Łukasz Twarkowski: The Employees

Employees of the 6000 Spaceship, under the watchful eye of a mysterious Organisation, are exploring the New Discovered – a planet far away from Earth.

Who among them is human, and who is a human-like humanoid?

The routine of everyday life is suddenly interrupted when, with the help of mysterious objects, a longing for Earth awakens their innermost desires.

This visually stunning dark satire – perfect for fans of Kubrick – combines theatre, film and installation with flair.

Łukasz Twarkowski, one of the most interesting directors of his generation, makes his hotly anticipated London debut with this production by STUDIO theatregallery in Warsaw, which is an adaptation of the dystopian sci-fi epic by Olga Ravn, nominated for the International Booker Prize 2021.

The story of The Employees unfolds in an undetermined near future, on a spaceship carrying people and humanoid robots, with Earth having been annihilated.

The story is told through the fragmentary scraps of reports left by the spaceship crew. Under these extreme conditions, a closed community is forced to confront questions about the differences between the human and the non-human, and the very essence of consciousness, posing the question: are the brain and the mind the same thing?

Performed in Polish with English subtitles.

The Employees is kindly supported by the Polish Cultural Institute, London, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.