“The RemAIns of the Butler” by Mike McAlpine

What if a humanoid robot challenges a butler’s world?

In “The RemAIns of the Butler”, manservant Michael may maintain his composure but, rest assured, this is a butler in the midst of an existential crisis. He asks himself the question no profession can avoid today: can I survive in the age of AI?

Michael is a top-notch British butler. Ivor Spencer-trained, no less. But what is the long-term worth of a butler to an employer who has just purchased a humanoid robot?

Many consider a butler a status symbol: ramrod posture, frock coat, quiet assurance. To others he’s a cynical mercenary with contracts in Hollywood and the Emirates and a flourishing offshore account to boot. Or perhaps the impeccable backbone of every aristocratic household’s operation.

Now technology poses a new kind of challenge. Early computers were a mere blip, but agentic AI is a very different cup of tea.

Yes, machines can autonomously book flights and organise holidays but can they save the blushes caused by a slip of the tongue at royal events? Smooth over the ill humour created by a dropped vase? Discreetly manage the overnight appearance of an unexpected guest, swiftly and without fuss?

Through storytelling, character comedy and physicality, Michael travels through centuries of service from Ancient Egypt, Dickensian Britain to a speculative future of robotic butlering, examining what might truly be irreplaceable. Or how a butler might increase his worth orchestrating the very technologies threatening his very existence.

Funny, thoughtful, and quietly provocative, “The RemAIns of the Butler” is solo theatre about service, survival, and the value of the human touch.