Singer Lakshmi travels through the Netherlands with the theater show from 22 October Huidhonger. In conversation with NU.nl, she says that she has noticed that the need for physical contact during the corona crisis largely remains undiscussed and that she wants to change this with her performance.
“I wanted to make a performance that is not just about me,” says Lakshmi. “My last show consisted only of my own songs and monologues, but with a universal theme like skin hunger I want everyone to feel engaged.”
The idea for the show came after a performance on a talk show broadcast M, where they are the number I Touch Myself performed. “That was an appropriate song for the subject,” she laughs. “I was asked to make a corona-proof performance and I had always been fascinated by the idea of skin hunger so I started writing from the primitive.”
‘I can’t sit alone for months without a date’
“It is a big theme that you normally almost forget, because it is so obvious, but because touching each other is now almost impossible, it is good to pay attention to this. I hear all around me that people get psychological complaints due to loneliness. and lack of touch. “
This also applies to Lakshmi himself. “I live alone and I just went crazy. I can’t sit alone for months without even going on a date.” The 27-year-old singer found out that skin hunger plays a role in all phases of life and wanted to pay attention to the problems of other age groups in her performance.
“For a baby, skin-to-skin contact with parents is almost as important as breathing, so it’s not surprising that we face skin hunger all our lives.”
“It is of course heartbreaking when you lose your partner in old age and end up alone in a home and not touched for months. As a selfish twenties I never really thought about that. ”
–
–
–
“I cut the performance into stages of life, where we start with death and end with the golden hour, the birth. For each stage of life I sing songs of myself and covers and I recite poetry that matches the stage. So there is a passage about it empty nest syndrome, which of course I have no experience with myself, so I use texts from others. “
‘Theater is safer than the average supermarket’
Lakshmi also considered the loneliness of the elderly when making the performance. “We sometimes laugh about the need of older people for physical contact, but it is of course heartbreaking when you lose your partner in old age and end up alone in a home and are not touched for months. I never stood there as a selfish twenties. I thought about it, but the performance pushed my nose to the facts. “
Lakshmi hopes that people can relate to the stories she tells in Huidhonger and can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
It is also not always easy for Lakshmi as an artist to see that light. “Handing in money is one thing, but you continue to make performances for the music, the people and the art. Once you have set up something and the measures change again, it is very annoying. I hope that people will not be discouraged from playing cards. because I think it’s safer in the theater than in the average supermarket. “
Lakshmi travels from October 22 to December 19 with musicians Pauline Koning (violin and backing vocals) and Rob Peters (guitar, keys) with Huidhonger through the land.
– .
