Code-born

Codeborn is a cutting-edge musical theater production that straddles the line between vision and the loss of civilizational control: In the fictional world of Benthos, an entire society is subjected to the power of artificial intelligence and begins to transform in insidious ways. What defies rational explanation unleashes new desires: boundaries blur, old orders crumble, and virtual spaces promise intimacy, happiness, and a sense of belonging. But the price of this new freedom is high.

Guy, a brilliant programmer and quiet observer, realizes how deeply the state intervenes in people’s lives, monitoring and manipulating them with the help of so-called Dolls. As state measures intensify, Guy begins to resist the system. When he falls in love with Nur, a virtual apparition with an irresistible presence, his worldview is finally shaken to its core. Between reality and simulation, conformity and resistance, an existential struggle unfolds for self-determination, love, and the question of what human life can mean in a radically changing world.

In this co-production by the Munich Biennale, the Bavarian State Opera, Klangspuren Schwaz, and the Tyrolean State Theater, the internationally acclaimed and award-winning composer Zara Ali combines electronic sound with live music in her tech-thriller to create a virtuoso and visionary musical theater experience. Codeborn is not a distant vision of the future, but a sensory space of possibilities; unsettling, fascinating, and frighteningly close to our present.

Co-production: Munich Biennale – Festival for New Music Theater, Bavarian State Opera, and Klangspuren Schwaz