MIF2013: The Machine at Campfield Market Hall

The cartoons of the 1960’s promised us a world in which robots would be our friendly slaves, building us a brighter tomorrow. But 1997, however, things had turned sour – though the hovercars and cyber-butlers hadn’t yet arrived, the prospect of something all the more frightening had: a computer that may be able to out-think the greatest chess player of all time. The Machine documents the real life story of the Grandmaster Gary Kasparov’s battle with IBM’s Deep Blue computer and the man behind it, Dr Feng- Hsiung Hsu. For Kasparov, this match was to cement his immortality – for IBM, it was a chance to raise their profile and their stock price. Being held in the same space that Bjork took up at MIF2011, this play was specially commissioned for the festival. Produced by Josie Rourke (“an exceptional force in British theatre”, The Financial Times) and written by Matt Charman (“Britain’s fastest rising young playwright”, New York Times), this will be one of the most talked about events of the fortnight.

Thu 11 Jul – Sun 21 Jul, Campfield Market Hall, Campfield Avenue Arcade, M3 4FH, performances last 120 minutes and start at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, see website for details, £12 – £35, https://www.quaytickets.com/