ORACLE

Is the future one person’s idea?

Did a single person invent our present?

After the phenomenal success of the production “ROTHKO” in Europe’s biggest and most prestigious theatres and festivals, Polish director Łukasz Twarkowski returns to Dailes Theatre with his team. The second part of the director’s science trilogy, “ORACLE,” explores the connection between science and war.

Continuing to work with the total fusion of theatre and film as expressive means, this is the most ambitious production yet at Dailes Theatre. It delves into incredibly prescient prophecies of the future and the technology behind the scenes that is already influencing our lives today. The production sheds light on the discoveries of English mathematician and logician Alan Turing, the creator of the artificial intelligence test, in natural and artificial intelligence during the Second World War.

The war has already begun, and at Bletchley Park, the secret headquarters of British intelligence, the first computer has been created, built from people and machines. Turing was a pioneer of modern computing technology. Together with his Bletchley colleagues, codebreakers, he cracked the Enigma code and helped shorten the Second World War. Yet the same government that relied on his brilliant mind later persecuted Turing because of his sexual identity. He was a man who could solve the world’s greatest mysteries while living his life in impenetrable secrecy.

“ORACLE” moves between postwar Britain and an eternal digital world, and it uses thermal imaging and infrared cameras, which are not neutral tools of video art but first and foremost weapons of war. At the same time, the production blurs the line between reality and illusion with immersive soundscapes and cinematic projections. This visually stunning and conceptually provocative work reflects on Turing’s secrets, his prophetic discoveries, and the future wrapped in artificial intelligence that we would not have been able to imagine without him.

“ORACLE” was presented in the prestigious programme of Ruhrtriennale in 2025. The production was created together with several international partners: Ruhrtriennale, New Error, Comédie de Genève, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, De Singel in Antwerp, and with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and co-financing from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. The dramaturgical concept was developed during the international Complicité Mudlarks residency, supported by Complicité Theatre and the Polish Institute in London. It confirms Dailes Theatre’s reputation in Europe and the purposeful nature of international cooperation, which helps Latvian names be heard beyond the country’s borders.