BWW catches up with Ben Norris to chat about bringing Autopilot to the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tell us a bit about Autopilot.
It's a new play about class, power and the murky ethics of self-driving cars. But if that sounds quite heavy going, don't worry, it's got lots of jokes and swearing in it too. I started writing it in 2017 when I was writer-in-residence at Theatr Clwyd, after reading an article in TIME Magazine about autonomous vehicle design and the 'trolley problem' (the 'who should die if the car has to choose?' question), and it's been a labour of love ever since. I'm so pleased it's finally getting to see the light of day and meet an audience, after a false start in 2020 because of You Know What.
Where might we know Ben Norris from?
There is an Australian child actor called Ben Norris, and another Aussie Ben Norris who won their edition of Big Brother in 2013, and there is also a British stand-up comedian called Ben Norris who I don't think likes me very much. But I am none of those Ben Norrises. You might know this particular Ben Norris if you saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Family at the 2015 Fringe or on tour in 2016, or if you've seen The Choir of Man in Edinburgh or Adelaide or the West End or Daegu, South Korea, or if you're a fan of The Archers on BBC Radio 4. He is the voice of the very conveniently named Ben Archer on that. He doesn't know why he's now writing about himself in the third person, but he's started so he'll finish.
Do you think you know what to expect from the Fringe?
I've been to the Fringe many times as a punter and several times as a writer-performer now too, with The Hitchhiker's Guide... in 2015 and The Choir of Man in 2017, so I think I have a decent idea of what to expect. But what I like about Edinburgh is its unpredictability; the fact that each year is guaranteed chaos, but a slightly different flavour of chaos each time. I'm excited to be back there for the first time since the pandemic. That will be special. One thing that never changes, though, is that you have to dress for every single type of weather each time you go outside.
Who would you like to come and see Autopilot?
Well, on one level, I'd like literally everyone to come and see it please because we have a lot of tickets to sell and I'm shitting myself. But I'd be particularly delighted if people who don't often go and watch theatre or plays at the Fringe went to see it, and liked it. I really hope the regular theatre-going Fringe crowd will enjoy it, and I expect them to make up the majority of our audience, but if it can appeal to those who ordinarily swerve that kind of work, perhaps because they think it's too earnest or it's simply not enough fun, that would be a big win.
What would you like audiences to take away from it?
I'd really like it to be one of those plays that prompts a big debate in the bar afterwards, between friends and families and couples. I've very deliberately tried to write a play in which there is no explicitly 'bad' or 'wrong' person, and no 'wrong' ideas, just sticky, difficult questions, which I hope people will find very relatable.
I was inspired to write Autopilot because I didn't know how I myself felt about the idea of self-driving cars, and about accountability in situations where bigger systems than the individual are to blame for something going wrong, and so I'd like the audience to leave feeling similarly conflicted, and really wanting to talk about it! I also want them to have laughed a lot, and to have fallen in love with these two characters who I have spent a lot of time with over the last few years, and the two brilliant actors we have playing them. Above all, I want them to have A Good Night Out. At 1:35pm, yes, but the sentiment remains.
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