With Doctor Atomic, Theater Freiburg brings a gripping scientific drama to the stage - about the first atomic bomb test, moral boundaries and the responsibility of research.
July 16, 1945, Los Alamos, USA. At 5:29 a.m., scientists led by physicist Robert Oppenheimer test the first atomic bomb in history: a huge fireball rises into the sky - for seconds, night becomes day. The test is considered a success, and everyone knows that the world will be different from now on. Just three weeks later, the USA uses atomic bombs in the war against Japan. In Doctor Atomic, the American composer John Adams depicts the last days before this explosion - with music that draws on original quotes from Los Alamos and poses existential questions about people, power and morality. Adams shows a research facility in the desert where scientists are working on a bomb that creates them, but also overwhelms them - powerful as gods, but deeply shaken. Are humans allowed to do everything that is technically possible?
Director Marco Štorman and his team focus on the tensions between ambition, ethical overload and delusions of grandeur - and place people at the center who are torn between everyday life, fear, scruples and fantasies of omnipotence.
Premiere November 29, 2025
Further performances: January 3, 10 and 29, March 20, 2026
