Benny has travelled a long way to a deserted colony world in search of relics. Will she find them there? She will certainly find the Robots!
Benny has travelled a long way to a deserted colony world in search of relics. Will she find them there? She will certainly find the Robots!
Relics of Jegg Sau
From a distance this play looks like the worst choice of possible candidates in the ‘Bernice vs. monster of the week’ saga. The eponymous Robot is certainly the oddest. All of the other creations have been species you can imagine, and their reappearance in her range has been an opportunity to see them from another perspective or in a different situation.
The Robot on the other hand was a very singular creation, made for one singular purpose which was done and dusted. That doesn’t seem to have bothered Stephen Cole, as he brings it back as an antiquated service robot, deliberately playing up to its historical value. He plays to its strengths; it always had a pretty appalling visual design but vocally Michael Kilgarriff was and remains brilliant. Getting him back was essential otherwise there’d be no reason to do it at all.
There’s a pretty slow start, with Bernice shot down by accident and stranded with two castaways who are more than a little odd. This is all presented as flashbacks, as Bernice recalls the story to the Robot which seems to be interrogating her for some yet as unknown crime. It’s big on mystery, intrigue and despite initially being a little put off by Elise Kalwell they actually play the strangeness just right. Very, very appropriate and believable for characters who have been stranded for a year and the gloating scene in particular is brilliant.
As Bernice gets to know the Kalwells better more of the story unfolds, the Robot slowly gets more and more menacing and a bit of history is given out along the way. This is exactly the kind of storytelling I like, where secrets are fed out piece by piece tantalisingly building the whole picture for the listeners. And, as much as I was dreading the reappearance of the ‘giant’ robots at the end, you just knew it had to happen, Stephen rewrites the scene with an epic change of viewpoint that turns the whole thing around.
The idea that the Robots themselves are the treasures she’s searching for, and that as they do they’re king kong act and get brutally slaughtered by the orbiting fighter ships, its Bernice’s entire profession that’s at stake. The original tried rather vaguely to try and make you feel sorry for the floundering beast, but that isn’t the case here, it’s Bernice trying to call the attack off who’s distraught. Although it’s less personal this is just, if not more, profound than the original Robots desire to protect Sarah Jane Smith.
What Stephen Cole does bring to the story though is an extension of the original Robots mission. It is there to do work too dangerous for humans. The moral arguments between him and Bernice do occupy a large proportion of the play, but they are well spaced out by other scenes. The eventual realisation that it’s planning to replace their most dangerous occupation, living itself, is well handled and pretty chilling.
All in all, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this play. It’s completely unexpected, almost completely uncalled for, but never the less strong, well defined and constant. Considering I’ve heard that it was inspired by something as simple as a 1970s jigsaw puzzle this is amazing stuff.
9 / 10