AN UNCANNY PERFORMANCE FROM ALEX PODULKE

In Thomas Gibbons’ Uncanny Valley, directed by Tom Dugdale, Alex Podulke plays Julian, a sophisticated artificial human, who was created for the purpose of having his mind implanted with a dying billionaire’s consciousness in order that the billionaire may live on. Claire (Barbara Kingsley) is the neuroscientist tasked with teaching Julian how to be, or appear to be, human; all the action takes place in her office (the functional set is by Jesse Dreikosen). At first Julien is merely a head on a desk. Claire instructs him to open his eyes, smile, blink. In the next scene he has acquired a torso, then one arm, then two, and then legs. The excellent Mr. Podulke is thoroughly convincing as an android learning to become a man. His initially rigid facial expressions and awkward movements get smoother and more natural as his development progresses, until he is almost indistinguishable from us, with only the slightest hints here and there, minor affectations one might say, that remind us of what he really is. But what is he, really? This is the question at the center of Uncanny Valley. What is consciousness? What does it mean to be human? Is there a difference, for example, between being pleased and giving all the indications of being pleased? And what does being pleased actually mean?