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Other Press Coverage
 

Sunday Times (diary item)
It can be handy to have friends in high places but they tend to be more useful alive than dead. Still, few performers at the fringe are quite as illustriously connected as Activated Image, which is putting on a show called The Principle Of Motion at the Smirnoff Underbelly. This lot have enough blue blood between them to restock the French nobility after the ghastly events of 1789.
The assistant director is technically the 13th Duke of Wellington; one of the actors is a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce and the designer is a descendant of Henry VIII's mistress. Another actress comes from the Hungarian royal family.
The director/deviser's second cousin was Dylan Thomas.

The Times
TIMES CRITICS MAKE THEIR CHOICE OF THE BEST OF THE SHOWS AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVALS
Benedict Nightingale:
"The Principle of Motion: Can an automaton that plays chess as well as the grand masters really think for itself? Activated Image return to the Fringe with a fascinating play."

Metro 'Three of a Kind' column
"Activated Image's The Principle of Motion takes a look at the early days of animatronics and the robotic chess playing Turk that took Europe by storm in 1770. It's an incredible story recounted by journalist Gaby Wood in her recent book Living Dolls and from all accounts the play's a fairly inventive piece of work too."

Metro
"Entertaining with a capital E... An energetic production with a cherubic cast of keen, young hopefuls... John Sheerman is suitably understated as retiring genius Turing, Rachel Sternberg manages two male characters convincingly and Simon Masterton captures the wilful ambition of von Kempelen... Some unusually choreographed, mechanical routines between scenes are appropriately distracting and fun, post-modern 'tangents' serve as light-hearted intermissions, giving the play a Pythonesque edge of humour."

Scotsman
"Fascinating... an entertaining mix of anecdote and action"

Sam Taylor, Three Weeks 'Talent Spotting' Column
"Among the shows I'm particularly looking forward to is Activated Image's The Principle of Motion at the Underbelly"

Uncertainty Division
The Principle of Motion is a very exciting piece of devised theatre by Activated Image. Unlike much of what I've seen on the fringe, the inventiveness of the ideas is more than matched by the skill of the cast - great ensemble work and great fun.