In the most important work of his life, published in 1932, Huxley predicted a frightening world of the future. Today, “Brave New World” sounds like a prophetic dystopia of the start of the 21st century.
The brave new world of our time is a new way of social thinking based on the achievements of civilization, forcing us to seek prosperity, happiness and social stability at the expense of individual freedom and individuality. In the global world, such thinking is shaped by the state, together with the help of large corporations, inventing models of economic well-being without coercion to control and rule the masses. The universal soft power of easy happiness and pleasure engulfs the majority of society in both democratic and totalitarian states. According to Huxley, the love of slavery instilled in people in this new world can be established by a deep, internal revolution in people’s minds and bodies. The revolution starts from birth and childhood. The society of the brave new world being formed is divided into the chosen elite and groups of lower citizens. In adolescence, the cult of painless and emotionless work and pleasure is inculcated. Any germ of independent thinking is uprooted. People are taught to relieve pain by using the soma drug. It is paradoxical that representatives of such a society believe that they live and act of their own free will. Describing the brave new world, Huxley calls for opposition from the time, seeking authoritative allies in the old world. For example, in the likes of Shakespeare…
Interpreting Aldous Huxley’s work for the first time on the Lithuanian stage, G. Varnas delves into the fundamental questions of a young person’s choice in today’s world. According to the director, Huxley’s dystopia poses a terrifying dilemma between happiness and freedom. In the new world, these concepts become antagonistic. And if so, what kind of person, forced to choose between happiness and freedom, will choose the latter? We are not that far from the scary “Brave New World”. Societies of Consumption, Entertainment and Welfare inevitably produce people addicted to those things…
The performance is intended for the audiences from 15 years of age.
The performance was created in cooperation with the theater “Utopia”.