The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs

From August 2012

I'm writing this on an Apple iMac and there's a good chance that you're reading this on an iPad or an iPhone or another Apple-made device; Apple Corporation products are omnipresent.

This hour long monologue was written by American gonzo journalist Mike Daisey (brilliantly played here by Lyceum regular Grant O'Rourke) and has been performed over 200 time in 18 cities. In an interview to the New York Times, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said “I will never be the same after seeing that show.” And it's not difficult to understand why ...

What starts off as a humorous account of the life of Steve Jobs and the rise of Apple soon develops into an account of the terrible working conditions endured by workers in the Foxonn factories in Chengdu, China. Shifts of 18 hours routinely being worked, children as young as 13 employed, people in the early twenties thrown on the scrapheap because their fingers are no longer able to perform the hundreds of thousands of movements required every day to assemble our iPhones, workers driven to suicide. Apple's response to this has been in contrast to the ethical image of the company that Steve Jobs wanted to portray.

But as is pointed out, we're all in this together and the play closes with various ways that we can voice our concerns & take action.

Spread the virus.

The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs, Gilded Balloon, until 27th August