Review: IN A DIFFERENT REALITY SHE'S CLAWING AT THE WALLS at Shaking The Tree

Are you comfortable with the role digital technology plays in your life? I’m conflicted. I like being able to stream any entertainment I want at any time and check in with friends quickly over text. But there are definitely moments when I think, “Why am I wasting my time like this?” On the larger level, for every positive impact (e.g., access to education in remote areas), it seems like there are at least two negative impacts (mental health issues, the spread of disinformation). Now, technologies like ChatGPT and deep fakes make it hard to even recognize what’s real. Maybe nothing’s real anymore.

If you find these thoughts unsettling, Shaking the Tree’s latest offering, IN A DIFFERENT REALITY SHE’S CLAWING AT THE WALLS, is not going to ease your fears. This wild play by Max Yu explores how technology isolates and then consumes us as it goes from being a tool we use to something we’re used by.

The show starts with a situation that will likely sound familiar – Jane (Kiana Malu) and Brandon (Heath Hyun Houghton) argue over what to do about Jasper (Akitora Ishii), Jane’s brother, who spends all his time playing video games rather than looking for a job. The scene replays a couple of times, becoming further removed from actual reality until it dissolves into chaos, controlled by a character named “Untitled” (Alanna Fagan), who represents the internet. Jane, Brandon, and Jasper soon find themselves in a fight for their lives, or at least for their humanity.

This is the directorial debut of a full-length production for Rebby Yuer Foster, Shaking the Tree’s Associate Artistic Director. In every sense, Foster has created a true Shaking the Tree production: multilayered, symbolic, deeply disturbing, and often funny. The show demands a lot from the actors, both physically and emotionally, and they are all well up to the task. I especially loved Fagan’s work as the physical manifestation of technology. Griffin Kiyoshi DeWitt’s lighting design is excellent.

IN A DIFFERENT REALITY SHE’S CLAWING AT THE WALLS spirals into disorder very quickly, like a Twitter comment thread, and it stays there in the disorienting muck. In the reality of the play, there’s no such thing as a non-toxic relationship with technology. The only question is whether we can still find a way to be human.