Review: PNOC.io, Chronic Insanity (Online)

PNOC.io is brought to us by Chronic Insanity and is an interactive piece of theatre which retells the story of Pinocchio in the technological age. 

Still not a real boy, PNOC.io is no longer a puppet; instead a piece of artificial intelligence for tech company, Stromboli. 

We begin our journey as a new employee at Stromboli and from here on in, we meet various staff members and choose our own journey through the story, discovering what Stromboli are really up to and make decisions as whether to save PNOC.io or not. 

All of the actors you come across are enthusiastic and try hard to carry the story through. They are well spoken and manage to create an air of mystery and sinister atmosphere, especially Abbi Davey as Dr Mason.

Whilst the piece as a whole could have been executed better, individual parts stand out. They just occasionally lack a little cohesion that could take this piece from good to great. 

The technology to be able to run several different stories and choices is wonderful and once you’ve finished one story, you can go back and start again in order to explore the different stories which are on offer, so that is an enjoyable factor. 

Joe Strickland as PNOC.io is excellent and entirely passable as an android, whilst Iain Gibbons stands out as Dr. Grouse. Set and costumes, whilst not a dominant part of the show, are useful in helping to differentiate between what type of Doctors we spend time with.

The piece manages to put an interesting spin on the story of Pinocchio and is available to experience until 6 August 2021. 

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Emma Littler

To book tickets on a ‘pay what you can basis’, please click here.