Machina eX & Tadpole Repertory

Can genetic engineering combat world hunger? “A Seed Story” explores ethical dilemmas between innovation and responsibility. In the interactive theatre game, twelve players in Berlin meet two performers in New Delhi — with screen sharing, robots and double props, a fast-paced game of cat and mouse is created.

Sonali Kadam has a vision for her country: The ambitious biochemist wants to give all of India access to high-quality food. To do this, she is researching “super rice” in the laboratory of her genetic engineering start-up “Soma-Terra”, which should deliver reliable yield even under the harshest conditions. Together with her business partner Raza Azmi, she believes in the benefits of genetically modified seeds — as long as they are developed responsibly: on a non-profit basis, regionally, in exchange with farmers, who should use the seeds later. But with increasing success, the start-up loses the opportunity to follow its ethical principles. Sonali is increasingly doubting whether their research is in the right hands. And so she makes a plan with consequences...

With “A Seed Story,” the Berlin-based game theatre collective machina eX is tackling a topic that is relevant all over the world but is often negotiated in different ways: the question of how food can be ensured against the backdrop of the climate crisis. Does genetic engineering offer an opportunity to make crops more resistant?

For this new theatre game, machina eX is working with the Indian theatre group Tadpole Repertory for the first time. A piece is being created about genetic engineering in India: about concerns about health and ecological damage, but also about distrust of the profit-oriented nature of international companies. In recent years, thousands of small farmers have been driven to ruin by using genetically modified seeds. At the same time, population hunger is an urgent problem even in emerging India.

In “A Seed Story,” twelve players in Berlin meet two performers in New Delhi. They condense the international discourse on genetically modified plants in a fictionalized setting. With screen sharing, robots and double props, a fast-paced game of cat and mouse is created, in which performers and players share a common experience in two rooms far apart.

Concept: Machina eX, Tadpole Repertory/Performance: Krittika Bhattacharjee, Prashant Prakash/Director: Neel Chaudhuri, Anton Krause/Text: Neel Chaudhuri, Lena Vöcklinghaus/Interaction Design & Programming: Anuj Chopra, Lasse Marburg, Sebastian Arnd/Collaboration Programming: Benedikt Kaffai, Subodh Pareek/Dramaturgy Game Design: Clara Ehrenwerth, Anton Rose/Interface & UX Design: Elisa Haubert/Scenography & Costume Design: Barbara Lenartz, Hriturekha Nath/Videography: Anuj Chopra/ Sound Design: Matthias Millhoff/Robot Support for ARKA ( On loan from the production “Nessun Dorma”): Markus Schubert/Production manager: Sina Kiessling, Neel Chaudhuri/Internship: Neil Bhatia

Fog is used at this event. As an Indo-German co-production, work addresses (post) colonialism and (post) colonialist economic practices.

HAU3 is unfortunately not barrier-free. The theatre is accessible via the stairwell (3rd floor). So that we can offer optimal service under these circumstances, please contact our ticketing & service team at +49 (0) 30 259004-27 or by email at tickets@hebbel-am-ufer.de.