The audience were completely absorbed by Proto-Type Theater’s exposition of global mass-surveillance in
This is an exciting way of creating awareness of this terrifying truth of today
Taking us through the series of events from 1945, the birth of Microsoft, the World-Wide Web and Google; leading to where we are today always being told ‘don’t worry this is to keep you safe’. A Machine They’re Secretly Building theatrically exposes the corruption within the system, pointing out that the extreme surveillance has been implemented only by encouraging fear. Fear of the ‘other’, and monopolising on fear as an industry. How ‘they’ have been collecting our data in Utah data storage warehouses, each containing 1 Yottabyte (1 Trillion Terabytes) of our data, we have handed over while online.
This is an exciting way of creating awareness of this terrifying truth of today, as it places all this information in front of audiences in a tangible way, without making you feel guilty. With the Investigatory Powers Act that was implemented at the end of 2016, this is all information we really should be aware of by now, though many choose to forget or ignore that it’s happening. It’s ‘to keep us safe’ after all. The moments where we see Baynton and Lees on the live-feed, are really the only human feeling moments of this play, and I think a few more moments like this could balance out the cold and detached atmosphere of the show.
