PAL: Your AI Companion - Citizens Theatre Young Co.

A bold new play by Sara Shaarawi where the present and the future collide

Do you feel overwhelmed? Burnt out? Anxious all the time?

Then you need PAL.

A psychotherapeutic algorithm designed to complement the health care system, created to learn and grow with you, PAL is your companion, PAL is your future.

Invented in 2022, by young care worker Nikki, PAL started off as a simple app made to alleviate loneliness, social anxiety and depression, a care-bot if you like. Now, it’s 2044, the NHS has collapsed, and PAL is everywhere. Listening, watching and growing, as a dependency on automation quickly escalates.

Set in a dystopian world where natural resources are running out, observation has become monitoring and the government is choosing profit over people, perhaps a PAL isn’t what we need, but is there a way back?

Running time: 1 hour approx

Recommended for ages 14+

Cast to be announced

Creative Team:
Writer Sara Shaarawi
Director Neil Packham
Set and Costume Designer Ailsa Munro
Sound Designer Rikki Traynor

Audience Notes 

The production includes:
• Strong language throughout
• References to cancer
• Descriptions and references to medical treatments and procedures
• References and discussions around mental health
• Fake blood

Support for the issues raised in this work can be found at Scottish Association for Mental Health