Der Fall McNeal

Der Fall McNeal is a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright Ayad Akhtar, directed by András Dömötör at Deutsches Theater Berlin. It follows Jacob McNeal, an acclaimed writer in his late sixties, as he confronts failing health, the consequences of his past, and the rise of artificial intelligence as a new creative force. The piece examines authorship, originality, mortality, and the increasingly unstable boundary between human and machine-generated culture.

The production is built around a highly technological stage language, combining large-scale projection, live camera feeds, real-time deepfake processing, projection mapping, a four-projector setup, and three rotating stage platforms. Digital systems are not used as decoration, but as an active part of the storytelling, constantly reshaping the relationship between the physical performer, the stage, and the mediated image.