There is something unsettling about watching a play that feels absurdly exaggerated one moment (read: lemonade-selling child robots) and uncomfortably familiar the next (getting fish and chips with your mum’s new boy toy).
Black Swan’s premiere of Day (After Day) In The Life Of The Useless achieves exactly that balance, creating a production that is both ridiculously silly and unsettlingly poignant. Written by Will O’Mahony, the play follows Pete, a man whose life begins to unravel after he is dumped by his fiancée. Looking for answers, he turns to friends, colleagues and medical professionals, setting off a chain of increasingly disastrous events.
Day (After Day) In The Life Of The Useless. Photography Daniel J Grant.
The story moves at a frantic pace. Structured as a series of short chapters, the production rarely pauses for breath. Pete lurches from one catastrophe to another with the sort of relentless bad luck that would be tragic if it were not so funny. The supporting cast shifts effortlessly between characters and situations, helping create a world that feels slightly heightened and increasingly chaotic.The audience spends much of the evening laughing at his misfortunes while also recognising elements of themselves in his struggle to keep up with a fast-changing world.
While the ensemble cast each has their stand-out moments (I’m looking at Seth and Bunny), Steve Marquand is consistently a stand-out. Each wig, accent, turn of phrase and physicality is dripping with comedic (or dramatic, where necessary) timing. Next year, I hope O’Mahony considers writing a spin-off production about Pigeon and how he came to be. I’m in, if so.
Day (After Day) In The Life Of The Useless. Photography Daniel J Grant.
The production benefits from a strong visual identity. The technical elements work together to create a world that feels fragmented and overstimulating, mirroring Pete’s state of mind. The costumes in particular were captivating.
As the narrative progresses, we are left wondering… is it just bad luck? Or is it the tick-box, CAPTCHA verification that ‘I am human’ by reason of our imperfections?
Beneath the comedy sits a genuine anxiety about the rise of artificial intelligence and the fear of humanity becoming irrelevant. It is about what happens when people feel left behind, overwhelmed, replaced, or no longer useful. These are ideas that many people are wrestling with in workplaces and in their personal lives, and O’Mahony explores them with humour rather than exclusively heavy-handedness.
The final act of the show is difficult to navigate but ultimately appears to ask us – would this all just be easier if we relinquished ownership to our AI overlords and gave ourselves over to be all-knowing, no-feeling robots?
In an age obsessed with efficiency and optimisation (perhaps achieved by others, not this humble author) this funny and strangely moving play makes a compelling case for the messy value of being human.
Day (After Day) in the Useless Life of the Useless is on at the Heath Ledger Theatre from 29 Aug- 20 Sep.