This event is wheelchair accessible.
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After four years, the widely traveled feminist performance collective She She Pop returns to Basel. Together with the Indian Sandbox Collective, they explore the laws of hospitality.
“Atithi Devobhava” in Sanskrit means “The guest is like a god.” In Karnataka, there is a well-known saying: “The door is open, dear guest, come in.” In English, however, we cannot think of a similarly inviting saying. Beyond such grand gestures, in diplomatic and transnational contexts there is a dense network of rules and codes in which hosts and guests can easily become entangled. It guarantees an exchange in which we become hosts or guests to one another, and yet it remains full of contradictions: Nothing is completely set in stone; guidelines change depending on the person, place, time, and context. And yet, a good hostess will not violate any of these unwritten rules. But who do these laws actually protect—and from what? What remains when we leave formality behind? What happens when gender, race, and colonial history are also sitting at the table? What can we commit to each other – and how do we say no?
WAIT TO BE SEATED creates a journey of hospitality in a remote nowhere, complete with dining table, red carpet, and dance floor. As two groups, we approach each other from opposite sides—cautiously but relentlessly—and finally meet in the middle...
The premiere took place in Bangalore in December 2025. This will be followed by a European tour in collaboration with Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Dresden Hellerau, Forum Freies Theater Düsseldorf, Mousonturm Frankfurt, and Spring Festival Utrecht.
Swiss Premiere
Duration: ca 90 Min.
Audience discussion after the show on April, 9
Table talks before the performance on April, 10 at 7:15 p.m., Rossstall 2
Credits
Idea and concept: She She Pop and Sandbox Collective. By and with: Sebastian Bark, Johanna Freiburg, Raabiya Jayaram, Lisa Lucassen, Mieke Matzke, Ilia Papatheodorou, Shiva Pathak, Nimi Ravindran, Berit Stumpf. Artistic Advice: Natasha Borenko, Rodrigo Zorzanelli, Artistic Advice India: Sachin Gurjale, Vinod Ravindran, Joshua Muyiwa, Stage: Philine Rinnert, Costumes: Lea Søvsø, Costumes Assistance: Rita Rozhkova, Video Concept: Benjamin Krieg, Light Design and Technical Director: Claes Schwennen, Technical Support: Marius Bratoveanu, Light, Video & Technical Management German Tour: Marius Bratovean, Manuel Louis Horstmann, Michael Lentner, Claes Schwennen, Light, Video & Technical Management India Tour: Niranjan Gokhale, Technical and Production Assistant India: Anand Samudre, Dramaturgical Advice: Foad Esfahani, Intern: Fanny Kempter, German Live Translation: PANTHEA, Documentation India: Richa Bhavanam and Anushka Meenakshi, Social Media and Hospitality India: Leya Mammen, Coaching: Anisha Imhasly, Yumin Li, Coaching Music: Max Knoth, PR & Communication: ehrliche arbeit – freelance office for culture, PR & Communication India: Sridevi Rao, Communication: Tina Ebert, Production: Tina Ebert, Aminata Oelßner, Medha Nidhi S, Elke Weber, Company Management Sandbox Collective: Raabiya Jayaram, Shiva Pathak, Nimi Ravindran, Medha Nidhi S, Company Management She She Pop: Aminata Oelßner, Elke Weber.
A production by She She Pop and Sandbox Collective in co-production with HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, FFT Düsseldorf, HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste, Kaserne Basel und SPRING Festival Utrecht. Supported by: Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research (Pondicherry) and Theaterhaus Berlin.
Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media). And founded the City of Berlin – Department for Culture and Social Cohesion Berlin.
This production was supported by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore as part of the project Space for Freedom and Feminism.
She She Pop
She She Pop is a Berlin-based feminist performance collective that emerged in the 1990s from the Giessen Institute for Applied Theater Studies.
The members see themselves as authors, dramaturges and performers of their stage action. The inclusion of their own autobiography is above all a method, not a purpose of the work. She She Pop practices a form of theater that is committed to experimentation. They use the stage as a place of acute public: here decisions are made, ways of talking and social systems are tried out, speech gestures and social rituals are rehearsed or discarded. She She Pop sees its task as a search to find the social limits of communication – and to go beyond the protective space of the theatre, in both specific and artistic terms. The theatre is turned into a space for utopian communication. The audience, too, is often given a special function: all of She She Pop’s works are experiments or demonstrations of evidence that would be invalid without spectators.
Members are Sebastian Bark, Johanna Freiburg, Lisa Lucassen, Mieke Matzke, Ilia Papatheodorou, Berit Stumpf, and Elke Weber. Former group members are Fanni Halmburger, Claude Jansen, Katharina Oberlik and Anja von Steht.
In the production office at Kunstquartier Bethanien in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Tina Ebert, Aminata Oelßner and Elke Weber are responsible for management, administration and finance, production, acquisition, distribution, communication and touring.
The international production house HAU Hebbel am Ufer has been She She Pops continuous co-producer and cooperation partner in Berlin since 2003. In addition, there is a wide network of cooperating houses in Germany and abroad: Kampnagel Hamburg, Forum Freies Theater in Dusseldorf, Mousonturm Frankfurt / Main, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, Residency Schauspiel Leipzig, Kaserne Basel, Theatre de la Ville / Festival d’Automne de Paris, Festival Kyoto Experiment, ACT Festival Sofia, Hängo Teaterträff, SPRING Utrecht, Prague German language Festival and Festival delle Colline Torinesi Turin / TPE – Teatro Piemonte Europa.
Content Notes
There are scenes in which there is very little light, but not total darkness.
Table Talks
Together with Art of Intervention, we're bringing the table talks back to Kaserne Basel! Once a month, we meet at the bar at 7:15 p.m. to get in the mood for the upcoming theater or dance evening in a relaxed atmosphere.
In dialogue with invited guests, we take a queer-feminist look at an aspect of the respective production. And after the performance, we open the space again for a brief exchange: sharing impressions, developing thoughts, shifting perspectives.
Come by, be inspired, and join the discussion!
