Hannah Maxwell's new Edinburgh show, Turn Your F*cking Phones Off, is a tremendous takedown of big tech, blending personal narrative with a sharp critique of the tech industry's influence on democracy. The show, which runs at Summerhall until 31 August, was born from a choice Maxwell faced after last year's fringe hit Babyfleareindeerbag.
From market research to a political statement
In her previous show, Maxwell laid out three blueprints for a fringe success, testing ideas in a hilarious exercise in market research. She might have returned with a full-length version of the one about her father's teddy bear puppets – something cute and whimsical – but the state of the world persuaded her otherwise. Instead, she focused on the threat of the tech bros.
The title, Turn Your F*cking Phones Off, sounds like an instruction but is actually a note to self. Maxwell is worried about her own smartphone: not only the hold it has on her, but the data she provides it with. She delivers chunks of the show via an old-school payphone, a deliberate contrast to the digital world she critiques.
Two narrative lines, one urgent message
The show fuses two narrative lines, intercut with mass karaoke and party games, making it a fun show to be part of. One line is her first-person account of getting a “money job” with a clandestine organisation specialising in influencing public discourse, involving international travel, data collection, and subliminal messaging.
The other line follows her increasing concern about her screen addiction and her complicity in feeding an online machine that profits from discord – not just as an accidental byproduct but as a deliberate right-wing policy. The two strands meet when troubling repercussions from her old job make her more alert to the damaging impact of a life shaped by algorithms.
A call to disconnect
As Maxwell goes into digital detox, she retreats from doomscrolling and dopamine hits, but has an even greater fear of what she sees as a fundamental assault on democracy. In a tremendous show, she delivers this analysis with equal parts fervour and merriment, making connections with the audience that stand as a real-world alternative to the online forces trying to tear us apart.
