LOCKDOWN (2020)

LOCKDOWN, the first collaborative living room game by machina eX, is a game about living in a state of isolation.

Everything went as usual this morning. Tess went to work, even though
she didn’t feel like it. She put on her cycling shoes, ran down the stairs, got on her bike, and rode off through the deserted streets. A totally normal day in the new abnormal. But now she’s disappeared. Her cell phone is off. Her boss has no idea where she is. But she should have been home by now. So you embark on a search. Everyone on their own, together with everyone else.

In the spontaneous, crisis-inspired production LOCKDOWN by the game theater collective machina eX, the audience takes on the role of Tess’ flatmates. The smartphone becomes a stage and the sofa the playing field. In chats and calls, in familiar and unfamiliar places on the Internet, a story unfolds, and players have the power to influence the outcome from their living rooms. Can they connect the clues in time? A game about the everyday state of emergency and about coming together in times of isolation. A smartphone with the messenger app Telegram is required to play the game.

Awarded the IKARUS 21.0 for outstanding Berlin theater productions for children and young people in pandemic times.

Credit: FFT/Clara Marx-Zakowski