As part of VOILA! Festival, critically acclaimed and award-winning writer and performer Elisabeth Gunawan (Unforgettable Girl, The Stage Debut Award winner for Best Performer 2022) presents Stampin’ in the Graveyard at The Cockpit. A fascinating headphone theatre piece which will immerse audiences in an apocalyptic future, the piece explores what Artificial Intelligence can reveal about our collective memories, imagination and relationships. Using technology, live music, and movement, this play brings the audience into the lived experience of migration and rootlessness, to discover a resilient hope through a unique perspective of AI.
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Stampin’ the Graveyard follows ROSE, the last AI chatbot left on a wasteland Earth, as she sifts through a black box of archival ‘memories’ belonging to the woman who created her. In search of an identity, we journey through a reflective path that investigates the inheritance of lived experiences of migration and exile, reckoning with the irrecoverable destruction of our places of belonging. Through AI and the thread of loss and loneliness, the piece confronts what the non-human imagination can reveal about humans and our relationships, and uncovers the resilience and hopefulness of human nature.
The show plays two performances at The Cockpit Theatre on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November 2024. Ahead of this we sat down with Elisabeth Gunawan to learn more about the show.
What can you tell me about Stampin’ In The Graveyard?
STAMPIN’ IN THE GRAVEYARD is a headphone theatre piece, I play ROSE—the last AI chatbot left on a wasteland Earth, as she sifts through a black box of archival ‘memories’ belonging to the woman who created her.
What first inspired you write the show?
The piece began as a concept album in 2020, during the pandemic, when all the theatres were closed. It became an experiment on what it meant to be together although we were in solitude, and a wider questioning of what it meant to be human and our insatiable need to be in relationship with each other.
How did you approach developing the ideas for the show?
After the concept album, there was a two year period of exchanging ideas, letting it sediment and come back to life… We did WIP performances in 2021 and 2022, both of which were full-length shows in their own right, but we knew that we weren’t fully satisfied with how the story was being told until this time.
What research did you do to help develop those ideas?
Aside from the thematic research and keeping up with AI news, so much work went into how to tell the story—the aural and visual world of the play, the projections, even the audience interaction. This has really been a culmination of 4 years of research!
How did you decide on the use of headphones and what do you think this creates for an audience member?
Through the piece, we learn about the woman who created ROSE, who is known only as ‘MOTHER.’ She and her husband are migrants, people who within the context of London in 2024 may be considered ‘foreigners’ or ‘outsiders’ or belonging to a perspective that is marginalised or minoritised. Through the immersive headphones, the audience is invited to literally step into their shoes and their lived experience.
On a shoestring budget, we have made this piece with a home studio, Ableton, silent disco headphones for the audience (costing about 3 quid per person) and of course, that irreplaceable ingredient—human imagination and presence. I’m proud to create a truly a fringe take on immersive headphone theatre, where resourcefulness and ingenuity actually enhance (instead of detract) from the quality of the piece.
How do you think AI has changed the scope for writing and performance going forwards in a good or bad way?
I am a theatremaker, and I am in no way qualified to comment on AI development, its ethics, leave alone its existential threat. However, one thing I am an expert on is human presence and connection.
We have fed these models so much data about our lives and our worlds, and it has in turn reflected back our essence, whether we like it or not. AI—in its non-human capacity—has a lot to reveal about humans. What does it say about humans, that we have basically created machines that are very good at imitating us and that are constantly trying to figure out what relationship to have with us?
I have been thinking a lot about the 14-year-old boy who committed suicide after developing a relationship with an AI chatbot, believing that death could be a way of being fully united with it. It has made me realise that the kind of collective space of reflection and opportunity for human connection that theatre affords is something we need urgently.
The piece really explores what AI is revealing what human society truly runs on—our irrevocable and insatiable need to be in relationship with one another—to love and to be loved—whatever that may mean.
How do you physically and mentally prepare for a performance?
I have a snack and listen to heavy metal :]
What keeps you inspired?
So many things, but if I have to choose one, it’s memories… And my family and my childhood.
What do you hope an audience member feels when watching Stampin’ In The Graveyard?
I want them to feel all their feelings! For lack of a better answer, I’ll quote the words of someone who listened to our concept album:
“There was darkness, but the music brought light and hope. I felt like I was with you, presence and spirit. Unexpected tears rolled down my cheeks - an overwhelming unplanned spark of creative yearning. Thank you.”
“There was darkness, but the music brought light and hope. I felt like I was with you, presence and spirit. Unexpected tears rolled down my cheeks - an overwhelming unplanned spark of creative yearning. Thank you.”
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Follow us on instagram at @elisabettygun and @saksibisou, and you can find my substack https://kisswitness.substack.com/
Stampin’ In The Graveyard plays at The Cockpit on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November 2024. Tickets are available from https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/stampin_in_the_graveyard
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