‘Uncanny Valley’ takes us to the near future of robotics

The science of robotics may not quite be so advanced as to create an android like the “Star Trek” character Data, but as “Uncanny Valley” shows us, we’re probably a lot closer to that threshold than most of us realize.

Thomas Gibbons’ 2015 play takes us into a “not-distant future” world not unlike today, yet one where technology is on the verge of creating artificial life forms so startlingly human as to be able to blend in with mainstream society.

When that occurs, ethical issues are sure to follow, and that’s what interests Gibbons, “Uncanny Valley” and International City Theatre’s Los Angeles-area premiere production.

The play’s crux is the relationship between Claire (Susan Denaker), a neuroscientist whose career has been devoted to creating an intelligent, sentient non-biological humanoid being, and Julian (Jacob Sidney), the result of her latest efforts.

Julian starts out, in the opening scenes, as a head, neck and upper torso resting on a table – but as “Uncanny Valley” proceeds, he gains more body parts until he’s a fully functioning, ambulatory, autonomous being.

The nuts-and-bolts aspects of robotics are, as we learn, the least challenging to Claire. What concerns her more is whether Julian can be made to behave so similarly to people that those meeting him for the first time are unaware he’s an artificial being.

The play’s title refers to the observable effect people have when confronted by a robot that seems human: They’re at first fascinated, but the more lifelike the humanoid becomes, at some point that eerie feeling of fascination turns into revulsion.

As Julian’s teacher, Claire explains what makes people individuals, what constitutes proper social behavior, and what humans consider “normal” in each other versus what’s viewed as unacceptable.

At first endearingly stilted, Julian is taught how to approximate having feelings. At ICT, the teacher-student bond is moving; equally so are musings by Julian that have concerned humankind for centuries: “Why have I been created? What is my purpose?”

Once “Uncanny” gets us to accept Julian as a person in his own right, it tosses us a curveball: He’s been created for the purpose of being, in Julian’s words, “a cup-holder” for the mind, personality and memories of Julian Barber, a billionaire industrialist whose funding made possible the research, development and creation of the Julian robot.

Ailing from cancer, Barber has been “harvested” for the properties that make him an individual, with Julian’s “matrix” having been surrounded by the dying Barber’s DNA.

Once we realize the Julian of Act Two is, in effect, a human-machine hybrid, we begin to see the kind of dark paths technology might soon pave, albeit unintentionally – and we wonder how deep is the “new” Julian’s understanding of people and human nature.

Accordingly, Sidney paints the fully evolved Julian as an almost theatrically flashy sharpster – witty, yes, but someone whose quick thinking is almost terrifying.

As Gibbons’ absorbing script and director caryn desai’s engrossing staging show, the interactions of people and their artificial living creations are just as complex and riddled with uncertainty as human relationships – even more so, given the ethical questions raised by the existence of autonomous, sentient artificial humans.

In impressively unpretentious fashion, Gibbons raises such issues and others of a more existential nature. Under desai’s creative hand, “Uncanny Valley” is something extraordinary, the type of theater ICT has always excelled at: Intelligent, intriguing, thought-provoking, exhilarating, and magnificently crafted.

Denaker shows us that while they run deep, Claire’s emotions are tempered by a wry sense of humor about herself and the world – yet she’s also the pure scientist who thinks, studies and observes 24/7, motivated by science itself while indifferent to any external financial or political agendas.

Sidney masterfully shows Julian’s astonishingly rapid growth and evolution from a newly conscious being to a perpetually curious student eager to soak up knowledge and understanding and, finally, so far past any point imagined or projected by his creators as to boggle the mind – and chill the blood.

Tesshi Nakagawa’s scenic design gives the production a quasi-futuristic look, and Kim DeShazo attires Denaker and Sidney in similarly monochromatic tones of black, white and silver, so that Claire and Julian are, in effect, gleaming, product-of-science mirrors of one another.

Avoiding everything facile, Gibbons’ brilliant play blurs the lines between man and machine and has us pondering the nature and purpose of all conscious life forms.

‘Uncanny Valley’

When: Through May 7. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: Beverly O’Neil Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 330 East Seaside Way, Long Beach
Tickets: $47-$49
Length: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Suitability: Adults, teens and older kids
Information: 562-436-4610, InternationalCityTheatre.com