Simon Stephens’ New Exercise in Mixed Reality Leaves Theatergoers With an Unsettled Feeling

One of the most intriguing and unsettling plays to arrive on Broadway this season, “Marjorie Prime,” includes as characters A.I.-generated facsimiles of people who have died. Now, in a new production on offer at The Shed, the actors themselves appear to us not in the flesh, but courtesy of digital technology.“An Ark,” a 47-minute exercise in mixed reality, aspires to take audience members on a deeply human journey by creating the illusion that its four cast members — all of whom are alive but none of whom is physically present — address not only each other but the viewers individually. Its celebrated playwright, Simon Stephens, whose credits include “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” and “Heisenberg,” begins a program note with this declaration: “‘An Ark’ is not a work of A.I.”This is technically true, I suppose. The debate over the use of artificial intelligence in the performing arts has focused on how it is impacting artists, and the superb actors in “An Ark” — among them Ian McKellen and Golda Rosheuvel, another stage and screen veteran known for her work in Netflix’s “Bridgerton”— rehearsed and recorded their performances and are, I trust, being duly compensated. And there’s little reason to believe that Mr. Stephens, say, enlisted ChatGBT in writing his script — other than its lapses into banality, which I’ll address in short order.But “An Ark” raises larger questions about how we define emotional engagement and intimacy in the digital age, in art and in life. Upon entering the venue, audience members are provided with glasses that enable us to see four virtual chairs and then the actors themselves, who appear to be merely feet away. So it’s as if Mr. McKellen and Ms. Rosheuvel are speaking directly to each of us — except, of course, that they’re not.At a recent preview, this arrangement left me unnerved and a little embarrassed. I was put in mind of the uptick in A.I. boyfriends and girlfriends simulating affection and support without providing the challenges or greater benefits of relationships between human beings. And since the subject of “An Ark” is mortality, I also thought of the advances in “digital necromancy” that make “Marjorie Prime,” written more than a decade ago, seem so prescient.Todd Eckert, the producer of “An Ark,” has earned attention for other mixed-reality projects, among them “KAGAMI” — also presented at The Shed, in 2023 — which used technology to suggest a live concert by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, then recently deceased. For “An Ark,” he recruited Mr. Stephens to craft a journey through a life — several lives, as it turns out — beginning in infancy and ending with the inevitable. “We all know this moment is going to happen,” one actor announces ominously at the beginning; another adds, “Most people choose to pretend that it won’t.” None is identified as a particular character, but collectively, they take us through specific experiences while touching on universal pleasures and obstacles, from the feeling of a mother’s skin to the wages of deteriorating health.There’s a fair amount of sentimentality, with talk of rainbows and “the plunge in your heart of a love story” and “the view of the horizon in the sky as the sun falls,” along with moments that feel sensually and emotionally manipulative. At more than one point, performers ask us to touch them, and their images reach out accordingly, as those of their castmates express concern.To be fair, the sheer proximity, or seeming proximity, of the actors lends to the exaggerated feel of these gestures. Mr. McKellen and Ms. Rosheuvel and the other, younger players, Arinzé Kene and Rosie Sheehy, all manage, under Sarah Frankcom’s sensitive direction, to deliver warmth and nuance.Still, I left “An Ark” feeling unsettled, and not, I suspect, in the way its creators intended. That said, I appreciate Messrs. Stephens and Eckert’s genuine aspirations to push their form forward, and I expect others will continue to experiment and innovate in this vein — for better and for worse.

Simon Stephens’ New Exercise in Mixed Reality Leaves Theatergoers With an Unsettled Feeling

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