What a special thing it is to watch the fresh work of a new and brilliant playwright like Ella Yiannoutsos. You should remember that name and see any work of hers you can, because it’s just so good.

The four-person play over 60 minutes uses minimal staging and simple but effective lighting. It doesn’t need much else, because Ella’s script fills the space with twisting, gliding, spiky and psychedelic words that are somehow deeply poetic yet gut-punchingly relatable at the same time.

The play is set in a 2073, it’s been raining non-stop and AI is wreaking shit as we know it will (or at least those of us who are highly sus of it believe it will).

At its core, I think No No No explores the pain of detachment, letting go of what we loved and venturing into the world as a bundle of raw, lonely nerves. It also explores where the boundaries lie once we’ve made the excruciating sever.

But this isn’t a trivial exploration of the end of young love. This is a phenomenally intelligent and nuanced look at the mess we find ourselves in when we mix heart with mind, with circumstance, with reason, with rage, with “the right thing to do”, with temptation, with impulse, with paranoia.

Ella explores this through the lens of AI and a world where humans are plagued by the threat of being cloned. This poses the question: what makes us us? If another me walked through the door who looked, talked, walked, thought, desired like I do… what does it mean for me to be ‘the original one’? What would it mean for those who love me?

When we break up with a long-term partner and then see them a year later, aren’t they kind of a clone of who we thought they were when we viewed them through the context of our shared lives and the expectations we had of them? And who are we to them? Does your ex think of you in the way you really are or the way they find it most palatable to think of you? (Don’t think too hard on that, you might not get much done today.)

We are watching true talents command the performance space. The kinds of actors where you just feel safe, at ease, and taken care of by their knowledge of their craft and the slickness with which they dance with the material.

Ella Yiannoutsos (Nono 1) embodies the flitting, flighty energy of a person still just trying to figure things out. As Nono she impeccably explodes and retreats and squirms and stands her ground and falters and yearns.

Indigo Paul masterfully plays Nono 2, whom I won’t give spoilers about. Indigo’s use of face and body and voice are precise and rich and extend to the corners the way those with the gift can do.

Bruno Willis (Billy 2) brings a dapper, jovial energy toward the end of the show, with a laddish ease and warmth.

The brilliant Isaac Martyn (Billy 1) has such command over his body, with an Adam Driver-type of confidence in the way he throws himself and contorts himself when words aren’t enough. His light and shade and softness and moments of introspection are skilled. Also, the dude can dance.

With Tia Hibbert & Reva Grills as directors, and Amy Wright running the ship as stage manager, this is a tight, slick, kaleidoscope of a Fringe show.

Don’t miss!

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