Pitchwhite Productions. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. 25 Jun 2026

 

This new Australian work by Louise Hopewell is a relevant and provocative think-piece for the very now.

It is about a viable future of AI and automation. It is exciting and worrying.

How long may it be before robots can take the place of carers in nursing homes?

 

In Only Human, octogenarian Ruth’s care is suddenly “upgraded” by the employment of a personal robot. It is programmed with her needs and functions as a smart slave.

In a time when chronically short-handed nursing homes are largely staffed by underpaid immigrants with hearts of gold but insufficient time to do their best, this question of the automated alternative reigns high. We all face this future. We all are aging. The issue is growing.

We are lucky to have the South Asian workers who, unlike us, have a cultural impetus to care for the aged and infirm.

I’m not just a theatre critic; I am also a Norwood Council Volunteer Aged Care Visitor. 

I have just achieved the age of the play’s protagonist.

Double whammy. 

 

I am regularly on the ground in the play’s setting.

In fact, I have just come home from that twilight world, heavy-hearted as usual. The residents are well cared for but their world is bleak and the sweet-natured staff can only do so much.

In Only Human, the non-human takes the weight off. Each patient has their own “Scally”.

They then are not lonely or bored, let alone in soiled Depends.

Ruth’s daughter is a doctor, and she sees the non-human issues as pivotal.

Thus, the play debates a realistic future and it is intense.

 

Under Hannah Smith’s direction, there is a rich emotional landscape and a gratifying evolution of tension.

She’s graced by an impressive three-hander cast.  Sharon Malujilo embodies aging Ruth and plays out her growing dementia with beautifully perceived balance.

Monica Patteson, as daughter Jody, is playing the “us” of offspring forced into committing a parent into care. It is a gruelling experience which she depicts with sensitivity while doing the heavy lifting of the ethical and moral dilemmas of the new order. Meanwhile, there is Isiah Macaspac as a robot. Some audience members at the opening initially seemed to think it is a comic role. Au contraire. This is a serious piece of theatre, and, despite a few calculated moments of humour, the robot absolutely is not a clown. It is a sinister portent of both our dreams and nightmares.

Macaspac plays it with admirable precision.

 

The play is not perfect. There are moments when its credibility falters.

But, as a taut and terrific production, it is an absolute winner.

 

Samela Harris

 

When: 25 to 28 Jun

Where: Holden Street Theatres

Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com.au