A story set 700 years ago, and in the mind of Michael Brunström right now, ‘William Tell vs the Algorithm’ is filled with mountain chases, panto-boos, Swiss semi-history, and amongst the multitude of flights of fancy a serious point about the dangers of algorithms left untended.
Brunström is William Tell – and Michael Brunström Having dived into researching the man behind the overture and the apple-shooting he has found that every other fact about Tell is now dismissed simply as ‘folklore’ by the online algorithm. Whosoever tells the tales sets the narrative, and so Tell/Brunstrom embarks upon an adventure to escape from and defeat the villainous Algorithm/Viceroy Gessler, with multiple tangents en route.
The show is jam-packed with ideas and creativity, some more developed that others, and clearly from a brain that never met a box that could contain it. The gentle uplifting song ‘Switzerland is a State of Mind’ is reminiscent of the one sentimental song found in every Disney family film of the 1970s, lightly sweet and hopeful. And a tangental hypothetical prospect involving Joaquin Phoenix illustrated darker feudalistic binary thinking with a wonderful whimsy.
Other sections weren’t quite so clear. His countdown of ‘40 Miscellaneous & Contradictory Facts about William Tell’ was fat with ideas so diverse that after point 17 I was getting metal whiplash trying to get my head around them all, with some really good ideas not given time or space to land to the reception and understanding they deserved.
The underlying impression given is Brunström’s joy in playing. Sometimes it is mostly for him, but his enjoyment is contagious. That, and the value of grassroots imagination over AI immediate gratification. Both are gems.
Michael Brunström: William Tell vs the Algorithm, 15.05, The Big Yurt at Hoots @ Potterow, 7-19 August
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/michael-brunstr-m-william-tell-vs-the-algorithm
