R.U.R.

R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) is a play by Karel Čapek. Čapek was a Czech writer who produced work in many genres, including journalism, essays, plays, short stories, novels, and translations of French poetry. R.U.R. premiered in 1921 at Prague’s National Theater. It is based on a short story by Karel Čapek and his brother Josef Čapek called “The System,” which was published in 1908. Čapek categorized R.U.R. as a collective drama, but it is generally considered a work of science or speculative fiction. The original 1921 posters that advertised the play said that it took place in the year 2000, after the invention and widespread use of robots.

In R.U.R., Čapek imagines a future world where robots become the world’s workers, laboring for humans. He uses the robots’ revolt and eventual annihilation of the human race to explore what it means to be human and the purpose of human life. The working conditions of Rossum’s factory offer an opportunity to explore power dynamics created by labor. The theme of Love is central in the play—engendering powerful and healing emotions for both humans and robots.

This guide cites the 2004 Penguin Classics edition, translated into English by Claudia Novack, with an introduction by Ivan Klima.