DISASTER (2018)

A theater game about game theater, complete with delusions of grandeur, anguish, and an invisible rat.

It’s the same as it always is: As in previous adventures, the Berlin game theatre collective machina eX invites the audience to explore interactive spaces, solve puzzles, and navigate its way through a story together. But this time something is amiss. The game is broken. The game is unfinished. The game’s designer is desperate. This should have been her big breakthrough.

But however you look at it, the game is a disaster. In DISASTER, machina eX takes audience members behind the scenes, inviting them to participate in the process of creating a game. Inevitably, questions of power and control arise, which go beyond aesthetic discourse. How do we deal with systems of control? And how can we create consensus around rules?

Premiere / Venues

Premiere in December 2018 at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin

May 2019 at the FFT Düsseldorf

December 2019 at the ROXY Birsfelden

1. to 6. October 2024 at Hannah Playhouse, Wellington, New Zealand

An adult sits on a narrow bed, looking frightened and holding a doll to their chest.
Several people lean over a table containing test tubes and empty canning jars.
Several people lean over a table containing test tubes and empty canning jars.
Several people stand around small standing desks with telephones, holding the phone receivers to their ears. In the background is a person behind a golden tinsel curtain.
Several people stand in a circle around small standing desks with telephones, holding the phone receivers to their ears.
A person carries a cage equipped for a small animal.
A person looks harriedly at a piece of paper pasted to the wall in a chaotic kitchen.
Two people stand at desks with yellow telephones on them, holding the phone receivers to their ears.

Credit: Dorothea Tuch

Concept: machina eX /// Performance: Katharina Bill, Martin Schnippa /// Text and Game Design: Clara Ehrenwerth /// Direction and Set Design: Anan Fries /// Technical Direction and Programming: Lasse Marburg /// Dramaturgy and Game Design: Yves Regenass /// Music and Sound Design: Malu Peeters /// Electronics andProgramming: Sebastian Arnd /// Lighting Consulting: Eva G. Alonso /// Production Assistance: Eva Budniewski /// With thanks to: Barbara Lenartz /// Production management: Sina Kießling

Production: machina eX. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer, FFT Düsseldorf, ROXY Birsfelden. Funded by the Berlin Senate Department of Culture and Europe, Dance & Theater Technical Committee BS/BL.