Review: (Montreal) God is An Iron (Fringe)

And No Picture Available
by Sarah Deshaies
@sarahdeshaies

God Is An Iron is a sci-fi thriller that has great intentions, but doesn’t quite thrill. 

Based on the novel 1982 Mindkiller by writer Spider Robinson, this stage version was adapted by Montrealer Elizabeth Cano. First written in 1982, it is a prescient exploration of the perils of addiction and reliance on technology.

Joe (Brendan Walker) stumbles onto a young woman who has attempted suicide by ‘wireheading’. Karen (Tali Brady) has plugged herself completely into a computer that stimulates the pleasure centre of the brain. Wireheading is so intoxicating that you can go without food or drink - not that Karen doesn’t have her share of empty liquor bottles and pill capsules hanging around. 

Joe tends to her while he tries to puzzle together the pieces of her sad life. A lot of the detective work consists of calling out terse commands to her home computer, leaving us a with a pretty flattened and directionless storyline. 

There are interesting ideas at play here, but God Is An Iron needs a more refined execution, and a punchier plot.

June 13 - 22