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| Stephanie Crowley as Eliza tries to program robot Watson, played by Tasi Alabastro. (Photo by Scott Ragle) |
All of them are played by the same actor, Tasi
Alabastro.
The other characters are named Merrick and Eliza, also
played by the same actors,
Gary Mosher and Stephanie Crowley, respectively.
The first Watson is a man-like computer named after
the IBM computer that bested human contestants on TV's "Jeopardy!” He’s a
companion to the Eliza who’s programming him in 2011.
The second Watson is a computer geek hired to fix the
computer of Merrick, a local political candidate and Eliza’s jealous
ex-husband. He hires this Watson to spy on her, but they wind up falling in
love.
Going back to March 1891, the third Watson is the fictional
Dr. John H. Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ associate. He encounters another
Eliza, who wants Holmes to spy on her husband, Merrick.
Then in 1931, Thomas Augustus Watson, the associate
of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, is being interviewed by yet
another Eliza.
This Watson received the very first phone call in March
1876 with the message “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.”
Times shift, but the focus is on the romance between
the computer geek and Eliza, the computer programmer.
Despite the play’s intriguing concept, it doesn’t
work well in part because it’s so talky and episodic. Direction by Doll
Piccotto doesn’t help.
Another shortcoming of this production is that
Alabastro is miscast. He does well as the robot Watson, but he doesn’t have the
depth and versatility demanded by the other roles.
Crowley does the best in her varied roles, making
all of them sympathetic. Mosher adequately handles the challenges of playing
the unlikeable Merricks.
The versatile set is by Emilia Wysocka-Treder with
costumes by Kathleen Qiu, lighting by John Bernard and sound by Ryan Lee Short.
Running about two and a half hours with one
intermission, “The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence” will run through
Oct. 7 at Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway St., Redwood City.
