William, a near-pro gamer, discovers Random Access Memories — a new kind of AI-powered video game that adapts to his choices and desires. As the gameplay reconfigures with each irreversible decision, plunging him into increasingly violent situations, he slowly withdraws into the confines of his room and the game’s virtual world. With the game seeping into his emotional and daily life, the lines between digital spaces and reality fade until disaster strikes. Emmanuelle Destremau’s play uses video gaming to examine our interaction with the virtual, revealing how reality and virtuality blend and mutually influence each other. With a screen as the stage’s focal point, the production places video at its core, bringing this disconcerting game to life. Its characters invade William’s private space — his room, mind and being — until virtuality becomes his only reality.

The game William plays is also the game of theatre itself. As the RAM fiction spills into his life, the game leaves the screen and theatre takes over. In this fascinating hall of mirrors, video games and theatre converge to create, each in its own way, an alternative reality.