SUNDIAL – THE STORY OF AN UPGRADE

To understand this largely unexplored superweapon, a search ensued for remote locations around the world to conduct tests: there, wounds were inflicted, nature was contaminated with radiation, and indigenous populations were displaced. Just two decades later, radioactive fallout could be detected worldwide.

Under the code name “Sundial,” U.S. scientists and military officials, caught up in the arms race to create the ultimate deterrent, discuss a bomb that could wipe out the entire planet with a single explosion.

An ensemble of four actresses embarks on a documentary quest, delves into the archives of the atomic age, and is swept into a dizzying maelstrom of memory.

They weave together documents from U.S. intelligence agencies—previously little known—into a history of the arms race.

With theatrical intensity, wit, and choreography, they reenact pivotal moments of the nuclear arms race and the nuclear powers’ willingness to resort to violence. The story of nuclear madness is not yet over—currently, the U.S. is threatening new nuclear weapons tests, Russia is showcasing new intercontinental ballistic missiles, and Europe is planning its own nuclear shield. The play preserves the traces of that era in which humanity invented the destruction of its own world.