Back To Back Theatre (Australia) // Theatre // May 22-25, 2013

CANADIAN PREMIERE 

“The remarkable production … never lets you settle into passive acceptance of anything it does. It’s a vital, senses-sharpening tonic for theatergoers who feel they’ve seen it all.” 

– The New York Times (click for full review)

 ………

“Courageous, confronting, intelligent and magisterially considered theatre. 5 stars”

– The Age (click for full reivew)

Ganesh Versus The Third Reich is poignant, beautiful, disarming, full of vulnerability and sly transparency.

Performed by a mixed-abilities cast, Ganesh Versus The Third Reich follows two simultaneous stories; on one hand it is a play about the elephant-headed god Ganesh, sent to earth in 1943 on a quest to reclaim the Swastika (an ancient Hindu symbol) from Nazi Germany. On the other, it is the story of a young man inspired to create this play about Ganesh – god of overcoming obstacles – and the group of individuals struggling with its creation. The actors perform both as themselves and as the characters in this ‘play within a play’, effectively convincing the audience that this work is being made, in each moment, before our eyes. As the ‘Ganesh play’ is rehearsed, initially witty interplays between the performers and the director become increasingly more uncomfortable. What is the real story? Whose play is this? Are the performers being empowered or patronized, and as the audience are we also implicated?

“Back to Back Theatre, I salute you. Theatre people, I implore you to not let an opportunity like this slip past. A truly staggering piece of theatre. Five stars.” 

– Theatre People

AWARDS & PRIZES
2009 Kit Denton Fellowship
2011 Melbourne Festival Age Critics Award
2012 Green Room Award Best Ensemble Performance (Alternative & Hybrid Performance category)
2012 Green Room Award Best Direction (Theatre category)
2012 Green Room Award Best Production (Theatre category)
2012 Helpmann Award for Best Play

Back To Back Theatre has developed an international reputation for its unique ability to present the issues of our times with a distinct outsider focus. Creating new forms of contemporary theatre imagined from the minds and experiences of this unique ensemble of actors, their work raises social and political issues that speak to all people. Ganesh Versus The Third Reich invites us to examine who has the right to tell a story and who has the right to be heard. It explores our complicity in creating and dismantling the world, human possibility and hope.

// GET YOUR TICKETS NOW //

// CLICK HERE

VISIT US // 608 1st st. sw

CALL US  // 403.205.2922 x.1

“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  For the full review go to Behind the Critical Curtain

“Back to Back have never had any truck with “special” treatment: their work has a harsh honesty that makes it impossible to patronise. But they also specialise in moments of breath-taking beauty that assert the sheer power of their skills. There are images I won’t forget: the impossible poignancy and strangeness, for example, of Ganesh, dressed in a business suit, standing before Hitler, who is played by Simon in a ridiculous knitted Hitler costume. Or an evocation of Indra’s net, when a back curtain of stars was lifted to reveal a blazing light, like a sunrise. I’ve never seen anything like this show, because only Back to Back could make it. They are, simply, our most important independent theatre company.“  - Theatre Notes  For the full review go to theatrenotes

 STUDENTS!

Thank you for your support this season! We have loved having you here for our STUDENT THURSDAY’S and as a THANK YOU have a special treat for our last STUDENT THURSDAY of the 13/14 season….

Join us

THURSDAY MAY 23 for

GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH

& get a pass for NO LINE & NO COVER at

The HIFI CLUB + COMMONWEALTH BAR

every Thursday ALL SUMMER LONG!

That’s (potentially) 24 parties +

1 BRILLIANT show

for $20

*cover is not included for special events at the hifi club. passes for no line + no cover at both clubs starts May 23 and ends August 30th, 2013 for regular thursday’s only.