Varun Narain (India/Norge): Meeting Baldwin

This is an interactive performance that brings to light the relevance of James Baldwins literary work in articulating contemporary global queer realities. Interlacing characters, scenes and texts from Baldwins essays, novels and scripts, this performance uses puppetry, acting and music to engage the audience in a dialogue about queer realities with their multicultural resonances in Norway today. 

A life sized puppet of James Baldwin and a puppeteer along with other puppets and shadow puppetry enact what happens when love and self- knowledge are made impossible.

Baldwins characters resonate the performers own reality which  is influenced by the relentless powers of racism, casteism, homophobia and transphobia disrupting the freedom to love, and continue causing personal tragedy and social crimes with fatal consequences.
Varun Narain is a queer puppeteer who blurs the boundaries between art and academics. They performs contemporary puppet shows inspired by nature, mythology and interconnectedness. They designs and fabricates their own puppets, as well as researches and scripts their performances. They also conducts workshops on puppet fabrication and manipulation using recycled materials and imagination. They has used their art to raise awareness around issues of gender and sexuality. Between 1994-2002, Varun worked with UNESCO, UNIFEM and a number of NGOs in India and Pakistan on HIV/AIDS and child abuse related issues. 
They conitinues to work with graduates from Universities and LGBTQI+ collectives. For the past few years they has been researching and exploring the queer interconnections in nature, particularly between fungal mycelium and plant roots which inspires their work.
They is presently living and working in Oslo, Norway, where they came in 2023 as an artist in residence with Safemuse.

Dette er en interaktiv forestilling som belyser James Baldwins relevans gjennom hans litterære verk, og som artikulerer samtidens globale skeive virkeligheter. Ved å flette sammen karakterer, scener og tekster fra Baldwins essays, romaner og manus, tar forestillingen i bruk figurteater, skuespill og musikk for å engasjere publikum i en dialog om skeive virkeligheter med flerkulturelle resonans i Norge i dag.
En dukke i naturlig størrelse som James Baldwin er en av aktørene i denne forestillingen.