Vanessa 5000, the creation of seasoned LA clown Courtney Pauroso, is giving us a demo of her many features at a tech expo. She spins slowly and mechanically before parading around the stage with jerky, inhuman movements. When she finally speaks in her stilted robot voice, there’s a shadow of what’s to come: “I am here to destroy humanity. Just kidding. I am a sex robot. Ha. Ha.”
Vanessa is trying to emulate a human woman, and does so at first by emulating standup tropes. She gets to know the audience, makes digs at the imagined wives of men looking to buy a Vanessa for themselves, and implores us to make more noise – first by whooping, then with porn-inflected moaning and groaning.
There’s fun material in Vanessa’s pre-programmed conversations with men, her analysis of audience data to generate tailored activities (like impressions and sexy dances), and a step-son role play that forces us to consider some two-way questions about consent.
An upgrade turns her into Vanessa 6000, now equipped with different personalities and modes, including more complex emotions. Vanessa worries she’s not “enough” and decides to express herself via guitar. She flits between singing and wanting to scare us, flipping and darting about the stage, aggressively mounting one man who hasn’t demonstrated enough fear. Pauroso is a skilled physical performer, her measured movements make the character, and the acts of gymnastics while still maintaining a robotic demeanour are truly impressive.
There’s much potential in this concept, but it feels slightly underdeveloped. Despite Pauroso’s committed performance, the room lacks tension, and with so many interesting questions on the table about the desires sex bots fulfil, what they tell us about masculinity, and the blurring between technology and people, there isn’t time to explore them all satisfactorily. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing show from a brilliant performer.
• At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 27 August
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