Indian performances at Theater Spektakel 2017

Zürcher Theater Spektakel, one of the most important European festival for the contemporary performing arts – spread over 18 days at the «Landiwiese» in Zurich, is back and brings two performances from India.
Mallika Taneja | India
SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION ( Rukawat ke liye khed hai )
31 Aug / 1 Sep / 2 Sep 2017 at Rote Fabrik (Aktionshalle)
Duration: 60 mins
Language: English and Hindi, with German surtitles
Nominated for the ZKB Patronage Prize and the ZKB Audience Prize.
Mallika Taneja returns to the festival after two years. This time, her focus is on memories and what importance they have in our hectic, breathless, tightly-planned and information-overloaded lives. What influences our memory? Why do we remember one thing while we forget another? Remembering takes time and the need to breathe. «Sorry for the Interruption» is an attempt «to steal a moment in order to remember everything we have forgotten.»
Sankar Venkateswaran | India
CRIMINAL TRIBES ACT
29 Aug / 30 Aug 2017 at Rote Fabrik (Backstein)
Duration: 35 mins
Language: English
Nominated for the ZKB Patronage Prize and the ZKB Audience Prize.
Until 1947 the «Criminal Tribes Act», a law declaring all nomadic people criminal, was in force in India. Nomads, often working as acrobats or buskers, could be arrested at any time. When the act was finally repealed, 13 million people were affected. But in no way was the social ostracism over. The performance traces the transformation of those ethnic groups from being «criminal» to being «ex-criminal» tribes, resulting in a pretence of acceptance that often masks more subtle forms of exclusion.