GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH
Back to Back Theatre
The elephant-headed god Ganesh travels through Nazi Germany to recover the swastika —a Hindu symbol stolen by Hitler’s regime. In parallel, the performers —four are neuroatypical, the fifth plays a tyrannical director— question their legitimacy to carry this story. Funny and heartbreaking, the cult production of the Australian company as part of the Portrait Back to Back Theatre by Festival d’Automne shatters our unspoken hierarchies: who has the right to tell a story?
Biographie(s)
Back to Back Theatre
Founded in 1987 in Geelong, Back to Back Theatre is a leading company on the international scene and is considered one of Australia’s most influential theater companies. Composed of actors with disabilities or who are neurodivergent, its productions challenge social norms, power dynamics, and mechanisms of exclusion. Performed around the world, the company’s work will be the focus of a special feature in the 2026 edition of the Festival d’Automne in Paris.
Distribution
Concept by Mark Deans, Marcia Ferguson, Bruce Gladwin, Nicki Holland, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Kate Sulan, Brian Tilley, and David Woods. Directed, conceived, and set design by Bruce Gladwin. Starring Simon Laherty, Scott Price, Brian Tilley (in progress). Additional performance by Georgina Naidu. Lighting design by Andrew Livingston, Bluebottle. Set design and construction by Mark Cuthbertson. Design and animation by Rhian Hinkley. Music by Jóhann Jóhannsson. Mask design and construction by Sam Jinks and Paul Smits. Translation by Karen Witthuhn and Greg Bailey. Script consultant: Melissa Reeves. Additional on-screen performance by Georgina Naidu. Costume design by Shio Otani. Creative development for the actors by Brian Lipson, James Saunders, and Sonia Teuben. Sound Supervisor: Byron Scullin. Stage Manager: Alana Hoggart. Production Manager: Bao Ngouansavanh. Company Manager: Erin Watson. Tour Manager: David Miller. Executive Producer: Tanya Bennett
Production
GANESH VS THE THIRD REICH premiered on September 29, 2011, at Malthouse
Developed with the support of the Australian government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, the Victorian State Government through Arts Victoria, the City of Melbourne, the Sydney Myer Fund, the Keir Foundation, the 2009 Kit Denton Grant, the National Theatre Studio (London), the Geelong Center for the Performing Arts, and the Goethe-Institut (Melbourne).
The first season of GANESH VERSUS THE THIRD REICH was co-produced with the Melbourne Festival and the Malthouse Theatre with support from the Keir Foundation, the National Theatre Studio (London), and ANZ Trustees
