Review: Truthmachine by Counterpilot (Edinburgh Fringe)
- Immersive Rumours
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
Counterpilot's brilliant interactive social experiment will have you questioning whether there's still space for objectivity in a post-truth era.
Photo: Kate O'Sullivan
Truthmachine, created by Australian collective Counterpilot, is an interactive social experiment in which an audience member is invited to take part in a lie detector test while a group of their peers look on and examine their physiological response to probing, and at times intrusive, questioning
Initially inspired by the first Trump presidency and the rise of fake news, Truthmachine looks to examine what we're willing to accept as fact and if such a thing can even exist in today's post-truth world.
The experience begins with guests being seated in the round in front of a microphone and an illuminated console which registers yes/no answers and drenches each audience member in a green or red light once their answer to each question posed is revealed.
An initial round of control questions delivered through headphones - covering everything from nut allergies and capitalism to masturbatory habits - proves to be an effective way of raising the collective tension, as each box briefly lights up before settling on who must answer into the microphone. The whole thing has a game show-like quality to it, albeit one where the only 'prize' is the chance to answer far more piercing questions while strapped into a polygraph.
Photo: Danica Zuks
With an audience member selected for the hot seat, the experiment's host (Emily Carr) dives right into a series of far more intimate questions as the other eleven audience members watch on, looking for even the slightest changes in body language, heart rate, breathing or skin conductivity.
It's here, when the group becomes a jury and is asked to weigh up the answers of their fellow audience member against the supposedly objective data being gathered through the wires and sensors attached to them, that Truthmachine's central question becomes clearer. Will we trust our gut and intuition, or what the lie detector machine is telling us?
Interspersed amongst the questioning is a highly-produced pre-recorded narrative that explores the history of the lie detector machine, and the campaign waged against the polygraph by Douglas Williams, who spent decades teaching people how to beat the exact kind of test audiences are undertaking in that very moment.
The juxtaposition between Williams' critique of the technology and the audience's sudden reliance on it to ascertain if we're being fed truth or lies from across the table is particularly striking.
The experience's final moments are the most theatrical, and recast the audience member plugged into the polygraph as the only person in the room holding all the cards. The rest of the room is confronted with the realisation that they may well have been lied to the entire time, even if what they were told was the truth.
The question is no longer whether the machine can be trusted, but why we were willing to trust it in the first place.
★★★★½
Truthmachine runs at C alto (Venue 40) up to eight times a day between 15:00 and 21:50 until 30th August 2026. For more information and to book tickets, visit edfringe.com
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