An android machine or a human being made of flesh and blood? Humanoid robots are now used in geriatric care; others are personalized as sexual part­ ners. But it is precisely when robots appear as nearly perfect imitations of humans that such machines are most clearly rejected, whereas an apparatus that is recognizable as a machine is accepted. The Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori has described this ac­ceptance gap as the »uncanny valley.«

Under the title of this term, Stefan Kaegi stages an experiment: a play without an actor, a reading without an author. An animatronic copy of the writer Thomas Melle talks about the unpre­dictability of people. The act of dele­gating to androids seems as artistically consistent as it is pragmatic: »After having outsourced parts of my mind to my book, I've now also outsourced my body.« But who speaks? Which factors determine the credibility of the humanoid counterpart? And what role do the projections, speculations, fears and desires with which viewers define the machine, play?

Concept, text, direction: Stefan Kaegi Text, body, voice: Thomas Melle Set: Evi Bauer Animatronics: Chiscreatures Filmeffects GmbH Production and art finish of the silicone head / coloration and hair: Tommy Opatz Dramaturgy: Martin Valdés-Stauber Video design: Mikko Gaestel Music: Nicolas Neecke Production: Münchner Kammerspiele Co-production: Berliner Festspiele - Immersion, donaufestival (Krems), Feodor Elutine (Moscow), FOG Triennale Milano Performing Arts (Milan), Temporada Alta - Festival de Tador de Catalunya (Girona), SPRING Utrecht Performance rights: Rowohlt Theater Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg