2025

A theatre piece by Ayad Akhtar

D’Haus - Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus

Jacob McNeal looks back on his life: every single one of his novels was a bestseller—those who didn't know him knew his books. It was a successful life. Back then, when his wife was still alive, she wanted to be as successful as he was. But genius is genius, McNeal thinks, and the good times are long gone. The writer still dreams of winning the Nobel Prize, but he is sick, lonely, and out of ideas. Outside, artificial intelligence has changed the world, and how tempting the thought seems: the diaries of his deceased wife, her story, which is his story—the perfect novel, secretly generated by a chatbot, published by Jacob McNeal. And suddenly, the long-awaited success is back. But at what price?

With “McNeal,” American playwright Ayad Akhtar paints a dark psychological portrait of an artist type conscious of his own mortality, against the backdrop of how ChatGPT is changing our understanding of art.