"Einstein has a visionary imagination". The sentence has nothing to do with the brilliant physicist, but it refers to a mouse who, in the ETH musical "Welcome tomorrow“, is deemed to be intelligent. This kind of humour crops up throughout the Personnel Commission's Jubilee contribution, with music and text by the musician Roman Riklin and which premiered last Saturday on Campus Hönggerberg. The musical is not exclusively about mice, however. The story revolves around the visions that the three test persons have of the future. Their mental images of the future are made visible to others thanks to the "visualisation machine" of one Professor Stemmler. It soon becomes evident that these individual visions relate to one another and also interact with reality. The images are presented and moderated in TV-talk-show-style by Stemmler's assistant Melanie–a circumstance that helps to shape the actual visions of the test persons in no small measure.

An assistant goes missing in the world of the mind causing a furore amongst Professor Gudrun Peters, student Rupert Roth, head of research Professor Stemmler and caretaker Hans Häberli (from left to right). large

Clone of the coveted assistant

The test persons, themselves are an elderly, self-conscious caretaker, an ambitious professor, who agrees to the experiment "because at her age she has nothing to hide", and a commonplace, though self-assured, student. The fantasy visions of these three–with profiles that tend towards prototypes and clichés–range from fear of being "rationalised away" by a machine, rejuvenating cures or brain-updates, all the way to clonal reproduction of the coveted assistant who has gone missing. Because, as mentioned before, reality and fantasy begin to interact it becomes necessary that also the mouse Einstein's keeper, travels into the fantasy world with the help of the visualisation machine as well. This ignites a revolt amongst the experimental mice population, which is finally resolved thanks to the power of a love song.

In his imaginary world the unassuming caretaker takes on the allure of a fascinating rock star. large

Cleverly produced

The images used in the piece are as varied and colourful as the manifold themes and references they represent. The rationalisation machine, for example, is represented by human robots in a technoid look, or the rejuvenation treatment of the caretaker that lets him mutate into a rock star. The show is strongly accented by lighting effects and a palatable, although sometimes loud–perhaps because of a less than perfect sound technique, musical accompaniment. The stage setting is cleverly done with the hinged visualisation machine that allows the audience to share the mental images of the actors–a kind of theatre stage for the mind. The frame story–with a demonstration lecture–fits very neatly into the theatre venue: the biggest lecture room of the physics building.

What was unusual in this venue was the reaction at the end of the "theatrical lecture". The audience accorded the cast, whose pleasure and joy in acting was formally palpable, enthusiastic and thundering applause. Despite all the joy and cheer one wonders how it is that, amongst the admittedly exaggerated and sometimes simplistic future visions in "Welcome tomorrow“, it was fears or even horror visions that, on the whole, had the upper hand. How is this to be interpreted? A redundant question in all likelihood, because it is possible that the musical has no intention of opening itself to and doesn't lay claim to deeper analysis.

"Welcome tomorrow", the ETHeater cast celebrates its successful premiere. large