You are Alex, Head of PR at MirrorMinds, and you are tasked with investigating and giving your opinion on their new AI product. In this completely immersive show, you are the only audience member, and all your interactions take place via video call in your office. It’s undoubtable that this show is utterly unlike anything else at the Fringe, and it is certainly a must-see experience.
This show calls you to question the ethics and morality behind rapidly progressing AI technology and is hugely culturally relevant. Being a one-person audience, the experience is entirely tailored to the points you make and the direction you guide the interaction, but no matter what you do, I guarantee this show will leave you stunned.
The set up is completely immersive; from the calendar and office to do list on the wall, to the scribbled post-its left in your file, and the attention to detail is brilliant, giving the space the feel of an escape room. However, there was no actual solving to be done, only your own opinion and argument to form, which led DeepFake’s advertisement as “part puzzle room” to feel somewhat misleading. Nevertheless, this did not detract from the overall impact of this experience, and I still left feeling utterly impressed.
My best advice for participants in this show: be prepared to throw yourself in completely. At only 15 minutes long, it is one of the shortest shows at the Fringe, and I left wanting it to go on longer. And yet, its succinctness means it packs a real punch, and will leave you contemplating everything you’ve just seen for your entire journey home.
This is the sort of show where it is better not to know too much before you go, so you will simply have to trust me when I say it is entirely worth it, and it is an impactful experience like no other at this year’s Fringe.
DeepFake is running until 30 August (excluding 17 and 24) at Top Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate. Buy tickets here.
Image provided by 404 Theatre as press material.
