Dramatised reading
The Bus (The Makings of a Saint) | Lukas Bärfuss | Rashmi Ravikumar

Sat, 14.08.2021 -
Fri, 20.08.2021
Online

The second rehearsed reading in the series German Spotlight 2021, is The Bus (The Makings of a Saint) written by Lukas Bärfuss. The translation of the play from English into Kannada is sponsored by the Goethe-Institut and is directed by Rashmi Ravikumar.

About the play:
The Bus by Lukas Bärfuss, translated and adapted to Kannada as ‘Bussu’, looks at the religious fanaticism and the identity crisis that surrounds ‘believers’, ‘skeptics’ and those who are on the fence. In the Indian context, it tries to bring in the brutality of Hindu extremism, in the seemingly ordinary conversation between a bus driver and an accidental passenger. 

Why this play:
The play was selected because of its absurdist take on violence, juxtaposed with fear-mongering and oppression in the practice of organised religion. Religious fanaticism and majoritarian politics are the lived realities of our country today. 

Adapting this play and translating it into Kannada is for the director an artistic response to the disturbing narratives of the Hindutva regime in the last ten years.

Rashmi Ravikumar is a theatre director and facilitator. The intersection of Kannada and English theatre as well as that of playback and proscenium theatre is an area that she loves working with. She also has a background in psychology, which she often uses as a tool in playmaking. She is artistic director of jijji productions, one of the co-founders of citylamps playback theatre and works as a corporate facilitator at Navgati.

She has directed two plays for the Ranga Shankara youth festival and was awarded the Gender Bender grant by Sandbox Collective and Goethe-Institut / Max Muller Bhavan Bangalore in 2020. She has also performed in over 75 playback and improvisation performances. She is drawn to Gender, Mental Health and Absurdism in performance.

Cast and Crew:

Written by Lukas Bärfuss
Translated by Rashmi Ravikumar
Performed by Shradha Raj, Varun Marichi, Lakshman KP & Sannidhi Surop
Dramaturgy by Kavya Srinivasan
Directed by Rashmi Ravikumar

Click here to watch the performance. This link will be accessible till August 20, 2021.

German Spotlight is a joint project of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore and Sandbox Collective.