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• Non-verbal Object Theater + Audience Talk
• Lo-Fi-Sci-Fi-Odyssee

• Fr., 13.11.2026, 20:00

Audience talk following 'Soft Squishy Things'

A lone astronaut survives isolation by transforming everyday objects into companions, worlds and pop-culture rituals. Blending lo-fi science fiction, object theatre, humour and tenderness, 'Soft Squishy Things' asks how vulnerable bodies keep searching for connection in the vast void and offers an Audience Talk following the performance.

• 1Photo ©Kendra Epik Photography. Come for the DIY sci-fi. Stay for the soft squishy feelings.

A trans-fem astronaut is stranded in space… so she starts making things: A Kleenex becomes an alien pet. A humidifier becomes her hype squad. Flashlights terraform entire worlds. Cotton balls drift through galaxies that look suspiciously like your Mom’s ironing board… Inside this handmade tabletop universe, nothing is wasted, everything and everybody is transformed into a companion, an absurd ritual, a reason to keep going. Part object theater magic, part cosmic daydream, 'Soft Squishy Things' is funny, strange, and unexpectedly moving, a playful, tender ride through loneliness, identity, and the beautifully weird ways we create connection when there’s nothing left to hold onto. Bring your friends to the Audience Talk – facilitated by Tim Sandwig (Director of Schaubude & Theater der Dinge Festival) – and enjoy some soft squichy company.

About the Venue

Schaubude Berlin

At Schaubude Berlin, figures and objects stand on stage as the main actors. In guest performances from Germany and abroad, in co-productions, special series and festivals, we show the world from the point of view of things. Our children’s and evening programmes that change weekly invite you to discover the range of contemporary puppet and object theatre. We are particularly interested in the border areas of the genre. That is why there are not only puppeteers on our stage, but also artists from the fields of performance, visual arts, dance and music. Tim Sandweg has been the theatre’s artistic director since 2015. As a venue and production house, Schaubude Berlin has been a cornerstone institution of the city’s independent performing arts since 1993.

About the Performance

Soft Squishy Things

Soft Squishy Things is a lo-fi scifi odyssey in miniature: an intimate performance where a lone trans-fem astronaut survives isolation by transforming everyday objects into companions, worlds, and pop-culture rituals. Inside this part object-theatre, part cosmic universe, nothing is wasted, everything and everybody is transformed into a friend, a first contact… a reason to keep going. A Kleenex becomes an alien pet and marshmallows terraform new worlds. Balancing humour, tenderness, and existential absurdity, Soft Squishy Things asks what happens to soft bodies and vulnerable hearts when they are propelled into the vast machinery of space, and how we continue to search for connection, even in the void.  

About the Artists

Eric Rose & Robin Leveroos

'Soft Squishy Things' is an original devised object-theatre performance co-created by Eric Rose and Robin Leveroos through an ongoing international collaboration between Ghost River Theatre (Canada) and Macromatter (Germany). Originally conceived under the working title Transcendent Space, the project has evolved through a multi-year artistic dialogue between Rose and Leveroos, exploring how ordinary household objects can evoke the vast emotional and physical landscape of outer space. Soft Squishy Things is the third major collaboration between Eric Rose and Robin Leveroos, following GIANT, an award-winning visual theatre production exploring the mythology of André the Giant, and STRUCK, an innovative live-cinema performance combining object manipulation, live Foley, projection, and devised theatre. Together, these works represent an ongoing artistic investigation into materiality, visual metaphor, and the hidden emotional lives of objects. Placing a trans-fem body at the centre of this lo-fi space odyssey gently reimagines who gets to inhabit stories of exploration, endurance and the unknown. Rather than presenting survival as heroic conquest, the performance looks toward softness, humour, play and care as ways of continuing. It asks how we remain open and vulnerable within systems that can feel vast, impersonal and isolating, and how we keep making contact, even when no one seems to be answering.