Sydney Fringe Festival’s partnership with Lane Cove this month means that many indie productions are performing in the local area. Algorithm of Us, produced by Kersherka Sivakumaran with BCD Theatre, is making its world premier at Pottery Lane Performance Space from the 16th to 19th September 2026.
There is a healthy amount of satirisation of Australian corporate life, with big shows such as Utopia, Bad Company and even classics such as Frontline. This is a familiar setting that breeds good comedy and light entertainment. As our workplaces restructure around us with the introduction of AI, Algorithm of Us takes the sharp-edged humour easily found inside of Australian office life and turns it into a Romcom.
Described as a “romcom for the spreadsheet generation,” Algorithm of Us follows data analyst Laari who is a true zealot for reliable datasets and spreadsheets with no unnecessary variables and Veeraj, a charming strategy consultant, who represents everything she hates. When her AI agent sends a company-wide email that lands her on a project team she didn’t ask for; they’re forced to work together.
This is not Sivakmaran’s first play that’s been performed at Sydney Fringe, with And What Will People Say being a Sydney Fringe Festival 2025 award winner. And What Will People Say took to Melbourne in July this year, where it played a sold-out season at fortyfivedownstairs — one of Melbourne’s most respected independent theatre venues.
Sivakumaran is also extremely familiar with corporate with her day job being the head of growth and audience acquisition at the publisher Mamamia, where she spends her days interpreting data analytics.
While indie theatre and analysis seem to be in two completely different worlds, Sivakumaran believes her range of skills is apart of her creative process. She stated, “People always say that must really stretch your brain – you’ve got this analytical side and then the creative side. I always say analytics is one of the most creative things that I do. Whenever you’re dealing with data, you need to ask it curious questions. You need to wonder why. It’s like five ‘whys’ all the time.”
Sivakumaran is the founder of Behind Closed Doors Theatre (BCD Theatre), an organisation that dedicates itself to diverse Australian performances with the goal for these stories to assimilate multicultural stories into the mainstream.
Sivakumaran stated, “The vision of the theatre company is to shape a nation where every story belongs. It’s a theatre that aspires for multicultural and diverse stories to just become part of the Australian narrative; to not even need those labels anymore, because it’s part of the mainstream. It’s normalised.”
This play takes a look at what we sacrifice for success. As we outsource more and more of the messy and insufficient work of being human to systems that we don’t fully understand, we’re still being asked to do more with less. Be faster. Be smarter. As we try to remain relevant and employed while holding on to a bit of the sanity that’s leftover. Algorithm of Us asks us what we risk losing when efficiency is everything and when we’re too busy to notice what’s actually right in front of us. And how does something as irrational and inconveniently human as love, fit into a world run by data.
These days we optimise everything. Dating apps bring an algorithm and data based solution to the messiness of love, promising to bring a science and rationalisation to romance, by creating a data-driven market to evaluate with complete efficiency. Described by BCD Theatre, “In a world that optimises everything, two corporate rivals discover the one problem no algorithm can solve.” There is a joy in the messiness of human connection and the art of slowing down in a world that just doesn’t stop.
Take some time out of your busy lives and come down to Pottery Lane Performance Space. Algorithm of Us promises a warm, honest and biting comedy packed with data puns, satirical corporate jargon and one “extremely opinionated Muppet-style paperclip.”
If you’d like to catch Algorithm of Us, it opens the 16th September 2026 and ends on the 19th September 2026. More information can be found on the Sydney Fringe website. Tickets are available here.
Pottery Lane Performance Space is located at 2 Little Street with 200 carparks available underneath. 3 hrs free parking or a short walk from Lane Cove Bus Interchange. Why not make an evening of it and check out some local restaurants in The Canopy of The Plaza. See our guide on how to walk from there to the theatre.
Keen to know what else is coming up? Check out the Lane Cove Festival 2026 Full Program Guide.