SIGN HERE (2019)

A dystopian bureaucratic simulation sends players into a battle against administrative arbitrariness and alleged neutrality.

Sign Here sends the audience to the bureaucratic realm, where omnivorous paper tigers wander through the tedium, administrative mold creeps up the walls, and mountains of files expand and flourish. In this organizational jungle, official decrees, orders, and notices rule, determining how people live, work, and exist. The written word is the bureaucrats’ instrument—and the written word is the only way to challenge them. The uncompromising staff are only surrogates, more a danger than a guide through the red tape.

In a bureaucratic simulation full of incomprehensible signs, audience members become players struggling against regulations, administrative articles, and arbitrary declarations. In an environment where everything is recognizable but nothing is familiar, which strategy is the right one? Submissiveness, complaints, or boundless patience? And what happens to those who get lost in the world of regulations? Sign Here questions the rules of the game and the hurdles in a system that claims neutrality yet is far from treating everyone fairly.

The inspiration for Sign Here comes from the Schauspiel Essen Theater and its wish to confront the topic of illiteracy. For those affected by illiteracy, the stigma associated with it often leads to hiding it and treating it as a taboo. machina eX explores the topic with a playful, sensory-oriented approach.

Premiere / Venues

Premiere in September 2019 at the Theater Essen

A circle of file folders in a room. Inside the circle is a table with two chairs facing one another. In the background is a large shelf with files.
A person with a barcode nametag on their chest stamps a piece of paper at their desk while being lit by a office lamp.
Two chairs face each other in a very small room. A shelf on the wall with a potted plant and toilet paper.
Two people sit across from one another at a table in a dark room. On the table are a microscope, stamps, and other objects.
A person in a grey suit sits at a desk and scans a document with a pen while being observed by a person sitting across from them.
A person in a muted blouse and a pleated skirt is sorting file folders in a tall filing cabinet.
A person with a clipboard is sitting in a bathtub and laughing. The bathtub is full of red plastic balls.

Credit: Albi Fouché


„It’s in those moments of waiting for the next encounter with one of the bureaucrats that you have time to simply immerse yourself in the world that machina eX has created. And it’s really spectacular.“


Sascha Westphal, WAZ
Four people in business attire with barcodes as nametags look seriously into the camera. In the background is a file cabinet.
Credit: Albi Fouché

Concept and Game Design: machina eX /// Performance: Lea Beie, Anne Eigner, David Simon, Martin Schnippa/// Staging: Yves Regenass /// Text: Clara Ehrenwerth /// Scenography: Barbara Lenartz /// Technical Direction and Programming: Lasse Marburg /// Sound Design and Dramaturgy: Mathias Prinz /// Electronics: Sebastian Arnd /// Interactive Design: Benedikt Kaffai /// Costume Design: Johanna Denzel /// Production management: Sina Kießling /// Assistant Direction: Felicia Daniel, Paula Emmrich /// Set and Costume Design Assistance: Anne Koltermann

A co-production of machina eX and Schauspiel Essen. Supported by the Brost Foundation