She She Pop & Sandbox Collective

In “Wait To Be Seated”, two feminist collectives from Bangalore and Berlin come together to examine the laws of hospitality. The diplomatic protocol - its embarrassing observance as well as deliberate transgression - serves as a template for an exchange in which we become each other's host or guest and thus simultaneously a challenge, a promise and a burden.

“Atithi Devobhava” means “The guest is like a god” and is often said in India. “The door is open, dear guest, come in” is a famous phrase in the Indian region of Karnataka. We can't think of a similarly inviting saying in German. Beyond such grand gestures, there is a dense network of rules and codes, especially in diplomatic and transnational contexts, in which hosts and guests can easily become entangled. Nowhere are these rules comprehensively written down, they are contradictory and change depending on the person, place, time and context. And yet: a good hostess will never break any of the rules! Who do these unwritten laws protect and from what? What remains when we leave formality behind? What if gender, race and colonial history are also at the table? What are we allowed to ask of each other - and how do we say no?

“Wait To Be Seated” creates a course of hospitality with a dining table, red carpet and dance floor in an enraptured nowhere. She She Pop and Sandbox Collective approach each other from opposite sides, carefully but relentlessly, meeting in the middle and opening up a new horizon.

Press Reviews

• “The entire evening unfolds in a series of different stages of social interaction (…). Anyone familiar with the feeling of awkwardness (…)—or simply anyone who wants to sit back, relax, and watch others struggle socially—will find this thoroughly enjoyable (…). They don’t reach a resolution. But far more interesting than a solution is the journey toward it, and that is well worth seeing.” (Nachtkritik, Iven Yorick Fenker)
• “The production is colorful and funny. The glitter of Bollywood hangs over the set, (…) playing with the codes of politeness and hospitality, with dress codes and the rules of diplomatically sidestepping conflict zones. But also a great deal with what one thinks one knows, with the imaginings about the other country that already seem a bit unsettling the moment one utters them.” (Taz, Katrin Bettina Müller)
• “It was like a kind of game—how we interact with one another, how we invent rituals to perhaps overcome the strangeness to some extent and find common ground. And that really worked in a very relaxed and beautiful way that evening.” (Deutschlandradio / Fazit, André Mumot)