied and bruised, scenes that become increasingly absurd, yet bring us no closer to understanding what actually happened.

The action unfolds on a giant fluffy yellow carpet obsessively tended by a cleaner. A giant inflatable red chair briefly dominates the stage.

When a man in a smiling-emoji piñata head is bludgeoned by Alec, it suggests that his unravelling may stem from masculine rage – though that anger is absent elsewhere. Mostly, Alec seems depressed by his actions and nauseated by the digital overload he subjects himself to, the doomscrolling that erodes his grip on reality.

There are flashes of dark humour throughout, and the high-octane performances (Manuela Pierri and Mathias Augestad Ambjor and Bartel Jespers complete the cast) are impressive.

It’s a clever premise, but Tommaso Giacomin’s script and direction never fully cohere, diverted by competing themes and an overload of online media alongside the AI.

Until March 24
newdiorama.com/