Will robots or humanoids some day rule the world? A play written 105 years ago predicts the rise of the robot over its human creators. You can see the clever, prescient adaptation of this play now at City Lit Theater in a new work by Bo List directed by Brian Pastor. The title (and its original title) is R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots. The new version adapts the 1920 original by Karel Čapek, a Czech author and playwright.
The play takes place at the headquarters of Rossum’s Universal Robots, a company that manufactures robots as laborers for agricultural and manufacturing industries. Harry Rossum (Bryan Breau), company president, is preparing for a visit from Helena Glory, the daughter of the country’s president. He’s not sure about the purpose of her visit, but Tibia (his robot assistant played by Claudia Sevilla) helps him rehearse his welcome speech. During this scene, Harry demonstrates a new product to Alquist (Brian Parry), chief of staff of the works. It’s the new cordless phone they are testing—cordless and connected to an 80-pound suitcase.
When Helena (Madelyn Loehr) arrives, we learn that she’s concerned about the conditions under which robots live and how they are treated by their human owners. She’s going to speak on behalf of robots at a world conference and is visiting R.U.R. to learn about robots and robot manufacturing. She’s accompanied by her chaperone, Nana (or Mildred, played by Shawna Tucker), who Alquist takes off for a tour of the robot works.
Harry is immediately smitten by Helena and determined to impress her so he introduces her to the company’s chief engineer, Dr. Gall (Mary Ross), who is also his stepmother. Dr. Gall informs Helena that the company’s dream—“a world without work”—will soon come true. It will happen with “robots taking over every task, every chore. Leaving humankind absolutely, utterly free.”
Helena asks to meet a real robot and soon Sulla arrives. Sulla (Alex George) is the latest model of robot and Helena is amazed at how real (human) they seem. Other R.U.R. robots whose humanoid appearance matches Sulla’s are Marius (Brendan Hutt), Radius (Sean William Kelly) and Tibia.
This story of humans and humanoids continues with a wedding, a honeymoon and a global robot uprising. Brian Pastor and the creative crew do an excellent job of bringing this century-old human story to life without making it seem silly. R.U.R. playwrights Čapek and List ask us to consider what A.I. (or “automated ingenuity,” as it’s devised by Dr. Gall) will mean for our future. Do we really want A.I. to do all our work so we can play or dream or knit?
Scenic design is by Jeremiah Barr with lighting by Liz Cooper. Sound design and music are by Jonathan Guillen. The well-tailored android and human costumes are by Beth Laske-Miller with props by Meghan X. McGrath. Hazel Marie Flowers McCabe is stage manager
Čapek is credited with the first use of the word “robot” in his 1920 play. It’s adapted from “robota,” the Czech word for serf labor or drudgery. The word also has cognates in German, Russian, Slovak and Polish. Although Čapek is credited with first use of the word, he gave credit to his brother, painter and writer Josef Čapek, for its invention.
The University of Chicago Press published a valuable and fascinating book in 2020 on the history of the robot in popular culture, which would be a great followup to seeing R.U.R. Here’s our review of the book.
R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots continues at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, through June 15. Running time is about 2.25 hours with one intermission. Tickets are $35.
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
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