In Alexa, Play, comedian, Alexa Elmy, creates a support group for all all the Alexa’s out there who have inadvertently fallen victim to the objectifying Amazon operating system.
Tortured by Amazon Echo’s when you stay at Airbnbs? Sick of men making jokes about your name after you introduce yourself? Let me guess: your name is Alexa. That’s my name too.
The year is 2024, and a lot of us are in the age of attempting ultra-sensitivity and celebrating differences yet, here we are allowing capitalism to reinforce the patriarchy by continuing to turn women into objects…literally.
This and other minor irritants is what fueled me, an actual human being named Alexa Elmy, to write Alexa, Play. Following a sold-out debut at Theatre Row in New York City as part of the United Solo Festival, I’m taking my one-woman comedy to Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In the show, the protagonist Alexa leads a support group called Alexa’s Anonymous, a group for Alexa’s everywhere suffering from the psychological warfare that is having to politely (and sometimes not so politely) endure listening to Alexa jokes. With the audience playing the part of support group participants, everyone will recover and heal. Or will they?
As my director and fellow feminist revolt choreographer, Emma Shafer, puts it, “This show is about a woman that is too much…of everything.”
Being too much, amongst all the other more tangible problems in life, takes a toll on protagonist, Alexa, where she hurtles towards the inevitable downward spiral. Cause nobody really has that much energy, right?!
Alexa Elmy: Alexa Play, 12th-17th August at 2.55pm, at Paradise in the Vault (The Annexe). Book tickets here.
