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Rossum's Universal Robots (R.U.R.)
Paperback
Publisher: Broadway Play Publishing
Published: Oct 28 2025
Pages: 94
Weight: 0.26
Height: 0.19 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
In 1920, Karel Čapek's early science fiction classic R.U.R. coined the term robot and looked ahead to the wonders and dangers of artificial intelligence decades before it was cool to worry about such things. Rossum's Universal Robots (R.U.R. for short) is a mysterious island factory that manufactures artificial human beings, run by the eccentric scientist Harry Rossum. When Helena Glory arrives to advocate for the rights of these machines, a series of events is set into motion that sees Harry and Helena married against the backdrop of a global robot uprising.
Highly recommended. Bo List's new adaptation of R.U.R. is a robust reboot ... more entertaining [than the original], far more accessible and highly camp. -Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
Cleverly uploads modern technology into Čapek's work, changing the elusive 'magic substance' that brings robots to life with the real-life mystery of the inner workings of the 'black box' that comprises AI reasoning ... All in all, R.U.R. provides the most LOLs I've ever had watching the downfall of civilization. -Sheri Flanders, Chicago Reader
Artificial intelligence or 'automated ingenuity' (otherwise known as A.I.) takes center stage in the freely adapted science fiction play ... Originally written in 1920 by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek (who, incidentally, coined the term robot - meaning servitude), the story has been taken to new heights by adaptor Bo List ... This world premiere production addresses the question of the day, namely: What can happen if A.I. goes rogue? -Julia W. Rath, Around the Town Chicago
Will robots or humanoids some day rule the world? A play written 105 years ago predicts the rise of the robot over its human creators. You can see the clever, prescient adaptation of this play ... in a new work by Bo List ... This story of humans and humanoids [includes] a wedding, a honeymoon, and a global robot uprising ... List asks us to consider what A.I. (or 'automated ingenuity') will mean for our future. Do we really want A.I. to do all our work so we can play or dream or knit? -Nancy S Bishop, Third Coast Review
If robots take over the world what will their relationship be to humans? Will it be a carefree utopia with happy automatons cheerfully laboring away while people enjoy a life of leisure or will the robots develop ideas and aspirations of their own, eventually viewing their human creators as archaic inferior predecessors, in fact outdated models? ... It also ultimately asks the question, 'What does it mean to be human?' -Jodie Jacobs, Chicago Theatre and Arts
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