I was not in attendance for that inaugural production, but so much of what is on stage in 2022 seems of the moment that I had to ask what, if anything, had been altered for today’s audiences.Ĭity’s co-artistic director, Marc Masterson, who was at the South Side company for the debut in 1996, said any changes from then to now were “small and for flow, and not content.” McLuhan, a soundbite machine, has been described in Wired Magazine as “a skeptic, a joker, and an erudite maniac … who never allowed his fun to be ruined by the adoption of a coherent point of view.”īond’s electrifying performance takes all of that into account, along with McLuhan’s standing as a prophet of the Information Age. The cast of six is led by Will Bond as McLuhan, an intense portrayal achieved in seemingly perpetual motion while catapulting fits of wisdom at the audience. It can’t be overemphasized that McLuhan’s groundbreaking book “The Medium Is the Message” first appeared in 1964, and SITI first performed this astoundingly kinetic and penetrating work at the South Side theater in 1996, when the iPhone was still 11 years in our future.Ĭast members of SITI Company’s The Medium, now at City Theatre, from left: Stephen Duff Webber, Giam-Murray Gianino, Ellen Lauren, Violeta Picayo and Will Bond.
Returning to its place of origin, at City Theatre through Feb 13, The Medium explores McLuhan’s views on the dehumanizing nature of technology and the effects “on our perceptions, our psyches and our personal lives” when gizmos and gadgets become the idols we worship. Like the messages it delivers, SITI Company’s mesmerizing The Medium is both time capsule and timeless, so powerfully does it capture and reflect back on us the essence of humanity’s relationship with technology.
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Review: ‘The Medium’ takes a wild ride through the mind of Marshall McLuhanīy sharononstagepittsburghcom on Januīy Sharon Eberson After seeing The Medium, you may rethink your relationship with technology.Īs I write this on a laptop, with my smartphone at the ready and smart TV within view, I realize more than ever that I am a part of “the global village” that Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan foretold 20 years before the birth of the Internet. Home › Our Posts › Reviews › Review: ‘The Medium’ takes a wild ride through the mind of Marshall McLuhan
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