MY NAME IS TAMIZH: THREE LIVES
Sankar Venkateswaran (Attappadi)
Schedule
Premiere
Two performers and one director come together to create a theatre piece. During this process, they become aware of the different relationships they foster regarding their Tamil origins: Nicholas grew up in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, during the civil war, with a deep-rooted Tamil identity. Kavita has been living in the diaspora since childhood and attempts to comprehend her Tamil heritage. Director Sankar with Tamil roots grew up in India, only later becoming aware of the civil war raging in north-east Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009.
In the exchange of personal anecdotes, the three reflect on the history of the conflict of the Tamil independence movement that was initiated by the burning of Jaffna’s library in 1981. They share intimate moments of vulnerability and speak of displacement, violence, and loss. In this manner, slowly, a multifaceted picture of historic events unfolds. As diverse as their biographies are, the same questions for origin, identity, and home arise from it, and there are no simple answers to them.
Biography
Sankar Venkateswaran studied direction at the Calicut University, School of Drama and Fine Arts in Kerala, India. As a guest director, he staged at various international theatre houses, among which are the productions TAGE DER DUNKELHEIT and INDIKA at the Munich Volkstheater. He served as the artistic director for the 2015 and 2016 International Theatre Festival of Kerala, as a jury member of Zürcher Theater Spektakel in 2016 and as a member of the curator committee for Theaterfestival Basel in 2022.
Sankar Venkateswaran has earlier participated in at SPIELART with his works CRIMINAL TRIBES ACT and CRIMINAL TRIBES ACT: EXTENDED in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
Cast
Text Leow Puay Tin | Kirutharshan Nicholas | Kavita Srinivasan | Sankar Venkateswaran Direction Sankar Venkateswaran Performance Nicholas Kirutharshan | Kavita Srinivasan | Sankar Venkateswaran Scenography Jean-Guy Lecat Assistant Direction Sanandhan V. Sankaran
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Production & Realization
Production Satoko Tsurudome Co-Production Theaterfestival Basel | SPIELART Theatre Festival | Supported by Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka and Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore Cooperation with Münchner Volkstheater
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation | Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
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