Brave new world

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based on the novel by Aldous Huxley translated by Uda Strätling / adapted by Amir Reza Koohestani and Keyvan Sarreshteh / translated from Persian by Mitra Nadjmabadi / directed by Amir Reza Koohestani

When you can have everything you want at the touch of a button, including happiness, what wishes are left to be fulfilled? 1932 saw the publication of one of the most important dystopian novels of the 20th century, a classic that is still read all over the world today, and the title has become a common saying. Aldous Huxley set “Brave New World” 500 years in the future. But what was then just his vision of the future is already nearly a reality. Sex, free of any morality and every feeling, perfectly contented – always available bliss, born out of chemistry. And perhaps even more fantastical: a new world, especially designed for us, which fulfils each of our wishes and reliably steers us away from everything that doesn’t offer that. We have created a ‘Brave New World’ for ourselves, whose satisfactions, engagements and algorithms are so deeply engrained in us, that we barely notice them. Those outside, who live beyond the realms of our ideal society, have archaic lives that better belong in the realm of history and literature.

John Savage was brought up in such a community, in a reserve on the edge of civilisation. A place in which hope is often in vain and frustration is the reality. Savage embodies all of this, as the ‘Brave New World’ is left behind. As Savage returns, he demonstrates his shabby existence and proves again that a world in which he doesn’t exist is a better one.

But is this person really ‘the other’? And really the only one who is any different? Is any kind of individuality extinguished in the state of the compulsive, constantly available nightmarish bliss? Is there no longer a right to be different?

After a successful production of ‘Transit’ by Anna Seghers, Iranian author and director Amir Reza Koohestani comes to Thalia Gaußstraße for a second time, infusing well-known material with his own experiences and working with co-author Keyvan Sarreshteh to transpose it into the modern era. 

Duration 1:30h, without intermission

Premiere 26th January 2023, Thalia Gauss