My reflections on a compelling endeavor at Shaking the Tree Theatre from the play by Max Yu, titled,
“In a Different Reality She’s Clawing at the Walls.”
A thought provoking work, one that should spark contemplative conversation. While waiting for the venue to open, I observed a spectrum generations. A seventy year old board member, myself – a fifty-four year old woman – a forty something couple, and their teen-age daughter. Multiple groups in their twenties and early thirties. Boomer, Gen X, Gen Z, Millennials. Titles that not only age us, but hint at our connection, lack of connection, or perhaps even adversity to technology. A very diverse collection in attendance to view this bold look at the impact of technology on our lives. The generational perspective will probably yield profoundly different effects on each viewer.
The often confusing dialogue in this play leaves a lot of room for interpretation. It contains a fair amount of profanity and some portions are very sexually explicit and vulgar, providing a realistic, uncensored view of Internet speech. This piece explores ideas that are often hidden, unspoken, maybe even never clearly articulated in our own thoughts. Ideas that lurk in the shadows, taboo for discussion, lest we betray that which we dare not relinquish. The four actors deliver a gripping performance, representing these topics with high-energy physicality.
(courtesy Shaking the Tree)
The opening scene sets a pattern of irony and repetition that is used for emphasis throughout the play. For several minutes, we observe three characters seated on a sofa, interacting only with their hand held devices, rather than with each other. Then begins a somewhat typical family conflict regarding a young man who should be seeking employment, but instead spends the day absorbed in a video game world. The discussion starts in a gentle manner – Jane ( Kiana Malu Willhoft) encouraging, supporting her brother Jasper (Akitora Ishii). Jane’s boyfriend Brandon (Heath Hyun Houghton) applies some pressure in the relationship, suggesting that she “talk” to her brother about getting a job, exuberantly emphasizing his professional online social presence as a means of success. Attempting to pull Jasper out of the grasp of the virtual, Jane suggests that they put down their phones and meditate.
Highlighted throughout the play is the irony of trying to move away from technology and yet still relying on it, needing it. To check the time. To play the meditation track. Away, but never quite. The meditation voice (visualized by Houghton) talks them though some bizarre visualization of a “beautiful” fly that should not be smashed, but rather allowed to freely buzz through the air. Jane and Jasper attempt to participate to varying degrees, but neither are truly engaged, and eventually Jasper returns to his game.
As the entire scene is repeated, the tension and intensity increase through each iteration, eventually displaying outright aggression, anger, and disconnect from one another. During the repetitions, an mystical looking Untitled character (Alanna Fagan) is seated in an upper platform, away from the scene, carrying on some unknown hand gestures, in a robotic fashion. As the scene progresses, those motions appear to be somehow related to actions of the other characters we are watching, becoming more emphasized and directed. At times we hear “the Internet” – an old dial-up connection, with which computer users of a certain generation may find they have an odd affinity.
The scene then devolves into the bizarre. Jane, Jasper, and Brandon suddenly collapse in writhing pain. At first, just momentary “glitches”, allowing them to return unaware to their normal state. Then in more frequent intervals, for longer periods of time, intense searing pain, agony displayed very physically as they writhe across the stage, as if gripped by an electric current beyond their control. The pain is palpable, we can almost physically feel the despair. When the pain releases, the characters begin to voice underlying thoughts – both questioning and justifying their purpose of existence, their hopelessness, their reliance on technology. In one scene all three actors come together directly in front of the audience, and simultaneously voice a mass of thoughts, questions, statements given to the Internet. Education. Politics. How to. Sexuality. Self worth. Spirituality. A mishmash of curiosity, intelligence, innocence, profanity, vulgarity, need, desperation.
Eventually the Untitled character descends onto the main stage and begins to directly manipulate and control, with larger hand gestures and motions. A large screen displays computer text, screens, various graphics behind the chaos in the foreground. Strings of strange red lights imply electrical connections. We hear the Internet speak though the characters, repeating phrases in a confusing, overlapping circular progression. One by one, the Untitled character powerfully draws each person before it, controlling and directing, and then spins them off again into a repetitive cycle. During these cycles, the screen behind displays the birth and progression of personal computer technology.
For the most part, the Untitled character does not speak, until at some point it boldly proclaims its power and position of control, and their need and desire for it. This deranged cycle continues until Jasper, in a desperate determination to be free from control, climbs to the electrical center and disconnects it.
Silence.
All stage lights are extinguished. The Untitled one falls to the floor. Is it dead? Are they free? A tentative poking of the entity produces no response. It is left lifeless on the floor, and an uncertain laugh begins with Jasper, then erupts into a loud, joyous celebration of shouts and hugs. And then … what?
As if not quite sure what to do next, furniture is moved back on stage, almost restoring the original scene. Jasper, Jane, and Brandon sit down together again, this time with no technology. After a few awkward moments doing nothing, Jane finds a book and begins happily writing or drawing. Her actions arouse the curiosity of Jasper and Brandon, and prompt them to each procure some object with which they amusingly occupy themselves. And then Jane picks up her phone. There is an announcement of the time. The weather. The Untitled one rises.
A final scene depicts four individuals appearing to be in different locations, sending text messages to each other. We hear the messages spoken as they are typed, and see the facial expressions of sender and recipient. Communication, and mis-communication. Social interaction, via technology. Life goes on as normal.
Or does it? Has there been a change? When Jasper suggests he feels alone, the others withdraw from a thought that clearly should not have been expressed aloud. What is the point of examining the deeper effects of technology? This artistic piece removes a veil, pries off a lid and allows us to peer underneath into something dark and mysterious. Something we don’t know what to do with, maybe something of which we are afraid. It is a limited viewpoint however.
Does it miss the good, “nurturing” part of the Internet? For some who “came of age” along side the Internet, it opened a world of possibility, establishing a fond sort of camaraderie. For those who never knew life without it, is it integrated into their circuitry? For the older generation who view life as “good” before the dawn of the Internet, must they be forced to bow to the Internet god? Is it now just a necessary evil, or has it actually brought value to our lives? The viewpoint in this play opens the door to discussion, but falls short of answers. It seems to present a sad hopelessness of inevitability.
From a Biblical point of view, it is the same sad hopelessness of all humanity, which existed long before technology. We know that something is missing. We know we need something. We know that we need to be free from something. Now, we feel that we “need” our technology, even if it may destroy us. The reality is that we need God. Without Him, we are hopelessly lost in darkness, pain, and misery. Desperately seeking “something”, needing “something” … connection, value … HOPE. Ephesians 2:12 describes the condition of mankind as “having no hope and without God in the world.”
The Good News is that God, through Jesus Christ, “has given us new birth into a living hope .” (1 Peter 1:3).
Viewing this play as a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, I felt that it described so poignantly the underlying despair and desperation felt by those who do not know the hope of Jesus. No wonder there is so much anxiety, fear, depression, anger and hostility in this world of people trying to identify who they are and find the meaning of their life. I want to say,
THERE. IS. HOPE.
It is Jesus Christ, for “ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14).
In a different reality, the true reality “we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
What is your hope? My Hope is life and freedom in Jesus Christ, my Savior.
An interesting note:
As a sociology student in Tokyo during the early 1980’s, my husband observed many of these same negative behaviors in society. Before the rise of technology. Severe anxiety, depression, loss of meaning for existence, fear of leaving the home to face the world. Students stopped attending school. They felt no purpose in life. They felt isolated, afraid, disconnected.
Hmmm.
The explanation offered at the time was that the earlier generation – extremely poor, having nothing – had worked so very hard to rebuild Japan after the war. They had purpose, and they succeeded. As a result, the younger generation had an easier life. In the rising affluence of modern Japan, they were no longer poor. Education was available to all. Some of the conveniences of life were now commonplace. And in this setting came a wave of hopelessness.
As we examine the complexities of life, it is prudent to examine history alongside the moment. While technology has certainly brought new and unforeseen consequences along with the benefits, we should take care to consider the true underlying causes of our social afflictions.