Play: Darknet

Well, last night was another of those no-brainers.. the Man with the Hat was taking Let's Do London - for less! to Southwark Playhouse, to a play called Darknet. Check, check, check. Booked.

A decently late start time meant I was quite relaxed about getting there - got the 344, like on Sunday, and got off at Elephant & Castle. And was there before the Man with the Hat. Dinner was a glass of wine (about half the price of The Bolton) and a bag of steak-flavoured crisps. He'd booked the entire back section, and when he arrived, just before 7:30, he shooed non-members out of it and we occupied our space. Not that we had that long - doors opened at 7:45 for an 8:00 start, and he warned us that it was a sell-out and we should probably take our seats straight away, to get decent ones. So off we trotted, obediently.

They have an unusual set for this show. To get to our seats, we walked across a floor covering that looked like transparent plastic - never fear, it isn't slippy. We dispersed ourselves throughout the seating, and examined a set that was obviously designed to reflect internet-type stuff.. the whole backdrop was covered in rectangles of different sizes (monitors / tablets), while the lighting was blue - a techie kind of colour, as I remarked.

Now, the darknet itself is a shadowy part of the internet, populated by sites that aren't searchable (you have to know where you're going) and accessible only using a special browser. Used for untraceable communications, and often - of course - for illegal transactions. But this play isn't really about any of that - although the darknet is accessed in the course of the play, the theme is mainly a more general argument for / against privacy and data security. Reminded me more of Edward Snowden than anything else.

I work for a software company. I've been around computers for almost all my adult life, coding for most of that. I've spent a lot of time with a lot of hackers, although never bothered with it myself - never mind the darknet. But I've been around a lot of conversations about data security. And I know that almost everything that happens in this play is already happening, and what isn't already happening conceivably could - which makes it highly topical.

It's quite a clever idea - we're forced to consider several aspects of data control and its implications. Big companies reward characters for giving them access to their private data - but what will the implications of that be? Are these companies' methods of accessing data always ethical? What about the people on the fringes of society, who always seem to lose out? Who else can access data, and to what end? And what really happens on the darknet?

So yes, I found it very interesting. Gotta say though, I had some reservations about the production - maybe they were trying to appeal to non-computer-literate people, but it seemed as though a lot of it was exaggerated for effect.. seriously, there were so many people waving frames around, and every time we dived into the darknet, freakish images were projected onto the backdrop. Well, I guess they were trying to externalise a virtual world, which isn't easy. To be fair, it'd be hard to reproduce something like the Royal Court did with The Nether, with their electronic touch-table, projected onto a screen.. 

On balance, it is a very interesting play - recommended. I love what they do with the electronic PA - not exactly like the one voiced by Scarlett Johanssen in Her! Runs until 7 May - booking advisable.

Afterwards, a hardcore of us repaired to our reserved spot at the back, which we occupied as long as we were let. And had a roaring time! And just as we were nicely sozzled, along came.. a friggin' film crew, wanting vox-pops about the show. Uhh.. Well, we held it together to give reasonably coherent reports. I think. Most of us. ;-) And then we moseyed off into the night, already past my bedtime. At least the bus wasn't long in coming..

I'm feeling slightly fragile today - which should be interesting tonight. Both of the Man with the Hat's groups (Let's Do London - for less! and London for Less Than a Tenner) are off to a show called The Passion of Lady Vendredi, at Soho Theatre - and so am I. This was a recent development - I was originally supposed to be going to Doctor Faustus, with London Dramatic Arts Meetup, but sadly, the organiser's mother-in-law just died (as I found out last weekend) and the funeral is today. Works out well for me though - the event has been rescheduled, at a cheaper price, the difference has been refunded to me, and I can now go to both shows! (So I'm going for Less Than a Tenner - 'coz I'm cheap.) The Passion of Lady Vendredi is, apparently, musical theatre, and designed to promote the music of the Lady Vendredi band. And should be interesting.

Tomorrow, I'm off to a comedy show in King's Cross, with London Live Comedy. Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend, again..