An independent Australian theatre company from regional Victoria has been awarded the prestigious Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement in theatre by the Venice Biennale.
Geelong’s Back to Back Theatre, which draws its ensemble cast from neurodivergent and disabled communities, will be presented with the award when the company travels to Italy in June to perform one of its most acclaimed productions, Food Court. The work takes as its starting point the James Bulger murder case, in which two 12-year-old boys abducted, tortured and murdered a toddler in Merseyside in the UK in 1993.
It is the first time an Australian company or individual has been recognised in the Biennale’s theatrical category, which last year went to Italian theatre director Armando Punzo. The lifetime achievement award for music went to Brian Eno and the Golden Lion for film went to Poor Things, written by Australia’s Tony McNamara.
The Venice accolade is one of several major international awards for Back to Back, which in 2022 received Norway’s Ibsen award for theatre, which included a cash prize worth A$370,000.
By then, Back to Back, now in its 37th year, had already established itself on the international theatre circuit, having toured to the US, the UK, Canada and throughout Europe and Asia.
When Back to Back took Ganesh Versus the Third Reich to the US in 2011, the New York Times described the production, which sees the elephant-headed Hindu god reclaiming the ancient swastika symbol, as “a vital, sense-sharpening tonic for theatregoers”. That production won the Edinburgh international festival Herald Angel critics’ award and, in Australia, three Green Room awards, a Helpmann award and a Melbourne festival Age critics’ award, among others.
Announcing the Venice Biennale win on Wednesday, the judges praised Back to Back for “making disability a tool of artistic inquiry”.
“Back to Back Theatre has captivated audiences around the world for the past 30 years with works that address social, political and philosophical themes, challenging the construction of our imaginations and our perception of normalcy,” the Biennale said in a statement.
The directors of the Venice Biennale’s theatre department, Stefano Ricci and Gianni Forte, said the company used “poetic ferocity” to disintegrate prejudice.
“Our fears, our puritan tolerance, our moral blindness are blown away,” their statement said.
Back to Back’s artistic director, Bruce Gladwin, said news of the award was “both thrilling and humbling in equal measure.”
Gladwin, who has led the company since 1999, said the ensemble-focused approach allowed Back to Back to explore dark themes and challenge taboos. Walk-outs mid-performance do occur.
“There always will be a small handful of the audience that just feel the thematics of this are too dark, and that’s OK,” he told Guardian Australia.
“Theatre is challenging. It’s an artform that should challenge people and it doesn’t always suit everyone.”
One of the company’s most provocative and disturbing works, Food Court will be presented in Back to Back’s Italian debut in June. The work was devised collectively by the ensemble and first performed 16 years ago. Given the collaborative nature of the company and its demanding international touring schedule, most of its works remain in the repertoire in perpetuity.
After critic Alison Croggon saw Food Court in 2008, she described it as the rare show that “reminds you that theatre is burning glass, art [that] sears through the intellect into the tissue of deep feeling.”
Gladwin said Food Court, which incudes live music performed by avant garde ensemble the Necks, examines the idea of evil or sinister forces that operate within innocence.
“And that’s really challenging for audiences, because they have to deal with questions about what kind of roles people with disabilities can play,” he said.
“One of Food Court’s objectives was to make a work where actors with disabilities get to play someone who is evil. Evil is part of our human nature.”
Sarah Mainwaring, who has been with the company since 2006, features in the production as the victim. The role involves nudity, forced at the hands of her two tormentors. Mainwaring said the role and her broader work with Back to Back had changed her life.
“Before I was reserved but now I am much stronger,” she said. “I come out of who I am. And I can see the other side. The images that I see I strive to become on stage, and I can step in and out of them – moments in the spotlight which excite me.”
