The Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka will present the world class theatre play “Compassion - The History of the Machine Gun” by director Milo Rau on March 8 at the BMICH.
Free Invitation Cards can be picked up at Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka. Or contact the institute through email- [email protected].
“Compassion. The History of the Machine Gun“ was first performed in 2016 at the renowned German theatre Schaubühne in Berlin and has since toured the world with stops in Moskau, Paris, Prag and many more. Now, the promising play comes to Colombo!
The play by Milo Rau talks about the refugee crisis in Europe and beyond and addresses the question on how to help in global emergency situations, especially, in case of civil wars. The stories of two actresses, one a victim of the Genocides in Africa, the other a witness, show the paradoxical perception of sorrow and pain, which now and then face empathy but at the same time complete disregard. The development aid worker, portrayed by Ursina Lardi, finally has to recognize how cynical the compassion aesthetics of the West really are – a result, which is confirmed by Consolate Sipérius, born in Burundi and after the Genocide in 1993 raised in Belgium. The performance, that is based on Interviews with NGO-workers, priests and war victims in Africa and Europe, consciously enters challenging terrain: How do we endure the misery of others, why do we watch it? Why does a dead person at the gates of Europe weigh more than 1,000 dead people in the Congolese civil war zones? Can compassion have borders?
The award-winning director Milo Rau takes the spectator on a journey to those people who live beyond the focus of the European compassion industry and asks: Who sees us when we suffer?