About the work
DIVISION is a stage play by Katja Riemann and Paula Romy, directed by Romy at Berlin's Renaissance-Theater. It was performed in 2025; no earlier premiere year is documented.
Plot
In the year 2045, scientist Seraphina stands trial accused of scientific terrorism. Her invention, Serafim, promises women something approaching perpetual youth while producing severe side effects in men. The discovery divides society. Seraphina is described either as a visionary liberator or as a dangerous avenger. The central conflict concerns the way scientific innovation is judged when it radically changes existing biological and social distributions of power.
Cultural significance
The play uses a science-fiction premise to explore gender, ageing, biology, power and the authority of social convention. By framing Seraphina through accusation and defence, it foregrounds competing interpretations of technological change: the same scientific intervention can be imagined as emancipation for one group and an existential threat by another.