Danny Echo

A Black Mirror-style exploration of bereavement and the future of AI.

Root & Branch’s exciting new production uses video and texting alongside live action.

Young widow Rachael is torn apart by what happened on the final day of her husband Danny’s life.

She is offered what seems like a lifeline when controversial scientist Dr Meryl Kane tells her she can have Danny back again – in the form of an AI replica. She is running an experiment to examine the effect of the machines on the process of grief.

But she is told it can only be programmed to repeat the words and actions from one day, and when Rachael chooses his last - the day he was killed in a freak accident - she is unprepared for the traumatic events that unfold.

Stuck in her flat with a scarily realistic robot, Rachael can’t change anything that happened in the past. But can AI Danny help her to grieve and look to the future?

Danny Echo premiered at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in October 2022 and is Root & Branch’s third collaboration with American playwright Cody Daigle-Orians.