Alone in a cube that’s glowing in the darkness, X is content within its little universe of infinite thought. This solitude is disturbed by the appearance of Y, who insists on exposing X to the richness of the physical world. Each begins to long for what the other has, luring them into a strange loop.
In this play for two variables, Marcus du Sautoy and Victoria Gould use mathematics and theater to navigate the furthest reaches of our world. Through a series of surreal episodes, X and Y tackle some of life’s greatest questions: where did the universe come from, does time have an end, do we have free will?
I is a Strange Loop
was first performed by the authors at the Barbican Pit, London, in March 2019. This book features an introduction by Marcus du Sautoy.