Spillikin was made possible through generous funding from both the Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England
During the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, this production won five 5 STAR reviews, and seven 4 STAR reviews and was in a shortlist of FIVE for the Carol Tambor 'Best of Edinburgh Award'.
It then toured nationally during 2016-7 to similar acclaim, breaking box office records at the Drum Studio, Plymouth Theatre Royal.
During the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, this production won five 5 STAR reviews, and seven 4 STAR reviews and was in a shortlist of FIVE for the Carol Tambor 'Best of Edinburgh Award'.
It then toured nationally during 2016-7 to similar acclaim, breaking box office records at the Drum Studio, Plymouth Theatre Royal.
Review quotes for Spillikin (for full reviews please look in our reviews section)
*****Edinburgh Guide “An astonishing piece of theatre.”
***** British Theatre Guide “This is a perfectly constructed and superbly acted play.”
***** Broadway Baby “Beautifully evocative and moving.”
***** The Scottish Mail “Electric”
**** The Guardian “A unique and intriguing production”
**** The Scotsman “Pipeline Theatre have taken sci-fi theatre to a bold new level”
**** Exeunt “A finely-tuned technological equation that pays out in pure emotional power”
**** The List “A delightful show – whose technical accomplishments are matched by its compassion.”
**** Fringe Guru “a beautiful and innovative show”
**** The Nouse “A beautifully constructed play performed by an outstanding cast. A company to keep an eye on in the future.”
**** The Stage
***** British Theatre Guide “This is a perfectly constructed and superbly acted play.”
***** Broadway Baby “Beautifully evocative and moving.”
***** The Scottish Mail “Electric”
**** The Guardian “A unique and intriguing production”
**** The Scotsman “Pipeline Theatre have taken sci-fi theatre to a bold new level”
**** Exeunt “A finely-tuned technological equation that pays out in pure emotional power”
**** The List “A delightful show – whose technical accomplishments are matched by its compassion.”
**** Fringe Guru “a beautiful and innovative show”
**** The Nouse “A beautifully constructed play performed by an outstanding cast. A company to keep an eye on in the future.”
**** The Stage
The story:
Artificial intelligence meets aged care in an odd-couple romance featuring four actors and a real robot.
A confused elderly lady and a humanoid robot sing a fractured duet. Out of this unfolds a human love story - the ultimate odd-couple romance, which starts with an awkward teenager meeting an unattainable girl, and then jump-cuts backwards and forwards through the pivotal moments of a long relationship lasting from youth to old age - echoes, fragments of experience, snapshots of a faltering courtship, young marriage, the tragedy of childnessness, secret adultery, career success, companionship, the husband’s illness, and finally the wife’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. In response to this the husband, already an obsessive archivist, builds a perfected robotic version of himself, to be deployed after his death: a patient carer, an aide-memoir, a singing partner, able to give order to her confusion, and to bear without complaint the endless repetition required to reassure her. As her mind deteriorates their exchanges acquire an odd poetry, a secret language expressed as a duet. And, on some level, their love survives.
Spillikin, a love story premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the Pleasance Theatre 2015
Spillikin is a collaboration with Engineered Arts, makers of the ground-breaking, cutting edge Robothespian.
Spillikin, a love story premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the Pleasance Theatre 2015
Spillikin is a collaboration with Engineered Arts, makers of the ground-breaking, cutting edge Robothespian.