AustLit logo
Ganesh Versus the Third Reich single work   drama  
Note: Devised by Mark Deans, Marcia Ferguson, Bruce Gladwin, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Kate Sulan, Brian Tilley and David Woods.
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Ganesh Versus the Third Reich
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'"Ganesh Versus the Third Reich' is a serious investigation into the issues about cultural appropriation: it explores who has the authority to tell stories, and how - via symbols, rituals and the like - stories can be told.

Back to Back Theatre is a theatre company with an ensemble of actors with disabilities at its core. In presenting "Ganesh Versus the Third Reich", Back to Back is seeking, in part , to examine how individuals who are perceived to be outsiders (of all kinds), can comment and respond to, and so by extension, be more strongly integrated into a pluralistic society. Through our work, we are seeking to engender dialogue and tolerance. In our opinion, Ganesh is treated with great respect in the work. His integrity and status is never threatened. He is all powerful.

Ganesh is the hero of the work and has an embodiment of goodness and greatness. The representation of Ganesh is not ridiculed or engaged in violent action in the performance. In developing the show, Back to Back Theatre has researched how Ganesh and other deities have been represented in cinema, theatre, graphic novels and dance from the 1960s to the present.

We consider the representation of Ganesh in the work is within the parameters of the cannon that currently exists. We would like to assure members of the Hindu community that it is not our intent to portray Ganesh in a way that is disrespectful. We regret any inadvertent concern or apprehension about the play which may have arisen prior to its performance. Source: www.malthousetheatre.com.au/ (Sighted 04/10/2011).

Production Details

  • Created by Back to Back Theatre and presented by the Malthouse Theatre and the Melbourne Festival at the Merlyn Theatre, 29 September - 9 October, 2011. Director: Bruce Gladwin.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Strength to Strength Alison Croggon , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , October 2022; (p. 20-26)
'With a strong claim to be Australia’s biggest cultural export, Back to Back Theatre’s ensemble, their work and their philosophy have drawn international acclaim, and now theatre’s most prestigious prize. by Alison Croggon '
Elephant Head on White Body : Reflexive Interculturalism in Ganesh Versus the Third Reich Marcus Tan , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Contemporary Theatre Review , November vol. 26 no. 4 2016; (p. 416-428 525-526)

'In Scene 9 of Back to Back Theatre’s Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, an intellectually disabled actor, Scott Price, abruptly interrupts the fictional rehearsal process involving his fellow performers, Simon Laherty, who plays a Jewish boy and Adolf Hitler, and David Woods, who plays the ‘director’ in the meta-narrative. Price asks a provocative question about the powers of representation in art, its unrestrained tendencies to appropriate, and the ethics of such dramaturgical actions. Referring to the company’s intentions and process of staging a play, which itself is also called Ganesh Versus the Third Reich (hereafter Ganesh) Price declares his discomfort with his Australian colleagues performing as Jews, German Nazis, and Hindu gods.' (Introduction)

Outsider Histories, Insider Artists, Cross-Cultural Ensembles : Visiting with Disability Presences in Contemporary Art Environments Petra Kuppers , 2014 single work
— Appears in: TDR : The Drama Review: A Journal of Performance Studies , Summer vol. 58 no. 2 2014; (p. 33-50)
'Disability is highly visible in contemporary performance festivals and art venues. Traveling from the disability performance ensemble work of Theater Hora and Jérôme Bel, to Javier Telléz's installation Artaud's Cave at dOCUMENTA in Kassel, and on to the Australian Back to Back Theatre's Ganesh versus the Third Reich at the Bodies of Work festival in Chicago raises the pressing questions: How and why is disability art and performance becoming so visible? And for whom?' (Publication summary)
'Rehearsals Made Me Feel Like I Wasn't Dying' Steve Dow , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 24 March 2014; (p. 14-15)
Sparkling Take on the Elephant in the Room Jason Blake , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14 March 2014; (p. 20)

— Review of Ganesh Versus the Third Reich Back to Back Theatre , 2009 single work drama
Poignant Core Sabotaged by an Unruly Outer Mess Chris Boyd , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 October 2011; (p. 17)

— Review of Ganesh Versus the Third Reich Back to Back Theatre , 2009 single work drama
The God in the Room Lenny Ann Low , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8-9 March 2014; (p. 20)

— Review of Ganesh Versus the Third Reich Back to Back Theatre , 2009 single work drama
Sparkling Take on the Elephant in the Room Jason Blake , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 14 March 2014; (p. 20)

— Review of Ganesh Versus the Third Reich Back to Back Theatre , 2009 single work drama
Courageous Scripts in the Running for Denton Fellowship Garry Maddox , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13 August 2009; (p. 16)
Fortune Favours the Brave Writer Garry Maddox , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30 August 2010; (p. 12)
Hindus Want to Ban Play that Has Ganesh Reclaim Swastika from Germany Barney Zwartz , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 27 September 2011; (p. 5)
If Religious Zeal Inhibits Art We Are All Poorer Gabriella Coslovich , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 3 October 2011; (p. 15)
Back-to-Back Success for Theatre Company 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 18 October 2011; (p. 17)

Awards

2014 winner Dublin Theatre Festival Best International Production Award
2012 winner Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia Best Play For the production by Back to Back Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne Festival.
2012 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia Best New Australian Work For the production by Back to Back Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne Festival.
2009 winner AWGIE Awards Kit Denton Fellowship
Last amended 25 Sep 2012 04:43:45
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X