“No One at the Door” would be Odysseus’s catchphrase if he was a mailman.
Presented by Theatre of the Electric Mouth
written by Lyubomir Parushev
Directed by Molly Cohen
Sound by Zach Trebino
Video by Steve Barroga
Featuring Samantha Turret as Sam and Tom Vinson as Jack
Available on YouTube on Feb. 15, 2021
Theatre of the Electric Mouth on Facebook
Review by Kitty Drexel
*Knock, knock*
Who’s there?
The Void.
YOUTUBE — “Where do you want to get dinner?” is a question that defines many modern relationships (like mine). In the case of Jack and Sam, domestic bliss is interrupted by a rapping, rapping at their chamber door. Sam asks Jack to answer the door. Jack can’t do anything right.
No One at the Door is Pinter meets Psycho. It’s short, dirty, and captures the horrors of heterosexual relationships – up to and including the animosity. (Heteros know they’re supposed to like their partner, right?)
A still from “No One at the Door.” Jack is always eating. Lazy.
While the video footage is choppy and the AI-generated dialogue is choppy, No One at the Door does exactly what it’s supposed to do: momentarily distract you from the humdrum mundanity of indoor life during a pandemic. It’s like a John Waters film: it exists to be grotesque.
This video is short compared to THeM’s other works. Their other video works average between 15-25 minutes long. All are available via THeM’s YouTube station. If quirky science fiction deep dives into the Void’s apathy for the human condition then you’ll love No One at the Door. Remember, if you don’t love it, the robots will eat you.
The 5th installment of From the Electric Mouth: a reading series of AI-generated scripts will be broadcast live on ThEM’s YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook accounts on February 28th at 3:30pm EST. The reading will feature Blake DeVaney, Bree Ogaldez, and Lyubomir Parushev, with direction by Cara Dodge and text generation by Justin Evans.
“Newman, Newman, Newman, or NewMan” is my favorite. Or else.
