'The Antiquities' review — new play exhibits real dangers of artificial intelligence
Read our review of The Antiquities off Broadway, a new play by Jordan Harrison that looks at the present day and recent history through a futuristic lens.
Jordan Harrison envisions the future of artificial intelligence in his stark and slightly unnerving play The Antiquities, and it’s not a pretty picture. Not for people, anyway. The way he sees it, we’re goners.
“We know the humans had museums themselves for understanding the dinosaurs. Well, now, they are the dinosaurs,” we’re told by curators in the show’s opening moment. What comes next is a tour through the human experience — not T. rex exhibits — that starts in the past.
A projected dateline reads 1816, and a firelit tableau emerges. Author Mary Shelley, accompanied by a few of her intimates, gets the creative jolt for a story that will become Frankenstein. Harrison’s metaphor about people creating monsters isn’t subtle.
Years, decades, and centuries push forward in bite-sized vignettes. Scenes depict man-made machines inflicting grim injuries on workers, an early robot, the arrival of a home computer that takes forever to boot up, and eventually the advent of AI.
By 2240, despite brave human efforts, AI creations have essentially reduced civilization to rubble. Think about that the next time you fire up ChatGPT. The show’s timeline then reverses to where it started, deepening each story on the rebound.
Running 100 minutes without intermission, The Antiquities gets credit for conceptual creativity and topicality. Even though it doesn’t break new ground when it comes to the power and perils of technology, it grips with a quiet urgency.
Under the direction of David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan, nine actors who all play multiple roles create vibrant stage pictures. The wall-to-wall stainless-steel set is striking. It recalls an elevator interior, and that fits. Harrison sees humans going down.
The Antiquities summary
Artificial intelligence sparks controversy due to legitimate concerns over privacy, job displacement, and ethical implications, even as the technology offers advancements across various industries. The Antiquities, now in a world premiere co-production between Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, and the Goodman Theatre, looks to the past and the distant future to understand the present.
What to expect at The Antiquities
Lights out! The play begins in silent darkness so long you might think there’s a technical glitch. Nope. It’s intentional, maybe to underscore Harrison’s dark look at people and artificial intelligence.
The show arrives midway into a theatre season in which two other productions — McNeal, now closed, and Maybe Happy Ending, still running — have covered artificial intelligence on Broadway. Harrison previously mined AI in Marjorie Prime, his 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist about human connection and technology.
Spliced among scenes dealing directly with AI, Harrison’s moody meditation is specked with references to mortality: a mother dying in childbirth, an inventor with AIDS, a fatal accident. It’s a shrewd way to underscore the life-and-death stakes.
What audiences are saying about The Antiquities
With a 73% rating on Show-Score at the time of publication, The Antiquities has been computing with audiences.
- “This is one of those ‘AI should scare the pants off of you’ plays. While it doesn't necessarily have anything new to say about that subject, it says it in a compelling way, and the cast is uniformly top-notch [...] It is equal parts nostalgia, think piece, dark comedy, and dystopian thriller.” Show-Score user Ashowgoer
- “A very well-staged and interesting show about human Innovation through the ages and its possible downsides. This is the right kind of Off-Broadway show and although it basically boils down to ‘AI/technology is dangerous,’ there is a lot to see here and you’ll leave the theater thinking.” Show-Score user Foolish.
- “Much more moving than I anticipated. Nostalgic, tender, and surprisingly made me grateful for my humanity at a moment when that is hard to find. It inspired me to find time ‘offline’ and reconnect, and I am still thinking about the show a week later.” Show-Score user Shelley4325
Read more audience reviews of The Antiquities on Show-Score.
Who should see The Antiquities
- Anyone who enjoyed Harrison's play Marjorie Prime will appreciate his latest deep dive into a related thematic territory.
- Fans of theatre that takes on timely, torn-from-headlines subject matter will appreciate the show’s resonance and relevance.
- An audience member who can appreciate actors assuming double, triple, and even quadruple roles will appreciate the versatile ensemble.
Learn more about The Antiquities off Broadway
While Harrison's take on a hot topic is a little short of revelatory, the sophisticated framework and fine-tuned ensemble of The Antiquities make it worthwhile.
Photo credit: The Antiquities off Broadway. (Photos by Emilio Madrid)
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