Robotic Actors

Quebecois performance artist Nathalie Claude, creator and star of The Salon Automation, was inspired by 19th century robotics for her latest play. The robotics used were popular in Europe. Robotic actors, as she tells it, are just like real ones "they are hooked up to a computer, and their movements are all pre-programmed. Their faces are painted with oil paint to make them look as human as possible. They speak with pre-recorded actors’ voices, and one of them even "drinks" champagne." Claude collaborated with designers Simon LaRoche and Raymond Marius Boucher to make the robotic actors believable. She admits, she sometimes forgets she is the only human on stage. A turn-of-the-century invention, now robotic actors are a 21st century innovation. See the play at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, December 1st, downtown Toronto.