Back to Back Theatre wins best new Australian work
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Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, by Geelong’s Back to Back Theatre, has won The Age Critics’ Award for best new Australian work at the 2011 Melbourne Festival.
Combining Indian gods, Nazis, intellectual disability and a show-within-a-show, Ganesh Versus the Third Reich attracted solid praise from critics Cameron Woodhead and Chloe Smethurst from The Age, and John Bailey from The Sunday Age, who described the work as emotionally powerful, thought provoking, complex and brilliant.
The Age Critics' Award was open to all eight Australian dance and theatre works in the 2011 Festival program, including Assembly from Chunky Move & Victorian Opera; BalletLab’s Aviary: A Suite for the Bird; Double Think by Byron Perry; the Ilbijerri Theatre Company’s Foley; The Border Project’s Half-Real; Site UnSeen; and Whiteley’s Incredible Blue by Barry Dickins.
At the announcement of the award on Friday evening, the $5000 prize was presented to director Bruce Gladwin.
Gina McColl, Arts Editor of The Age, highlighted the challenges of selecting a winner from a strong field of contenders. After a spirited and extended discussion, the judges wrote of the winning work:
"By turns savage and hilarious, Back to Back Theatre’s latest work is a staggering advance from the company’s already impressive back catalogue. Displaying an astonishing rigour in conception and realisation, the work asks deeply discomforting questions of both the audience and its own makers, while maintaining a tenderness and generosity in its fundamental argument for theatre’s relevance today."