Proto-type Theater Brings A Machine They're Secretly Building To Sheffield

Proto-type Theater are bringing their innovative and critically acclaimed play A Machine They're Secretly Building to Sheffield University's Drama Studio on 7 November.

Nominated for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, the show combines original text, classified intelligence documents, film, animation and specially composed music to entertain, inform, and challenge.

From what might be a news desk, an office, a bedroom, a bunker under a mountain or a theatre, two people - reporters, senators, freedom fighters, or just concerned citizens - think about what it is to speak up, speak out, blow the whistle and lift the veil.

Inspired by a quote from former CIA operative turned whistle-blower Edward Snowden A Machine they're Secretly Building is a wry expose of spies, lies and government surveillance. It charts a course from the secrets of First World War intelligence through to 9/11 and the terror of a future that might already be upon us. Along the way it takes in the 1972 chess world championships between Bobby Fischer of the USA and defending champion Boris Spassky of the USSR; a disco in Oklahoma; the cafeteria at CERN (the European organisation for nuclear research) and the constant erosion of every individual's privacy.

Awarding it 4 stars Lyn Gardner of The Guardian said 'This smartly intelligent whizz through the world of surveillance, and the way governments legitimise spying on their citizens, makes you question what we mean by a terrorist and where the real threat lies'

'The show is about how we got to this point, where our governments are spying on us, and how that's changing who we are' said writer and director Andrew Westerside.

This powerful, lively and fun show was written and directed by Westerside and is devised and performed by Rachel Baynton and Gillian Lees, with digital design from Adam York Gregory ('so seamlessly incorporated into the action it's almost another performer' Exeunt) and original music and sound design by Paul J Rogers.

Proto-type is a company of multi-disciplinary artists led by Rachel Baynton, Gillian Lees, and Andrew Westerside. The company has been making work and supporting young artists in the US, the Netherlands, Russia, China, Armenia, France, Zimbabwe and the UK since 1997.

www.proto-type.org