The Black Sea Oracle Game

The Black Sea Oracle in Hotel Passage, Odessa. Photo:David Baltzer

This radical piece of continuous, immersive theatre was developed by Signa in collaboration with the KIT Metropolis Lab.

The Black Sea Oracle gives life to the fictitious story of Martha Rubin, an infamous oracle who performed in fairgrounds around Europe in the beginning of the 20th century. As an orphan of unknown origin she was taken into care by a travelling circus. Martha Rubin disappeared in the Romanian harbor city Constanta in 1913. From the years after her disappearance until this day the oracle has reoccurred in several European cities. Her descendants have formed the Martha Rubin Society trying to understand the mystical traces that she leaves behind. In an ongoing ritual the followers of Martha Rubin put their lives in the hands of chance, playing a fatal game of ever changing identities.
During the 57 hours non-stop performance the audience could come and go as they wished and stay as long as they wanted to, taking part in the games and the daily life of The Martha Rubin Society, living, eating and even sleeping in the installation – building individual realtionships with the characters and the actors.

In Odessa, Signa took over a floor of the magnificent but decaying Passage Hotel – in Varna Signa was based in an equally crumbling house in a suburban street. A smaller revised version of the Oracle Games was presented in Helsingor.  Members of the Vilna Scena theatre company run by Dmytro Bogomazov also participated as performers in the Odessa event.

Concept – Signa Sørensen & Arthur Köstler
Directing – Signa Sørensen
Media Design – Arthur Köstler
Set Design – Signa Sørensen & Thomas Bo Nilsson

Producer – SIGNA
Co-Producer – KIT
Supporter- Kunststyrelsen

Photographer – SIGNA, Erich Goldmann

Cast – Arthur Köstler, Emil Groth Larsen, Frank Bätge, Gry Worre Hallberg, Irina Zabrodina Jørgensen, Momir Subotic, Signa Sørensen, Thomas Bo Nilsson and
Vyara Tabakova (only in Varna) plus 2-3 local performers.

Performed in mainly in English and local languages



Press Coverage

"Ritualised grown up games fascinate" (Svenska Dagbladet)

"A game about life and death" (Politiken)

"Marthon theatre has to be experienced" (Helsingør Dagblad)

The Black Sea Oracle by Signa