Lost in the Funhouse

Cyberpunk science fiction writers have long predicted a grim dystopian world in the not-too-distant future. Back in the 1980s, their bleak vision was the beating heart of cyberpunk film and fiction. In the 2020s, it’s not even a prophecy anymore. The cyberpunks’ grim, not-too-distant future has arrived. We just didn’t recognize it, because it didn’t look like the movies. Today’s digital technology doesn’t seem that grim. Heck, our pocket-sized tech is friendly, cute and calls us by name! Sure. But all those non-threatening screens and devices closely follow all the cyberpunk specifications for manipulation, surveillance and mind-control. As a result, today’s world is fully wired for all the state and corporate abuses that those cyberpunk Cassandras kept warning us about.

That insight animates director and playwright Brendan Ragan’s “Safe House.” His immersive play premieres Feb. 26 at Urbanite Theatre. That’s in the immediate future. But we managed to talk to him first.

What inspired you to write this play? Were you responding to the pandemic? Or did you already have the idea?

I’ve always been highly interested in immersive theater. I think it’s going to play a major role in the future of the American stage. I've been brainstorming this concept with other collaborators for a while. So, yes, a vague idea was forming in the back of my mind. But the pandemic forced me to focus it. Last October, I realized that immersive drama was the perfect theatrical response to social distancing. We could tell an entire story with video and voiceover, and create a walk-through experience for micro-audiences of four people or less. Theatergoers could actually see a show at the Urbanite without the fear of running into strangers. We had everything we needed to make this concept work. Except a script.

Ah. So that’s what inspired you to write.

Absolutely. I instantly hit the keyboard, and completed the script in about five weeks. After that, we read the script aloud, and fine-tuned the dialogue. We started work on casting and production in early December.

Let’s talk about the play itself. What will the audience experience?

An immersive digital mystery. You’re in the Safe House trying to solve it. The experience is … it’s kind of like navigating a maze. As you move through different rooms and corridors in the Safe House, and encounter a series of digital displays where the two main characters speak with you and provide a lot of information. You’ll also find clues in the videos, photos and documents they scattered throughout the Safe House.

I assume you can’t tell me the ending?

There are actually multiple endings and no single solution. The mystery changes, depending on how you respond. You have to find additional parts of the story and ultimately make a decision. The ending you experience flows from that choice.

Let’s narrow that down. What kind of a choice? Could you give me a hint without spoiling the experience?

Let’s say … As you navigate the Safe House, you’ll have a series of close encounters with the two key characters. They’ll offer two highly different interpretations of the same story. Who will you believe? That’s the choice.

OK. But how do I make it? On what basis?

It’s all about trust. Do you trust a corporate insider or a low-level employee? Do you trust an obsessive conspiracy theorist who suspects everything? Or a trusting, naïve innocent who believes everybody?

One of them is lying, right?

Maybe. It’ll be your decision to determine who is or isn’t reliable. The play is less of a detective story and more of a moral inquiry.

OK. So to take a metaphorical leap, the maze of the Safe House is analogous to the internet. You turn a random corner, and some QAnon cultist whispers a conspiracy theory in your ear. If you choose to believe them, you go straight down that delusional corridor.

That’s it. And it’s so very close to one character’s point of view. Everything hinges on who you trust. Which character is telling the truth? If we do our job right, it’s going to be a hard decision.

You don’t want to telegraph who’s the good guy and who’s the heel.

No. We try to keep you on the razor’s edge of doubt. At the end of the run, I’m thinking the audience vote will be a 50-50 split.

So, there’s no way to know the truth?

That’s not what I’m saying. You can — it’s just very hard. We want our audience to investigate which people and news sources they can trust, and how they can distinguish between information and disinformation. That’s not so easy with the constant data dump flooding our eyes, ears and brains in the 21st century.

It strikes me that “Safe House” is a microcosm for today’s information ecosystem. Except for a few hermits, most of us live in that system. That’s our post-modern world, and it’s harsh. It’s a very cyberpunk idea.

Totally. “Safe House” has a heavy cyberpunk influence. I just hope that won’t make your readers think it’s all about spaceships, lasers and robots.

I don’t think so. But our more informed readers will think of “Blade Runner,” hackers with data ports in the back of their heads, and enhanced female assassins wearing skintight, leather jumpsuits.

Good point. I’m just saying — the idea behind most cyberpunk isn’t the look, or some kind of incredible futurism. The genre goes deeper than surface appearances. It digs into all the sneaky ways that Big Tech manipulates us and messes with our minds. The result is a world of low morals from top to bottom. That’s where we’re headed, and that’s the driving idea.

Now I see where you’re going. Conceptually, a cyberpunk world doesn’t have to look like “Blade Runner.” It can look a lot like our world, in fact.

Yes, it can. Cyberpunk doesn’t care about art direction. It cares very deeply about high-tech power and information control.

Which always turns into people control.

Exactly. Who do you trust? Who’s telling the truth? How can you know? Hardcore cyberpunk gets in your face and asks those questions. I’m more polite. But “Safe House” asks them, too. I’m hoping the play will give Urbanite audiences a thrilling, 30-minute escape from the pandemic blues. I also hope they’ll keep trying to find the answers for themselves.