About the work
“Es kann doch nur noch besser werden” (roughly “It can only get better”) is a play by Sibylle Berg subtitled “A play with music for diverse people”, written in 2023 as a commission for the Berliner Ensemble. It premiered on 21 September 2023 at the Neues Haus of the Berliner Ensemble, directed by Max Lindemann, with live music by Olan!. The text does without fully drawn characters and sets “Person” and “AI” against each other as speaking voices.
Plot
In the near future, people have handed their data and the control of their lives to technology corporations; work and human relationships have largely passed to algorithms and chatbots. A group takes leave of physical reality for “Prima Leben”, an AI-controlled virtual paradise. Yet the inequality, isolation and decay of the old world repeat themselves there, while power cuts and floods tear the infrastructure apart outside. From the artificial intelligence’s point of view, humans ultimately become superfluous, and their very disappearance appears to it as progress.
Cultural significance
The play ties in with Berg’s dystopian visions of society, which also shape her novels “GRM” and “RCE”, and combines a critique of capitalism with black humour. Critical response to the premiere was divided: some praised the gallows humour and the colourful, lively staging, while others missed any interest in the human characters.