This Silicon Valley reboot of a classic ballet was a sprightly hit at last summer’s Edinburgh Festival, but its sold-out London season really hits its moment. Chatbots, AI, Elon Musk reducing Twitter to tatters: it couldn’t be more timely for a tale of love among the robots and tech gone bad.
In the original 1870 ballet by Arthur Saint-Léon, Dr Coppélius’ uncanny automaton sends a bickering couple into a spin with, to an extent, hilarious consequences. Choreographers Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple (aka Jess and Morgs) teleport the story to the California HQ of a tech company called NuLife, with Coppélius as its vainglorious chief executive.
