20:00 > 21:00
Album
Theater /
From July 14 to July 22
BREAK ON 17
Intra-Muros /
Living Smile Vidya
Living Smile Vidya
Living Smile Vidya
Living Smile Vidya is a heroine—of a life she has reinvented for herself. Born a boy in South India, within the marginalized Dalit caste, she has, a few decades later, become a trans activist on European stages, following a path marked by trials and immense courage. A true character, a vivid figure of fiction come to life, with a presence that is generous, bold, and full of humor, she unfolds the story of a life that is both deeply personal and inherently political, constantly addressing the audience. She sings, she dances, she provokes, she plays with her body, with costumes, with images and space—in a kind of wildly free musical theatre. Through this powerful act, she also gives voice to those who, like her, cross borders and seek refuge elsewhere in order to live a life of dignity.
Living Smile—in every sense of the words—is the name she proudly carries, and it is no exaggeration!
In this performance, imbued with biting realism and delicate irony, Living Smile Vidya challenges our relationship with otherness in all its many forms.
Living Smile Vidya - director
Living Smile Vidya is an actress, clown, and author. She wrote her autobiography I Am Vidya, which was adapted into a film and brought her international recognition. In 2013, she was awarded the Charles Wallace India Trust Award for excellence in theatre, followed by a scholarship to the International School of Performing Arts in London. In 2014, she founded the Panmai Theatre, a transgender theatre collective based in Chennai, whose plays have toured nationally and been performed abroad. In 2018, she fled India for Switzerland due to her political activism and death threats she received. During this time, she performed in the play EF_FEMININITY by Swiss artists Marcel Schwald and Chris Leuenberger, which was presented, among other venues, at the Swiss Selection in Avignon in 2019. She also took part in the documentary The Hearing (2023) by Lisa Gerig, which won a Swiss Film Award. Most recently, the performance Introducing Living Smile Vidya received the Swiss Performing Arts Award in 2024.
Distribution
Concept, direction, and performance: Living Smile Vidya
Support and dramaturgy: Marcel Schwald
Artistic mentorship: Beatrice Fleischlin
Sound design, video design, and animation: Moritz Flachsmann
Technical direction and lighting: Thomas Kohler
Costumes: Diana Ammann
Sound: Silvan Koch
Voice (video): Suzì Feliz Das Neves
Supertitles: Anton Kuzema
Production
Production: Das Theaterkolleg
Coproduction: Tojo Theater Reitschule-Bern, Treibstoff Theatertage-Basel, and Südpol-Luzern
Your contacts in Avignon (pro only)
Marcel Schwald
+41 78 764 50 65 / marcel.schwald@icloud.com
20:00 > 21:00
From July 05 to 13
Break on 10
From 14 years old
Full price: €20
Off price: €14
Pro price: €10