Currently playing at the Arcola Theatre and making its London premiere, David Head's Distant Memories of the Near Future follows an isolated tech mogul who tries to turn love into an algorithm, a jaded consumer who confronts their loneliness and an astronaut who is trapped in the cosmos. Using a multimedia storytelling approach combining projection, video, audio and puppetry, five interweaving stories about love, technology and artificial intelligence unfold. We took the opportunity to speak to David to tell us more about this intriguing show.
Q) Before we begin, please could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background in theatre?
I’m David (he/him). I’m a writer and performer – who predominantly creates works of storytelling theatre. I really like playing with interweaving stories and structure.
My background is more comedic though – once upon a time I dabbled in both sketch and stand-up. Although that seems a very long time ago now, I think that my work is still influenced by that sensibility.
And going even further back… my first ever role was in a youth production of Bugsy Malone. We all start somewhere!
Q) Your acclaimed EdFringe hit Distant Memories of the Near Future is currently making its London premiere at the Arcola Theatre. Please could you tell us a little bit about the show?
Okay so the show is a series of dystopian love stories set in an almost contemporary world, a near future that’s eerily recognisable. And in this future there’s a very prominent dating app that has allegedly “solved” love – with far reaching ramifications and implications.
Threaded throughout this there’s some satirical fake adverts that poke fun at consumerism, musings on relationships and what it means to be human. And, I hope, an ultimately uplifting message.
Q) What was your inspiration for creating this piece of theatre?
It was actually inspired by a period of depression – the original writing was just a way to work through some of the loneliness and isolation that poor mental health can make you feel. And then gradually a coherent story started to take shape.
At the time I didn’t necessarily see it as a theatre show… but over time and many drafts that’s what it became.
Then in terms of some of the more specific events and themes the show explores, the inspiration was really my own experience of dating via the ubiquitous “apps” and a reflection on the modern world – where everything seems to be a commodity and monetised in some way. Which is often quite bleak.
Q) EdFringe is an excellent place for trialling out your work - is there anything in particular that you learnt from running your show at the EdFringe?
EdFringe is such a singular and unique experience – it’s so hard to distil it into one thing.
So what I’ll say is the big lesson I took with me was that making art is its own reward.
I feel with EdFringe there is increasing pressure to bring really polished pieces of work to the festival, and people go with such expectations and ambitions. And all of that can risk clouding the incredible achievement and joy that is simply being there and being part of it.
Q) With already receiving rave reviews for this show, have you adapted anything for this run at the Arcola theatre?
We’ve made some small tweaks, and we’ve adjusted some of the staging to fit the venue.
But the vast majority of the piece has stayed the same. We were very lucky to get such warm reviews, but I hope people will see the show because it interests them regardless.
Q) This show involves multimedia and AI, which is becoming more of a frequent theme in theatre recently. What are the challenges to incorporating these aspects and how have you overcome these?
Yes, the conversation around AI has moved on dramatically since the conception of the show in 2019. We have an AI character, played by the brilliant Jessica Munna – but we aren’t using generative AI. Instead we worked with a tech company to make an Avatar of her, then paired it with a voice performance.
The biggest challenge with tech is always just reliability and getting things to work consistently and across different venues. It’s very challenging as a performer knowing there are elements to the show you can’t control. But under the expert direction of Laura Killeen and the wonderful operating of Graham Self I feel total confidence we meet those challenges.
Q) What are you hoping that audiences take away from this piece of theatre?
I hope they take away a sense of optimism about what being human is, I hope they feel connected to one another in a fundamental way. And I hope they had a good time. They laughed, they felt some emotions – and of course they leave with a slightly more critical eye to the advertising they are force fed daily.
Q) Why should audiences come along to see Distant Memories of the Near Future?
Ahhh I always feel awkward answering this. Okay how about I tell you who I think should come. Romantics with a cynical streak, and cynics with a romantic streak. People who like their comedy juxtaposed with pathos, and who enjoy theatre that embraces laughter. People who feel alone and people who are in love.
And high-powered literary agents/casting directors with roles for the bald and bearded.
Distant Memories of the Near Future is currently playing at the Arcola Theatre until 30th November. For tickets and more information, you can follow the link here.
Photography by Carys Hughes
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