If you have an iPhone, an iPod, iMac, MacBook, iBook or have even uttered the words “iTunes App Store”, then this is a show for you.
If you have an iPhone, an iPod, iMac, MacBook, iBook or have even uttered the words “iTunes App Store”, then this is a show for you. Mike Daisey’s The Agony and the Ecstacy of Steve Jobs has been described by the Washington Post as a “blisteringly funny, icily penetrating account of the extraordinary influence and not-so-benign impact the man [Steve Jobs – Apple CEO] and his company have had on the world” Daisey, master monologist, theatrical story-teller and self-confessed ‘Apple fan-boy’ pays homage to the wisdom and genius of Steve Jobs. His laugh-out-loud monologue presents Jobs as a true visionary, described as a ‘real life Willy Wonka whose obsessions have shaped our daily world, while simultaneously delivering an important message about the world of Apple: The products we love are made under inhumane conditions.’ This is a show every Apple fan should see, presented against the backdrop of Southern China where Daisey witnessed first-hand the human cost behind our technology. Gaining a rare level of access to the manufacturing workshops of the industrial Chinese heartland of Shenzhen, Daisey visited modern day workhouses where workers throw themselves to their deaths from high-rises, where workers die on the production line from overwork, where they sleep in cement cells with dozens of women and men crammed into rooms like labour camps. Mike Daisey said, ‘I was inspired to make this show, when I realised the extent to which we divorce technology manufacturing from our consumer use. We exported our jobs but none of our labour values. It’s very clear to me that changes could come to corporations and I hope that in some small way, this show provokes the tech industry to grow up and take responsibility for its decisions.’ Mike Daisey has developed a reputation for his groundbreaking monologues which weave together autobiography, journalism and unscripted performance to tell hilarious and moving stories that reveal secret histories and unexpected connections. His performances include last year’s critically acclaimed, sell-out Sydney season of The Last Cargo Cult which marked his Sydney Opera House debut. Internationally, he has also presented controversial How Theatre Failed America, the six-hour epic Great Men of Genius, the unrepeatable series All Stories Are Fiction and 21 Dog Years. He has performed in venues on five continents, ranging from Off-Broadway to remote islands in the South Pacific and abandoned theatres in post-Communist Tajikistan. He’s been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, as well as a commentator and contributor to WIRED, Vanity Fair, Slate, Salon, NPR and the BBC. Daisey is well known for writing stories we didn’t know we needed to hear. He has been nominated for two Drama League Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award and has won four Seattle Times Footlight Awards, a MacDowell fellowshop and the Sloan Foundations’s Galileo Prize. With The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Daisey sets out to educate a new generation of tech-savvy consumers about where their toys come from, and how changes can be instigated. Tickets on sale from Monday 25 July Season runs:24 September – 2 October 2011 Venue: Studio, Sydney Opera House Booking Information:www.sydneyoperahouse.com / 02 9250 7777