Questionnaire

QUESTIONARIO (Questionnaire)

A theatrical production in which the only character on stage is a woman answering a series of questions. Her two interviewers are offstage amplified voices who play the role of artificial intelligences. A crowd of citizens (extras) concludes the cast.

The scoring is minimal: just a marimba, a vibraphone and timpani (one player), and an electric guitar. The protagonist must have equal skill as an opera singer and an actress. The issues are thorny: the hypocrisy of human behavior, the absurdity of the laws and the bad faith and arrogance of both private and public institutions. The text of this play is a strong denunciation of all of these issues.

THE PLOT

The action takes place in the immediate future. Every worker is required, at random, to answer an oral questionnaire in an interactive session: the assessment is automatic and provided by an artificial intelligence program.

A woman listlessly prepares to respond to yet another questionnaire. The questions begin with general information, but they immediately begin to concern details of her work, issues of her married life and much more: "Have you ever committed murder?" “Have you ever stolen anything from the supermarket?" And other embarrassing and quite absurd questions. Among them the interviewers intermittently repeat a question, which only at the end will be answered. "What is your relationship with Mr. Andrew Ammannati?” But a fundamental question underlies them all in importance: “What’s the reason for this questionnaire?"