Back to Back Theater, an Australian company comprising actors with a disability, recently brought its provocative and startling production of Ganesh Versus the Third Reichto UCLA's Freud Playhouse for a brief run.
The play, devised by Bruce Gladwin with the help of his five-person ensemble, is a multi-layered work with an epic sweep, the spine of which is the quest of the Indian deity Ganesh (Brian Gilley, in an elephant mask) to take back the ancient Sanskrit symbol of the swastika from the evil hand of the Nazis. Consequently, Ganesh must face off against the notorious Doctor Mengele in his concentration-camp clinic (where experiments on disabled prisoners are performed).
This quasi-historical storyline is broken up by meta-theatrical interruptions in which the actors ignore the fourth wall and become themselves -- namely, actors rehearsing an entirely different play and arguing over every aspect of it. The biggest fight is between the director (Luke Ryan) and the cast, all of whom seem to resent his power and physical strength, since he is the only non-disabled person on stage.
The weaving of past and present, reality and fantasy, is enhanced by Back to Back's simple but magical stage effects: see-through plastic scrims, shadow-plays, animation, startling sound effects and music. Against that busy, swirling backdrop the human elements of Ganesh sometimes get lost, only to be redeemed when the actors stop squabbling like brats and treat each other with respect and even compassion. That's when the piece manages to touch the audience in a moving, profound way.
