Review: MYLES AWAY

Chronic Insanity's latest contribution to the online theatre panorama is an entirely interactive and thought-provoking experiment titled Myles Away. From the start, it catapults the audience/players into a futuristic reality where a tech company is about to introduce their newest Virtual Reality product AWAY, a digital utopia. With its founder bumped off the project for good right before the launch, it's left to the participants to decide who they believe and what they should do.

The piece is quick and snappy in its interface, using a series of auto-played videos kick-started by the individual's gameplay. While the acting delivery can be slightly creaky at times, the writing certainly questions the ethics and trajectory of technological innovation while bringing to the plate essential reflections on how discrimination plays into a capitalistic system.

With everything going on and the spotlight currently aimed at tech billionaires, Myles Away it's definitely a topical play in its own way. TL Thompson's Myles unearths the uneasy details of what the industry's top dogs are willing to sacrifice to earn their position.

While the specific innovations of the fictional enterprise may seem farfetched at a first glance, it's important to note that writers Tennexa Freeman and Joe Strickland (with the latter also directing along with Schereeya Reed) aren't too far off from what's being experimented today.

The show is political, engaging, and thoroughly gripping, cementing Chronic Insanity's place in what's become the new normal in terms of theatre.

Myles Away is available online until 2 August.

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