28 Milliarden

Caligula wants to go to the moon, no matter what it costs – whether he has to suck up to Elon Musk or raise a whopping 28 billion dollars. Driven by the desire for freedom of action and endless growth, the restless young man finds himself in a vortex of greed. He has to go ever further, higher and faster. It’s just as well that his Bitcoin account balance keeps on growing. From Rome to Tokyo, Caligula tries to convince everyone he meets of his mission, be it his mother or Oli Kahn. He even manages to summon the moon itself.

Inspired by Albert Camus’ drama Caligula about the Roman emperor notorious for his megalomania, the playwriting duo Paula Kläy and Guido Wertheimer reflect in a profound but also light-hearted way on humanity’s fascination with the moon and the need to conquer it. Commissioned by Theater Bonn, the two authors will rework and update their text, adding new perspectives in the light of current events worldwide.

Paula Kläy was born in Zurich in 1997 and Guido Wertheimer in Buenos Aires in 1996. His plays have been performed in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Germany.  Both started studying theatre writing at the UdK Berlin in 2020. Their jointly authored texts have been performed at Vaganten Bühne, Landestheater Detmold, HfS Ernst Busch, TD Berlin and Theater Graz. Paula Kläy and Guido Wertheimer were nominated for the Young Playwrights’ Prize of the Magdeburg and Braunschweig State Theatres. In 2022, Guido Wertheimer won the Young Dramatists’ Prize for his play Wir werden diese Nacht nicht sterben. Paula Kläy’s play Oberland received the Audience Award at the Long Night of New Drama in 2023.