Artificial intelligence or “robo-dramas” have been making their way onto the stage with increasing regularity, from Amy Chien-Yu Wang’s AI May to José Rivera’s Your Name Means Dream.

Now, The Robot Dog, presented as part of AsiaTOPA by Melbourne Theatre Company, joins the conversation, blending family-comedy and sci-fi in a sleek consideration of language, loss and the limits of technology.

The result? An ambitious but unwieldy 80-minute production that raises a lot of questions, but struggles to land them with clarity.

Kristie Nguy and Ari Maza Long in MTC’s The Robot Dog. Photo © Tiffany Garvie

The Robot Dog is a collaboration between Hong Kong-born multidisciplinary artist Roshelle Yee Pui Fong, Luritja writer and technologist Matthew Ngamurarri Heffernan, and director Amy Sole (Blak in the Room). In the production, the year is 2042 and Janelle (Roshelle Yee Pui Fong) and her partner Harry (Matthew Ngamurarri Heffernan) move into Janelle’s family home after her mother’s death.

Among the relics – checkered shopping bags and an altar cluttered with religious trinkets – is Dog, a highly advanced therapeutic AI pet. Dog is Siri-meets-Aibo, with the cuteness of Rick and Morty’ Lawnmower Dog, sporting colour-changing eyes...