heaven will come

On a continent that is slowly emptying out, a deaf brother and sister share a story, one that keeps falling apart. Speaking simultaneously in sign language, they tell of a blight that is gradually driving people to migrate north; of moving into an old house; and of their mother, who is working obsessively in a nearby lab to try and halt the decay, even as her own world crumbles around her. Strange guests appear and the house itself speaks: it is a ‘smart home’ that is increasingly transforming into a haunted house – until everything slowly tips over the edge. Or perhaps none of this ever really happened?

Because strange things keep on occurring in the house: dismembered body parts appear, walls dissolve and then suddenly rematerialize. But only the siblings can see that something sinister is afoot.

A haunted house meets a cursed planet. Jan Bosse directs Thomas Köck’s new play about a dysfunctional family’s story set within the framework of a psychological thriller.

In a time when the serial production of stories by artificial intelligence is booming, Thomas Köck has entered into an exchange with actor and author Athena Lange (p.110) to explore the potential for resistance that might lie in a synchronicity of storytelling and asks: What can humans still influence, and where should we definitely no longer interfere?

This production is part of the thematic focus on “New Realities – How AI Is Shaping Our Lives” (p.65).

“Okay, now listen carefully while I tell you this story – because when you wake up, all of this will be over.” – from “heaven will come”