Immanuel Kant sets out on an imaginary voyage to America. Accompanying him are his wife, a manservant, and a parrot. The purpose of the trip is patently absurd, albeit symptomatic: the official reason being, ostensibly, to accept an honorary doctorate, and the secret motive being to regain his sight. This point of departure already sets the tone of the whole performance – somewhere between a philosophical joke and an incisive diagnosis. The ship the characters are traveling on, its deck teeming with neurotics and snobs, is more like a shipwreck raft than a fancy ocean liner.

Agnieszka Olsten's production is not a lecture on the history of philosophy, but a black comedy about Europe and its values. IMMANUEL KANT laughs at the authorities and their lofty ideas, but hidden under a layer of humor is a bitter tale about a civilization that continues to profess values it is increasingly unable to live by.