Rossum’s Universal Robots turned out to be a quite different production—four physical actresses, playing about 13 different parts: all were narrators, who juggled the narration between them, all played humans, with great physical characters, all played robots in a good stylised way. The dialogue was robotic, minimal and repeated and there was a great score, quite repetitive and minimal, which changed with the stage of the play, reflecting the tension. The narrators stopped form time to time to explain what was going on (delivered with somewhat lunatic smiling expressions and small, bird-like movements) and to comment on the ’emotional arc’ that the characters were going through. So a good sense of humour! The play was written by Karel Čapek and I have no idea of how this production by the CU Amateur Dramatic Club compares with the original!
From the ADC web site:
In a dark future, Old Rossum has discovered the secret of life. Now his factory manufactures artificial people. Known as ‘robots’, they toil to ensure that humans live a life of luxury. Once, Helena Glory sought revolution among the robots; now, married to the factory manager, she is complicit in their servitude. But she still dreams of a world where robots are no longer enslaved. And now, as discontent stirs afresh among the robot masses, there is the danger that such a dream will be realised, with devastating consequences for mankind.
First performed in 1921, R.U.R. is the play that invented the word robot. An enduring cautionary tale, it deals with the human desire to dominate and the costs of domination. This dynamic production will find innovative ways to re-tell this classic story, in order to create a new vision of a bleak alternative future.