Marie-Helene Boyd

Presentation

An echoborg is the name given to a hybrid agent, whose body is that of a human person but whose “mind” (or, rather, the words) are of a digital conversational agent. Actress Marie-Helene Boyd, reflects on eight years of performing such a role, in the theatre piece ‘I am An Echoborg‘.

Biography

British-African actress, Marie-Helene Boyd is a bilingual performer, who has performed in the critically acclaimed “Olaudah Equiano, The enslaved African”, and in the Swiss TV Series “Tatort”.

Having completed a diploma in Speech & Drama, at the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting (GFCA), Boyd went on to perform stages roles in various productions, such as ‘Uncle Vanya’ at the Roundhouse Theatre, ‘Electra’, ‘Europides’ and ‘Phoenicain Women’ at Theatro Technis and ‘Darkness in Mind’ for Jolley Productions. and ‘Don Juan’ at GFCA, to name but a few.

Since 2016, Boyd has worked in collaboration with the interactive dramatists  Rik Lander and Phil D Hall on ‘I am An Echoborg‘. Coined in 2015 by the social psychologists Kevin Corti and Alex Gillespie of the London School of Economic, an Echoborg is the hybrid agent composed of the body of a human person and the “mind” (or, rather, the words) of a conversational agent. Deploying this device for live performance, Boyd reflects on their journey in this role, sharing insights, somatic renderings and thoughts on the process and its future directions.

Image credit: Veronika Vee Marx.

Date of publication

Wed 9 Oct 2024