As part of Save The World II Festival Pan Pan and Theater Bonn present a version of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, adapted for the stage by Robert Koall.

1932 saw the publication of one of the most important utopian novels of the 20th century: a perfidiously seductive vision of the future, the construction of a paradise in which happiness is administered like a drug. Sex and conspicuous consumption are rampant, and human reproduction is organized via industrial methods. At the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre people get cloned by the dozen through the Bokanovsky process and conditioned according to their class by emotional engineering. Envy, mourning and suffering have been abolished, and any remaining unforeseen emotional hick-ups are dealt with through soma – a drug sending the stressed person straight into nirvana.

Everything seems under control. Everything is cared for. It’s the best of all possible worlds – until someone looks under the surface and discovers a bottomless pit of arrogance and nastiness. And, lo and behold, like every paradise this one only exists as long as everybody believes in it. There are three unconventional lost souls who cannot bear to live “happily” without freedom any longer – who simply cease to believe.

Directed by Gavin Quinn

Designed by Aedín Cosgrove

Costume Design by Alissa Kolbusch

Music by Si Schroeder

Lighting Design by Sirko Lamprecht

Dramaturg Michael Raab

Photography by Thilo Beu

“In a co-production with Theatre Bonn, Quinn’s Brave New World distils Huxley’s ideas and atmosphere into an aerodynamic evening that glides along like a fleet of flying cars, manned by an expert cast of drugged-up, optimised optimists in silk outfits.”

The Irish Times