PROSPERO’S BLACK BOX

Prospero’s Black Box is a one-person clown show that explores the seemingly absurd connection between Shakespeare’s Prospero and Geoffrey Hinton, considered as the “Godfather of AI”. In this one- hour- journey, the clown encounters the “Black Box” (an algorithm that is so complicated even its creators don’t understand how it works) and battles for his own humanness in a world of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In real life Geoffrey Hinton recently resigned from his senior position at Google because he realised that AI technology has become a danger to humanity. At the end of The Tempest, Prospero as well resigns his power and gives up his magic. In this highly participatory solo show the clown tries to solve the problem of the black box with hilarious and provocative results.  

Prospero’s Black Box premiered in summer 2023 at the Hydrama Arts Center in Hydra, Greece and then played at the Ol’ Factory Festival in Chicago in January 2024.