sommerszene blog

What intrigues me about Arjun Raina’s „a terrible beauty is born“ –
and reminds me of aspects of Living Dance Studio – is how actual
events form the crux of the creation.

He blurs the lines between fact and fiction, art and life.

He takes on multiple characters to weave a story through continents
and histories: suggesting links between oppression in the United
States and conditions of the workers in India. Raina is as eloquent on
stage where he becomes Ashok Mathur/John and Elizabeth, an older
American woman, as he is afterwards speaking about rights for call
center workers during a post-performance discussion.

In real life, he was not an actual caller in India, but worked as
someone who trains these employees. He also works to improve their
profession: „First workers need to be able to use their own names.
Second, the hours for their shifts need to be decreased to allow for
travel time which can be two hours each way from home to work. Third,
Conditions for the workers need to be improved, such as allowing
workers to say where they are calling from.“ Having a conversation
with Raina is like taking a global journey: his voice breezes through
different accents and his Welsh inflection is impeccable.

I am particularly fascinated by the way „terrible beauty“ exposes an
essential American trait: the penchant for self-transformation (think
Austrian body builder turned governor of California or Ralph Lifschitz
becomes global fashion magnate). But we see this trait in Ashok Mathur
as well as the American characters. Raina said afterwards that
Americans are „conscious immigrants,“ suggesting that our rejection of
fixed identity is embedded in our culture, quite different from that
of India.