Utopia
On the Best Constitution of the State and on the New Island of Utopia
An island with unknown coordinates, where material security, equality, and reason prevail: that is Utopia. It’s an agrarian state, a knowledge-based society, and a council democracy all at once. The great English humanist and satirist Thomas More, in his 1516 novel “Utopia,” imagined an ideal world without regard for reality, becoming the founder of an entire intellectual tradition.
Engagement with More’s work has been a recurring theme in the works of Kommando Himmelfahrt since 2011. In collaboration with the Camerata Bern, where Jan Dvořák serves as Composer in Residence for the 2022/23 season, and in co-production with the Theater Bern, a radio play for strings, a singer, and a narrator is now being created, centered around the story of the sailor Raphael Hythlodeus and the discovery of the island of Utopia. Futuristic soundscapes, songs, narratives, and sounds come together like a musical mosaic to paint a picture of the ideal community while simultaneously posing the somewhat ironic question of whether we would be equal to this idealism.
June 16, 17 & 18, 2023, Bühnen Bern
