Sophia oder Das Ende der Humanisten

by Moritz Rinke

He is Germany’s most successful contemporary author, and his new comedy—which has just been performed to great acclaim in Berlin and Vienna—tackles none other than the topic of AI, a threat we all face. The play is coming to the stage in Hamburg with a star-studded cast.

Wolfgang Bergmann, a professor of ancient history (played by Herbert Knaup), sees himself as the guardian of Western civilization. However, his university forced him into early retirement, and to make matters worse, his wife left him because of his “backwardness.” So Wolfgang now defiantly sets out to stay ahead of the future: He has acquired an android named Sophia (a role that marks the return of former Thalia star Judith Rosmair to Hamburg)—an AI in a flawlessly beautiful human form, finally the perfect woman who cares for him and challenges him intellectually. His daughter Helena, a psychologist who visits Wolfgang for his 60th birthday, is horrified: Is her father now living with a sex robot? Helena’s boyfriend, the computer scientist Jonas, is fascinated by Sophia. But then he changes her system settings, and suddenly Sophia begins to reprogram herself, spirals out of control, and threatens the very existence of her creators. And so Moritz Rinke explores the logic of the “intelligence explosion,” as predicted by the mathematician Irving John Good: Will the first ultra-intelligent machine be humanity’s final invention? Could machines ultimately even become better than humans? *Sophia, or The End of the Humanists* is less a critique of technological innovation than of our thoughtless handling of it, of human (male?) hubris, and of our self-inflicted misfortune—which, in Rinke’s work, always veers into the comical.

Herbert Knaup (“Die Kanzlei”), who was most recently seen in St. Pauli in Florian Zeller’s “Der Sohn,” takes center stage, Judith Rosmair as the title character “Sophia,” and Sinja Dieks (also most recently seen in “Der Sohn”) as the professor’s daughter, and Holger Dexne (“Das perfekte Geheimnis” and “Carmen von St. Pauli”) as the completely overwhelmed boyfriend and IT specialist.

Starring:Holger Dexne, Sinja Dieks, Herbert Knaup, Judith Rosmair

Director:Ulrich Waller |Set Design:Raimund Bauer |Costumes:Ilse Welter