Monkeyboard

If you had an infinite number of monkeys all typing at an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite amount of time, one would surely write the works of Shakespeare. The question is, how long would it take exactly? The question may be answered once you step into the world with Monkeyboard. With crocodiles in corridors and crazed taser wielding coworkers, the show is a monkey barrel of laughs. 

Performed at BATS Theatre from July 21 to 25, Monkeyboard is a commedia del’arte inspired show that utilises clowning, heavily physicalised performance and absurdist elements to craft a show that is both entertaining but poignant. The show blends absurdism and dystopian imagery to construct a narrative that pulls the dangerous presence that generative AI technology has in cultural and artistic spaces into focus.

CREW
Jamie Honey - Playwright, Director, Co-producer

Zalán Orbán - Co-producer

Teddy O'Neill - Stage Manager, Publicity Manager, 

Joshua Lees - Lighting Designer

Ethan Cranefield - Sound Designer

Nathan Arnott - Set Designer

Pan Clark - Make-up and Costume Designer

Daniel Honey - Composer

CAST

Alanah Munn

Joshua Lees

Daniel Honey

Tim Johnston

Your support will go directly towards:

• Set construction and scenographic materials
• Costume and make-up material and resources
• Props
• Rehearsal space hire

Every contribution will help us create a compelling, immersive and visually dynamic theatrical experience for our audiences.

Monkeyboard is an absurdist theatrical piece that explores creativity and labour and the increasingly alarming relationship between artists and AI.

Inspired by the infinite monkey theorem, the show is set in a bizarre and chaotic workplace filled with primate co-workers on typewriters, threatening crocodiles, and collapsing systems. Monkeyboard is shaped through physical comedy, clowning, and stylised performance.

Through drama and comedy, and the dystopian imagery, the show asks us to consider what happens when creativity becomes automated and stripped from the people who give it meaning. 

Monkeyboard is an important piece of working about creativity, humanity, and the value of art in an increasingly AI automated world. 

This work acts as a heavy commentary on AI and the way generative technology is increasingly infiltrating our artistic spaces. As these tools continue to reshape creative industries, Moneyboard asks audiences to consider what happens when art becomes generated, automated, commodified, and disconnected from the people behind it. 

We believe this whakaaro is going to resonate strongly with audiences at a time when questions around authorship, originality, and the future of creativity and becoming impossible to ignore. And what better way to make such a big statement than live theatre.

By supporting Monkeyboard, you are not only supporting emerging Wellington artists, bold, original theatre in Aotearoa, and the continued value of human creativity in artistic spaces.