Siri

She knows what she’s talking about

Please welcome Siri, the personal vocal assistant incorporated into every iPhone! Intrigued by the prowess of this unpredictable but implacably logical muse, Maxime Carbonneau and his team have concocted theatre where chance rules. Ever on the alert, they take along as a member of their team Siri, the world’s best-selling secret agent, a pocket-size actress of formidable intelligence.

During the course of a hijacked chat, the actress Laurence Dauphinais investigates Siri. In an almost mathematical game of questions and answers, she deploys ingenious strategies to unmask her virtual partner. Siri listens intently. Everything is grist for her mill, and her mastery of information discomfits. What does she know about Laurence that Laurence is unaware of? Their exchanges create a metaphysical dimension of the machine that blurs the frontier between the two women, for the synthetic voice is not only witty and well-informed, but inadvertently exposes grey areas that ultimately humanize her. Realities are shattered. Does Siri the omniscient need only theatre to become incarnate?

Produced by La Messe Basse
Written by Maxime Carbonneau + Laurence Dauphinais + Siri
Directed by Maxime Carbonneau
Performed by Laurence Dauphinais + Siri
Assistant director and production manager Jérémie Boucher
Set and costume design Geneviève Lizotte
Lighting design Julie Basse
Music and sound design Olivier Girouard
Outside eyes and artistic advisors Dany Boudreault + Tiphaine Raffier

Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques with the support of Le Phénix – scène nationale Valenciennes
Presented in association with Théâtre Prospéro

Premiered at FTA, Montreal, June 1, 2016