“Made in Bangladesh,” a joint German-Bangladeshi theatrical production, is set to launch an 11-city tour in Europe kicking off later next month.
The show is scheduled to premiere in the southwestern German city of Ludwigshafen on November 26. Ectopia Dance Productions from Germany has teamed up with Shadhona Bangladesh to bring the show on stage.
In this regard, Lubna Marium, general secretary and artistic director of Shadhona, said: “Shadhona is now working on social issues and, as the title suggests, the production highlights the desperate plight of workers in our garments industry trying to make ends meet.”
She further said: “They have to content with really low pays and unsafe work environment. The production is artistic tribute to their condition. It reflects on how the buyers and factory owners together contribute to creating and sustaining an environment in which cheap clothes are made at the expense of the workers.”
“Germany is one of the largest buyers of garments from Bangladesh, so we wanted to stage the production in the country.”
The multi-media show comprises interviews of workers involved with the garments industry and dance performances, among others, by twelve kathak dancers from Bangladesh.
Helena Waldmann, who has directed the production, said in a statement published on the Goethe Institut website: “When state theatres are still run in an early capitalist style and the independent scene receives its money as if it were alms, why shouldn’t I suggest to cultural policy makers and commissioning bodies that I produce my work based on the same criteria used to produce cheap clothes in Bangladesh?”
The production will tour across 11 cities in Germany, Luxemborg and Switzerland for more than a month.
An initiative is now in progress to bring the production to South Asia, including Bangladesh, where it draws its inspiration from, sometime early 2015.
