Marjorie Prime - Lessons Learned

MARJORIE PRIME is a play that exists in a world where robotic replicas of loved ones are sold as a tool for people to deal with things like death and dementia in people who are close to them.

 Written by Jordan Harrison

​Like many families we read about in good TV and theatre, this family had an incident that had shaped it in the past. (Damian, the youngest son, killed the dog and then killed himself).
 
It’s interesting to think about families in this way, because it’s fairly true. Whenever you’re with your family, everyone there is holding the knowledge of the secrets you all share. That current runs under every interaction whether you know it — or like it — or not.
 
That doesn’t always have to be some sort of tragedy like in Marjorie prime. It can also be the knowledge of what siblings fucked up in what ways as kids (or adults). Or something that happened between the parents. Then that stuff can just bubble up when other old issues are being unfortunately explored.
 
If a character has a stupid sibling rivalry with their brother for instance, when those old patterns fall into place at a Christmas party or whatever, the character is liable to throw past transgressions into the brother’s face.
 
That’s the way theatre works and that’s the way the world works too.
 
MARJORIE PRIME is also a great example of using a futuristic device without letting “futureness” take over the world. Everything is fundamentally the same, except for the robots, which are fundamental to the concept and theme of the piece.