The No.9 Bus to Utopia (Salford)

Venue: The Lowry
Where: Salford

Dr David Bramwell shares his vision of a perfect society in his  monologue, The No. 9 Bus to Utopia at the Lowry.

After visiting communes in Europe and America, he discovers that, all along, his dream world exists in his home city of Brighton where he devises plans to instil a sense of community. Bramwell describes his vision via a slide lecture illustrating and describing places he has visited which come near to the standard he has set.

Many of his stories are about compounds such as Christiania in Denmark and Damanhur in Italy. Along the way he introduces us to such unusual characters you can barely believe they exist. Ripples of humour come through as a relief from the intensity of his quest.  

In Damanhur, he comes across a huge underground temple where people believe they can travel backwards in time. But it is his return to Brighton which fires him up with plans for a ‘Zocalo’ day whereby neighbours sit outside their homes and interact, as well as a thermal utopia on the front at Brighton where people bathe naked.

Sadly someone beat him to it by writing a book on his subject. Hence, our luck in hearing him talk about his experiences rather than reading about them.

– Julia Taylor