Life Goes On (2022)

Once known throughout East Germany for its delicious chocolate bonbons, the small city of Prückwitz is now home to a mass of abandoned factories and a faint hope for tourism development. A dedicated mayor and a U.S. investor could help the city recover economically—but for a single parcel of land, which Treuhand sold to a fortune hunter who disappeared during the reunification of Germany, and which is now blocking the way to a new industrial park. As a result of decisions made long, long ago, Prückwitz’s dreams of revival threaten to collapse.

Prückwitz does not exist, but if it did, it would look just like this. Following Layers of Life, which was performed at the HAU in 2021, the game theater collective machina eX returns to this fictitious location of very real events to unearth remnants of the past in the present.

The multimedia board game Life Goes On takes the audience on a voyage to the East German-West German past— without leaving the game table. Using game boards, converted smartphones, headphones, and event cards, players make their own Prückwitz, which they can recreate at home after the performance. A multimedia tabletop game that brings the elements of a game night into the performance space and the elements of the performance space into a game night. It is permanently available online.

Premiere / Venues

Premiere: October 2022, HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU3), Berlin

Release of @home version: November 2022, HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU4), Berlin

March 2023 Parktheater Iserlohn

May 2023 FFT Düsseldorf

Play online
On a table are a city map, smartphones, a tablet, printed sheets of paper, and headphones. Three people are sitting around this table, one of them is using the tablet.
The contents of a table are visible: smartphones, a map of the city of Prückwitz, printed sheets of paper, and the hands of three people sitting around the table. Two of whom are taking notes.
A person with long hair and glasses is sitting at a table and reading something on a tablet. In front of her are a city map, smartphones, a notepad, and printed sheets of paper.
On a table are a city map, smartphones, a tablet, and printed sheets of paper. Four people sit or stand around the table, one of them uses the tablet.
On a table are a city map, smartphones, headphones, and a tablet. Three people with headphones are sitting at the table, one person is reading something from the tablet.
A load-bearing shelf with printed material stands illuminated in a room. In the background is a table where people are sitting and playing something.
A room with several tables separated by shelves with printed material. Four people with headphones are sitting around the table in the center, which is covered with game paraphernalia.

Credit: Lilly Urbat

“A lovely and entertaining game with a great story, lots of laughs and a serious backstory.”

— Alexander Brock on KulturAspekte

Interview with dramaturge Lena Vöcklinghaus
on “Life Goes On”

Corso on Deutschlandfunk

Concept: machina eX /// Performance (Audio): Anne Eigner, Godehard Giese, Sina Kießling, Thomas Mielmann, Laura Naumann, David Simon, Stephan Stock, Leon Ullrich/// Text: Clara Ehrenwerth /// Interactive Design and Programming: Lasse Marburg, Benedikt Kaffai /// Dramaturgy: Lena Vöcklinghaus /// Sound Design: Matthias Millhoff /// Collaboration Game Design: Anton Rose /// Scenography: För Künkel, Mirjam Hildbrand /// Interface and UX Design: Elisa Haubert /// Graphic Design: Ines Strzedulla /// Collaboration Programming: Philip Steimel /// Production management: Sina Kießling

Production: machina eX. Co-production: HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by: The Berlin Senate Department of Culture and Civic Solidarity, Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media under the rubric of NEUSTART KULTUR.

Video: Lara RCZ (https://lararcz.com/)