Omelas
Variations on Variations on a Theme by William James
Created by the Company
Written and Directed by James Christensen
Based on The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
On a shimmering bay, nestled in the shelter of soaring mountains and pristine skies, lies the glittering city of Omelas – a vast, thriving metropolis in which citizens live lives of uninterrupted peace, safety, and plenty. Into this sanctuary comes a young Girl, in flight from her ruined home. Within its walls, she finds a comfort and welcome she had never believed possible.
But Omelas harbours a secret. A bargain struck by its citizens in exchange for the beauty of their lives. As the dark heart of her new home unfolds before her, the Girl must reckon with the price of her happiness, and what she might be willing to sacrifice in order to retain it.
Omelas was adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin's Hugo Award-winning short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Lyrical and disturbing in equal measure, Omelas was a probing dissection of the nature of moral compromise, our relationships to systemic violence, and the cruelties we allow to exist in our world.
Presented by No Such Theatre in conjunction with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Created and performed by: Georgia Andrews, Aaron Cheang, Andy Owen Cook, Rachel Copel, Katerina Ntroudi and Sophia Utria.
Written and Directed by: James Christensen
Movement Direction by: Benjamin Peterson
Design by: Cheng Keng
Original music and sound by: Liam Bellman-Sharpe
Produced by: Sarah Allen
Dramaturgy by: Sarah Allen
Omelas was developed as part of RCSSD's MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice. It was performed as part of Form(at) Festival 2021 at the Matchstick Piehouse Deptford, and was the recipient of the highest grade awarded across CSSD's Masters cohort for 2021.
