East is South ★★★★ Hampstead Theatre | Feb 7 - Mar 15, 2025


Is the ability to entertain a paradox the difference between human intelligence and AI? If this is the kind of question that fascinates you, then this is a must-see show. Beau Willimon has written an intelligent thriller that challenges both metaphysical and epistemological preconceptions. It focuses on two programmers, Lena and Sasha, who may, or may not, have enabled the AI system, Logos, to become an entity which can no longer be controlled by its creators. Are they the "parents" of a new superior form of consciousness or are they dooming the human race to extinction? The questions abound, and the play is rife with religious connotations starting with the very name of the AI system. Lena, convincingly played by Kaya Scodelario, has been raised in a Mennonite community which eschews technology, but having embraced it, she may now have a motive for wishing to free it from the shackles of another society that is trying to deny its part in the future. Her partner, Sasha, ably portrayed by Luke Treadaway, is also the product of an equally repressive society. Having been tortured as a dissident in Russia, he might also have a reason to release this new awesome power. It then becomes the job of NSA agent, Samira Darvish, chillingly yet sympathetically developed by Nathalie Armin, to find out if these two have conspired to undermine the project to control Logos. In this interrogation she is guided by her comic foil of a superior, Olsen, and by the philosophical guru, Ari Abrams. The latter, quite brilliantly interpreted by Cliff Curtis, becomes the audience's intellectual guide through the intricacies of Willimon's arguments and is ultimately the spiritual centre of the play. East is South is a dialogue-heavy and concept-intense piece of writing that will not be to everyone's taste, but for the right audience, it is a fascinating consideration of the demands and dilemmas of the not-too-distant future. This is topical theatre at its best, and it challenges playgoers to consider some critical contemporary questions.

Rated: ★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Manuel Harlan

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Eton Ave, London NW3 3EU, UK

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