Ever been talking about something and then see an ad for it on your phone minutes later?
'Slack Mirror: Dystopian Sketch Comedy' is the debut production from Nice Loud Voices, exploring all those creepy #canrelate moments to do with technology, and touching on an imminent robot uprising.You know that funny face filter on your phone you just used? It's stealing your credit card information. Forgot to read the terms and conditions properly? Well done, Amazon now legally owns your second child.
They're everywhere. Who's they? Not sure. But their existence grows more and more evident each day. And we could cry about it, but why not laugh about it instead?
Nice Loud Voices is headed up by writers/performers Amy Currie ('Love/Hate Actually') and Drew Lochrie ('Titanic: The Movie, The Play').
Here, Amy reflects on one of her favourite moments in the show and how technology managed to get in the way of putting it together – how fitting.
“One of my favourite sketches is about a digital assistant many of us use – I won't name any names, but it rhymes with 'frugal'. The sketch was a bit of a challenge to write and rehearse because it includes the phrase that wakes the helpful disembodied voice up – many, many times.
After several interruptions, we unplugged the kitchen speaker so we could get on with things, only to have her pipe up from the speaker downstairs. After we'd turned that off, we thought we were in the clear, but of course she was also listening in from our phones.
Determined to be of use and thoroughly confused by some of our punchlines, she kept interrupting with search results we hadn't asked for, reports on the weather and music she thought we might enjoy. Eventually, we had to give her a code name. It was funny, but unsettling, which is pretty much the tone we're going for in the show itself.”
“We’re really excited about sharing the show with the people of Brisbane,” Amy continues.
“Let’s face it – the world’s gone a bit weird lately, and the next few decades are likely to be equally. . . Interesting. It’s a scary time to be alive, but also a fascinating one. We’re doing our best to make sense of the future of technology, relationships and society with a healthy dose of irreverent humour.”
