Girl in the Machine
Girl in the Machine
Stef Smith
‘Do you want to live forever? YES or NO.’
Polly and Owen have nailed it. Successful in their careers and wildly in love with each other, they feel ready to take on the world.
But when a mysterious new technology, promising a break from the daily grind, creeps into everyone’s phones, their world is turned upside down. As the line between physical and digital rapidly dissipates, Polly and Owen are forced to question whether their definitions of reality and freedom are the same.
“Girl in the Machine” is a disturbing but compassionate vision of our potential digital future, and what it might mean for ‘life’ as we know it. The play premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2017, directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin.
Available
2017
978-1-84842-668-9
Drama
Nick Hern Books
Stef Smith
Originally from a small village near Stirling in Scotland, Stef studied Drama and Theatre Arts (with a specialism in directing) at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Stef has worked as both an individual artist and with other theatre makers. Her work is predominately political seeking to unearth unheard stories and it always aims to examine both the lightness and darkness of life. Stef loves traveling and in the past few years she has visited Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Korea, Mexico, Turkey and the USA for her work. Stef has also led creative writing groups for young people in India, ran writing workshops in Brazil and given lectures at Glasgow University.
Most notably in 2012 Stef won an Olivier for the show “RoadKill”. In 2013 she was invited for a residency to the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. She also appeared on The Lists Top 100 Cultural Contributors for 2015 and was named by the Independent as a part of a ‘new generation of British playwrights who will dominate 2017‘. In 2020, she was a finalist for the worlds biggest prize for female playwrights. Two years later she won Best Writer at the Royal Television Society Awards for her young adult series “Float”.