Calígula

The play is set in an ordinary family. The parents, Sofia (a professor at a scientific high school) and André (a journalist), have a daughter, Silvia, who is in her first year at high school. The routine of their daily life is disturbed by several events:

Silvia asks for a pet, and a Beo bird (also known as an Indian blackbird) arrives at the house. At the same time, Silvia’s best friend is in her first romantic relationship and neglects her friendship with Silvia. Sofia is having a secret affair with one of her students.… Now Calígula, the Beo, is picking up more and more words and phrases, imitating the three family members. He demands more and more attention and care, interrupting conversations in the house, phone calls, and is even interfering in family arguments. After a while, Calígula knows more about the family members than anyone else, he knows everyone’s secrets, and he knows how to use them to get more attention. His behavior makes him a real member of the family – until the truth comes out: André and Silvia learn that scientific experiments are being carried out on Calígula, who is programmable through a chip implanted in his head and that he has the absolute knowledge of humanity at his disposal. However, there are only two people in possession of the app that controls the bird and its knowledge: Sofia and Franz, a computer science student and Sophia’s lover. For Silvia there is no doubt: the artificial manipulation of Calígula goes too far. She now feels compassion and love for him and decides to separate her “human bird” from this crazy world and to flee with him: At the end she says “to freedom! – but it is probably a freedom that no longer exists!