This performance takes places at Stratford Circus Theatre Square Stratford, London E15 1BX
Never afraid of confronting difficult issues, Australia's Back to Back Theatre follow their acclaimed 2010 LIFT production, Food Court, with an equally complex and uncompromising work.
Part fairy tale and part analysis of the ethics of storytelling, Ganesh Versus the Third Reich follows the Hindu God Ganesh on a quest to reclaim the swastika (the Hindu symbol for luck and wellbeing) back from Hitler. Yet Ganesh Versus the Third Reich is as multi-layered as the many meanings associated with this most potent of symbols, with an interweaving narrative concerning a struggling group of actors wresting power from an overbearing director.
It is Back to Back Theatre's ensemble of actors with disabilities who give the play its strength, for as the very ''useless people'" Hitler strove to exterminate, the cast challenge the audience to consider the morality of cultural appropriation, to examine who has the 'right' to create art from history's darkest chapters.
★★★★★'Courageous, confronting, intelligent and magisterially considered theatre... the towering achievement here is to stimulate discussion around issues of cultural appropriation, the rights and responsibilities of those who imagine and speak for others.'The Age
Winner of three Green Room Awards (Melbourne's arts awards) Best Ensemble performance (in Alternative & Hybrid performance category) Best Direction (Theatre) Best Production (Theatre)
100 minutes / no interval
Age guidance 14+
This performance contains strong language and adult themes. Ganesh is the hero of the work and throughout the performance is presented as positive force for peace. His integrity and status are treated with great respect.
29 June Post-show talk Toni Racklin, Barbican Head of Theatre in conversation with Alice Nash, Executive Director of Back to Back Theatre, and the company
30 Jun BSL-interpreted performance Supported by Sense
Part of LIFT 2012
Presented by LIFT in association with Barbican
Supported by Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria and Keir Foundation
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