Maurice is machina eX’s first full-length theatrical game.
In Maurice, we dive into the adventures of Anika and her stuffed bunny, aiding them as they confront everything from fires to spooky nuns, and leading them to the caretaker who becomes a hero and makes a big mistake along the way.
A house full of memories. A confused young woman in a hospital. An orphanage that was once a barracks, complete with tanks, field artillery, anti-aircraft guns, a confused caretaker, and a sick girl who likes to play war games. Sirens and a heap of scattered memories. Can the players, the poltergeists, reconstruct what happened? Can they help Anika remember? And can they keep the janitor from making a huge mistake?
Maurice was developed and premiered in the summer of 2010 in three rooms and a hallway in an abandoned army barracks in Hildesheim. A theatrical game for 10 to 12 players. Duration: approximately 85 minutes.
Premiere / Venues
Premiere in summer 2010 in the Mackensen-Kaserne in Hildesheim
Credit: Nicolas Rösener und Florian Baumgarten
„A second world starts at the end of a dark hallway. […] In the heart of the machine, windows open in a literal and figurative sense. […] A collective moment of existential alienation becomes a trip through different levels of reality. […] Audience members unite, forming a larger being that drives the events forward in ping-pong fashion, at the mercy of the game and its tasks. […] In an imitation loop of reality, the audience is repeatedly thrown back onto itself, its group dynamics, and its perceptions. […] The result is a fairy tale, so far from reality and yet so close.“
Stephanie Drees for the Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung
Idea, Concept and Execution: Jan Philip Steimel, Laura Alisa Schäffer /// Performance and Dramaturgy: Anan Fries, Laura Naumann, Yves Regenass /// Production Management and Documentation: Nele Katharina Lenz /// Technical Direction: Robin Krause /// Technical Puzzle Design, Hacking, and Electrical Engineering: Lasse Marburg /// Soundtrack and Sound Design: Mathias Prinz /// Equipment: Lucas Humann /// Speakers Norman Grotegut, Antonia Tittel /// Production Baby Giacumina Oelhafen /// Testing: Kaja Jakstat, Sami Bill, Anton Krause, Mathias Mertens, Tom Felbeck, Thomas Stöckl, Rik Oppermann, Florian Baumgarten, Sara Dusanic, Luka Raulf, Gwen van der Linde, Katharina Eckholdt, Juliane Hahn, Sarah Brüning, Niklas Mihr, Julian Brink, Carolin Gerlach, Martin Pleiß, Martin Schnippa, Maike Tödter, Martin Zepter
Production: machina eX. Funded and sponsored by: StuPa Hildesheim, Studentenwerk Braunschweig, MLP Oliver Heilemann, and St. Bernward Hospital Hildesheim, especially Frau Müller and Herr Aselmeier and the radiology department