No.9 Bus to Utopia
When David Bramwell’s girlfriend left him for someone she described as 'younger, but more mature than you', he decided he had something to learn about giving. Taking a year off, he journeyed through Europe and America seeking out extraordinary communities that could teach him how to share. He wanted answers to a few troubling questions: Is modern life rubbish? Why do so many of us feel lonely and unfulfilled despite a high standard of living? Are there communities out there who hold the key to happiness? And if so, why do so many of their inhabitants insist on dressing in tie-dye?
His quest led him to an anarchist haven in the heart of Copenhagen; some hair-raising experiences in free love communities; an epiphany in a spiritual caravan park in Scotland and an apparent paradise in a Californian community dreamed up by Aldous Huxley. Most impressive of all was Damanhur, a 1000-strong science fiction- style community in the Alps with an underground temple the size of St Paul's Cathedral, a village of tree houses and a ‘fully-functioning time machine'.
Inspired, he returned home with a desire to change. Not just himself but also his neighbourhood and city. Find out how he succeeded in this wry and self-deprecatingly funny spiritual journey that asks some big questions and finds the answers surprisingly simple.
Dr David Bramwell is a one-man cottage industry; creator of Brighton's Catalyst Club; a music teacher and singer/songwriter for the band Oddfellow's Casino and co-creator of the cult performance piece Sing-Along-A-Wickerman. He won a Sony Award for his BBC Radio 3 programme Haunted Moustache, and Best Comedy and Outstanding Theatre awards for his storytelling shows.