After the medley of ringtones spanning a century that signals the start of Madeleine George's new play, listen closely to the characters' names. It will postpone, if not altogether prevent, your contracting cognitive vertigo later on.
In The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, first—though not in order of appearance—there is Victorian industrialist-innovator Merrick, who longs for science to build him the perfect wife. Then there is the presumably "imperfect" Mrs. Merrick, who worries about her husband's sanity. We also meet a Merrick running for public office in 2011, and his ex-wife Eliza, who is finishing work on a computerized android designed to serve as a service/comfort companion to the physically and/or emotionally impaired. Finally, we have four men who share a common cognomen: a ) Dr. John Watson, chronicler of the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes, b ) Thomas Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, c ) Josh Watson, the Dweeb Team tech that politician-Merrick hires to snoop on his former spouse, d ) Eliza's prototype cuddly-buddy robot Watson, called so in homage to the superstar AI computer that kicked its flesh-and-blood opponents' butts on Jeopardy, the popular game show. Playgoers unnerved at the prospect of careening through Stoppardian time-travels will be relieved to find their road that of a romantic comedy premised on foolish lovers yearning for the ideal mate, only to suffer existential cramps when granted their wish. Think for a minute—what if your partner could foresee your every desire, sometimes before you, yourself, register its existence? Would you be content to allow them to monitor your moods or would such transparency render you vulnerable beyond the limits of your tolerance? Would freedom from the burdens of quotidian decisions impel you to accomplish more or lull you into comfortable passivity? Would you soon succumb to nostalgia for the endearing, if challenging, flaws that make us human?
As the author of Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England has noted before, this dilemma is nothing new, hearkening back to the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Revolutionary discoveries require genius, it's true, but as Tom Watson reminds us, earth-shattering deeds are rendered possible only with the help of numerous sidemen, backers, shleppers, fixers and hand-patters with identities now lost to history. Director Jeremy Wechsler has long recognized this wisdom (the cornerstone of all communal projects, including theater itself) and guides Joe Foust, Kristina Valada-Viars, Joe Dempsey and a legerdemanic creative staff in the lightning-transformative twists and turns of George's Big Ideas Writ Small with never a stumble or misstep.
