Actor Ben Egerman is the last human on earth. You the audience member are part of a horde of killer robots who’ve decimated the populace and are now clamouring for his blood, but you won’t kill him as long as he keeps you entertained.
That’s basically the premise of Egerman’s one-man show, Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots – a quirky piece that reminded me of the elaborate pranks shy dorky boys used to pull to get your attention. That’s intentional on Egerman’s part. There’s not much substance here, just a string of vignettes ranging from truly funny to awkward. When he’s on and the delivery is strong, it’s hysterical. When the energy falls flat, it’s painful.
With the aid of hilariously drawn cardboard cut-outs, Egerman takes the audience (remember, you are killer robots!) through the events leading to (your) world domination, musing on (your) origins along the way. There’s a prolonged pitstop at space camp where Egerman does dead-on impressions of all the kooky characters you remember from any geek camp. Maybe too prolonged. By this point I began wondering if there was a point, and honestly, there isn’t.
Egerman has a wry delivery style and an engaging stage persona, but as he veered from vignette to vignette and the sweat began to congeal in the small of my back, I started to get a bit antsy and wonder – was I actually longing for more of a plot?
But really, who doesn’t love sex-crazed killer robots? Am I just being too Aristotlean? This being Fringe, I guess the lack of anything cohesive is ok if you aren’t looking for deep meaning and just need a light laugh or two.
Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots
Written, directed, produced and performed by Ben Egerman
Reviewed by Jenn Larsen
Running time: 60 minutes
Read all the reviews and check out the full Capital Fringe schedule here.
Did you see the show? What did you think?
This is the type of show made for Fringes. It’s not a musical. It’s not a production designed to give undergraduate theatre majors some producing experience. It’s not a chance for an established company to workshop a new script. “Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots” is solo performance from a talented artist willing to take creative risks in order to share part of himself on stage.
“You the audience member are part of a horde of killer robots who’ve decimated the populace and are now clamouring for his blood, but you won’t kill him as long as he keeps you entertained” is a misunderstanding of the show’s primary conceit. Egerman states several times during the show that the killer robots one weakness is a line of software in their code which prevents them from killing a human who is engaged in solo performance.
(On the afternoon I attended, the recitation of the actual line of code got laughs.)
The last man on Earth is not trying to entertain the killer robots. He is performing for them. That is the only thing keeping him alive.
Granted, the venue was hot and stuffy. That was not within the performer’s control. It such an environment, you might easily perceive the vignettes in the show as careless, off-kilter, even random. But the entire low-tech aesthetic (of both the scenography/props, and the narrative frame) holds within it a serious look at both the creative process and human loneliness nestled within a smart, vibrant script presented by a hilarious performer.
Long , hot, and disjointed without much point. Actor works hard tho.