Of course, for goddesses, changing appearances is not a problem.

Especially not for Kali, the multi-armed, blue-skinned woman, who in Mithu Sanyal's novel "Identitti" also shows a downright joke.

Now Kali has landed on the stage: already in November 2021, half a year after the publication of the novel, at the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf and now, in a production by Salome Dastmalchi, at the Staatstheater Darmstadt.

Eva Maria Magel

Senior cultural editor of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Mithu Sanyal will be there for the premiere - of course.

The cultural scientist and publicist from Düsseldorf, born in 1971, has already traveled a great deal and come a long way with her first novel.

Shortlisted for the German Book Prize, Ernst Bloch Prize, Ruhr Literature Prize: The story about the student Nivedita, like Sanyal herself the daughter of a Polish mother and an Indian father, and her esteemed professor Saraswati has become a bestseller.

The fact that Saraswati turns out to be white triggers the scandal in which Nivedita also has to position herself.

It is a novel that the public likes, that is amusing to read and at the same time, strengthened by theory, deals with the current questions of identity politics and postcolonialism.

That was a coup.

Quite apart from the fact that with the goddess Kali a fantastic element,

The theater has its own rules

How does it all fit on stage?

The theater, as Sanyal now knows, has its very own procedures.

For the Düsseldorf premiere she had written a dramatic text for the first time.

“I learned a lot – including what you can do wrong.

It's a very different medium.

I also did radio plays before, but there are completely different possibilities in the theater.

If there are tweets and blogs in the novel, it could be breaking the fourth wall on stage, for example.

But adapting your own material is a challenge.”

The premiere of her text version was a good job.

Kieran Joel, the director at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, and they had good conversations.

After she had presented a first version, the final version was created during rehearsals.

"I'm happy with it.

But with this knowledge I would not have done it myself if I were faced with the question of adapting my first novel again.” On the other hand, she can certainly imagine writing her own play.

“But then I would start with the piece itself.

Because it is painful how much has to go.”

However, Sanyal already has a lot to do with book tours, discussions and above all working on her second novel.

A book about Emily Brontë has just been written and at the same time the radio play version of "Identitti" for WDR, "that was easier, maybe also with previous experience, to work on your own material for the theater".

Another interpretation

The theater version, which is now available from Rowohlt Theaterverlag, is very different from what was shown in Düsseldorf.

What Sanyal likes: “Being able to put it in someone else's hands is a relief for me.

This is also my experience from the translations of the novel: the freer the translators, the closer the text is to what the original is and what I wanted, and the more lively it is.

The novel thrives on the feeling that it was only finished yesterday.

The pieces also need that.”

So now the characters experience another interpretation.

"The Darmstadt version is different and at the same time close to my own," says Sanyal.

She is looking forward to the premiere on April 1: "I found everything I've heard from Darmstadt so far convincing." An interview with Naffie Janha, new to the Darmstadt ensemble, who will play Nivedita, appealed to her immediately: " You can tell that she empathizes and has a great understanding of the character.” The Düsseldorf ensemble also discussed a lot and empathized with the material.

Although Sanyal is of the opinion that basically everyone could play anything, but especially at the beginning of the theatrical version of "Identitti" she wanted a diverse ensemble because it's also about presence, about bodies.

Not easy, in her experience.

Sanyal read the version by the Darmstadt director Salome Dastmalchi, and she knows the dramaturg Christina Zintl from joint panel discussions.

"The intensive discussions that the actors have led give me confidence." The next version is already being planned for next year.

Then Simone Dede Ayivi stages: "I'm really looking forward to that."

Theater has always interested her.

“The theater has developed enormously as a space for discourse.

I've done the most exciting events and readings in the theater in recent years.” Meanwhile, Kali is already planning the change to the next form of existence: the film rights to “Identitti” have been assigned.

“I was asked if I wanted to write the screenplay.

But I learned from these experiences and wanted to put it in someone else's hands," says Sanyal.

"Identitti", Staatstheater Darmstadt, premiere on April 1st at 7.30 p.m.