A Seed Story

Sonali Kadam has a vision for her country:

the ambitious biochemist wants to give all of India access to high-quality food. To this end, she is conducting research in the laboratory of her genetic engineering start-up ‘Soma-Terra’ on a ‘super rice’ that is supposed to deliver reliable yields even under the most adverse conditions. Together with her business partner Razam Azmi, she believes in the advantages of genetically modified seeds – as long as they are developed responsibly: non-profit, regionally, in exchange with the farmers who will later use the seeds. But with increasing success, the start-up loses the ability to follow its ethical principles. Sonali becomes doubtful whether her research is in the right hands. And so she hatches a consequential plan.


With “A Seed Story,” the Berlin-based game theatre collective machina eX tackles a topic that is relevant all over the world, but is often dealt with in different ways: the question of how to secure food supplies 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 collaborating for the first time with the Indian theatre group Tadpole Repertory. The outcome is a play about genetic engineering in India: about concerns regarding health and environmental damage, but also mistrust of the profit-oriented approach of international companies. In recent years, thousands of small farmers have been driven to ruin by the use of genetically modified seeds. At the same time, hunger is also a pressing problem in emerging India.


Twelve players in Berlin meet two performers in New Delhi. They condense the international discourse on genetically modified plants in a fictionalised setting. With screen transmission, robots and duplicate props, a fast-paced cat-and-mouse game emerges in which performers and players share a common experience in two rooms far apart.


90 mins.



(GERMAN / ENGLISH)