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I don't know whether to put this page in my theater directory or in the 'Robocup' corner. But it must be included on my site!

With the curiosity of an explorer, the thoroughness of a scientist, the imagination of an artist and the theatricality of a stage performer, Theater Adhoc makes several contemporary themes understandable and discussible.

Last season Theater Adhoc did an exploration in Mons, Boston and Reykjavik and discovered that worms seem to be very boring animals, but they do have a very interesting sex life and they do play a crucial part in robot technology. And that Rodney Brooks, The Einstein of Robotics, thinks that our machines will resemble us more and more and we will resemble our machines.
But they also found out, that it is sometimes nicer to discover something you don't understand than to discover what is perfectly clear. Like the question whether a tree that falls in an uninhabited forest also makes a noise if nobody hears it.

Then Theater Adhoc decided to make a show on Ultra Intelligent Machines.

Production: Theater Adhoc
Starring: Jan van den Berg and Rien Stegman
Artwork: Hanny van den Berg

I saw this show on Thursday, February 6th. 2003 in Plaza Futura in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

"Well, how did you like it?"
I enjoyed it very much. Jan and Rien know what they are talking about. The story is quite profound. It mainly has to do with the philosophical aspects of intelligent machines.
They have been exploring the field of artificial intelligence last year.
But the story is mainly based on a dialogue written in 1972 ('Special Branch') by the Polish born physicist Stefan Themerson, who was in turn building upon the work of Irving Good.

On December 4th. 2002 Jan, Rien and Hanny visited us in Eindhoven in our Robocup room. A very interesting encounter. They told us, their shows are a kind of 'documentary in the theater'. Kind of a report on their quest for knowledge on a subject. Our robots, we were told, would form a modest element in the performance.
Well, our robots were displayed quite prominently! They were to be seen on a big video screen for at least twenty minutes.

Acting and video art were blended in an excellent way in the show. The players acted in front of and next to the video screen, but there also was a scene, in which the action took place on the screen and both players were just looking, together with the audience, what happened there.

The presentation was very nice. When you envision : 'A report on our quest', you may see a picture of talking men behind a desk. But that was not what we got to see!
The style reminds me of the dutch comedians Lebbes and Jansen. A sparkling show, with a good variation in tempo, which prevented the attention to fade.

To summarize the matter very briefly: 'How can a (super) intelligent machine be creative?' It is a question I think about often. And the subject matter was therefore very well known to me.
But what would be the effect on others? That question came to my mind while I was watching. A lot of difficult words were used and profound philosophical and technical matters were discussed.

We came to the show with a large delegation of Robocuppers and their spouses. That gave me the opportunity to hear the impression of a lot of non technicians. And their answer didn't disappoint me: People who don't understand all the details of the story did enjoy the performance.
Exactly as I hoped and expected.

In short: This is a performance to be recommended for technicians philosophers, theater makers, and theater enthusiasts in general!

I am not aware of details on their performances in the near future, you should refer to their own website for that Theater Adhoc. On the website you'll also find a report on their quest, with a lot of English language summaries.


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