SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER

THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL IS CANCELLED

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About SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER

SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER is an international festival of theatre schools with decades of tradition. This year it will take place for the 30th time already. The uniqueness of the festival lies in the fact , that the main organizers of the festival are students of Theatre faculty of Janacek Academy of Musical Arts in Brno. 

Thirty years ago, the academic fellowship JAMU felt the need to meet other theatre professionals and students of theatre schools and, therefore, they established the festival SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER.Furthermore, they wanted to bring more culture to the city of Brno and make the city into a center of cultural affairs. All their efforts turned out successful, a result of which is also another year of the festival, which is getting more prestigious and professional every year, mostly thanks to a great variety of attendants from all around the world.

During the week-long festival, the city of Brno turns into a metropolis of the world of theatre, where theatre students, professionals and enthusiasts from all over Europe and also other parts of the world, such as South Korea, Columbia, the Philippines and many others, meet each other.

WHERE

Brno

WHEN

Tuesday to Saturday
March 31 to April 4, 2020


THE AMBASSADOR

Our festival ambassador is an integral part of the festival. Slovak actress Emília Vášáryová became an ambassador for the jubilee 30th International Festival of Theatre Schools SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER. It is a great honour for us to have Mrs Vášáryová at the festival, who in 2010 received an honorary doctorate from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno.

Photo: Martin Črep


Until the festival

Festival programme

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  • Tuesday

    31. 3. 2020

  • Open Air Stage

    31. 3. 2020

  • Wednesday

    1. 4. 2020

  • Thursday

    2. 4. 2020

  • Friday

    3. 4. 2020

  • Saturday

    4. 4. 2020

  • "It is the year 1429. France has been drowned in the chaos of war with England for nearly a century. Joan of Arc, a simple girl from the country who can hear the voices of saints speaking to her, becomes the country’s last hope for turning the tide of history. She takes over command of the French army and leads it to a series of miraculous victories, recapturing Orleans and crowning Charles VII King of France all over the course of only a few months. In 1430, after a long and difficult trial by the inquisition, the Authorities and Church have Joan of Arc burnt at the stake for preaching heresy. A hundred years later, the same Catholic Church would canonize her as a saint. Although Joan of Arc has inspired musicians, writers, and directors for quite a few centuries, George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan has not been staged in a theatre for three decades. Students of the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków have boldly revised the image of the saint made by the Irish playwright, placing Joan in a world bordering on an apocalypse, or perhaps elicited from RPG games. Monika Strzepka, one of the most well-known and controversial figures in Polish theatre, again breaks into contemporary reality with a powerful theatrical diagnosis. The world of the first half of the 21st century stands on the verge of a political, ecological, and cultural catastrophe. The Notre Dame is on fire, as are the Siberian tundra and the rainforests of the Amazon. Joan, the girl who wanted to save her world, is burning as well. A diploma performance by students of the fourth year of the Acting Department of the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków."
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • """Hamlet"" is the performance-walker for three locations. The far-fetched existence of artists allows you to combine all kinds of genres: kabuki, pantomime, clownery and a rock concert. The performance begins in a scenic space where we Imagine that the troupe of wandering artists with whom Hamlet played performance in front of Claudius had just returned from Elsinore, where they fell into the midst of palace intrigue, murder, love and betrayal. These artists will present their views on the most famous story in the world about revenge, because only they saw it personally and know how everything was in reality. And to whom, if not wandering artists to tell this story? Indeed, in their arsenal of music, clowning, pantomime, plastic theatre and other theatrical directions and means of expression that they mastered while travelling around the cities. And you will also have to make a short trip: at the beginning, you will be guests at the funeral and wedding, then you will be invited to the palace, where the local prince is crazy and, as a result, the action will be mixed on the stage, where the same mousetrap performance will take place and passions will unfold, truly a Shakespearean scale! Watching the performance, one should not forget that these are only artists and everything that happens in front of the viewer is nothing more than a booth. Therefore, if you want to laugh - you need to laugh boldly, if you need to argue with the artist - you need to argue, it’s not forbidden to cry at certain points, and if the actors’ play was delighted, it’s definitely worth rewarding them with hard currency. All this is the freeway to play, where the viewer becomes an accomplice in the performance, and, sometimes, can even change the whole story!"
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • Here is the first course of our party menu in ArtBar Druhý Pád. This underworld party is being open by multi-genre band Ateliér followed by Hello Marcel - electro beats interspersed with saxophone and singing, and of course DJ, who will cover the dancing part till the morning hours. The best opportunity to degust this real party atmosphere.
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • "Hamlet" is the performance-walker for three locations. The far-fetched existence of artists allows you to combine all kinds of genres: kabuki, pantomime, clownery and a rock concert. The performance begins in a scenic space where we Imagine that the troupe of wandering artists with whom Hamlet played performance in front of Claudius had just returned from Elsinore, where they fell into the midst of palace intrigue, murder, love and betrayal. These artists will present their views on the most famous story in the world about revenge, because only they saw it personally and know how everything was in reality. And to whom, if not wandering artists to tell this story? Indeed, in their arsenal of music, clowning, pantomime, plastic theatre and other theatrical directions and means of expression that they mastered while travelling around the cities. And you will also have to make a short trip: at the beginning, you will be guests at the funeral and wedding, then you will be invited to the palace, where the local prince is crazy and, as a result, the action will be mixed on the stage, where the same mousetrap performance will take place and passions will unfold, truly a Shakespearean scale! Watching the performance, one should not forget that these are only artists and everything that happens in front of the viewer is nothing more than a booth. Therefore, if you want to laugh - you need to laugh boldly, if you need to argue with the artist - you need to argue, it’s not forbidden to cry at certain points, and if the actors’ play was delighted, it’s definitely worth rewarding them with hard currency. All this is the freeway to play, where the viewer becomes an accomplice in the performance, and, sometimes, can even change the whole story!"
    The Main Programme

  • Rabies is a viral infectious disease that causes acute encephalitis. It is characterized by a long incubation period and 100% mortality. Sooner or later, a person exhibits emotional lability and restlessness, disorientation and confusion, anorexia and excessive arousal. Anxiety and nervousness are escalated, aggressive, raging and lacking in fear. Majority of victims dies of heart failure after fits, especially in seizures.
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • "“I didn’t call him a psychopath. I called him a psychopathic stock broker.” A son of socialists brings his new partner to a family dinner. A child takes pictures with crying strangers. A woman brings out the Kleenex to satisfy her fans. “Frothing Mouths. Hungry Eyes.” is a play that serves a kaleidoscopic view of a fractured world in which people hope and long for love and care, but where the norms of our society and immediate surroundings have permeated our minds to such an extent that a pure connection seems almost impossible. In a staging that moves from the absurd to the realistic whilst the language takes the reverse turn, the play also asks the question: Which truth do we recognise? “I turn around, giving them one last glorious look, and I see the frothing mouths and the hungry eyes, I see the binoculars, I see the camera lenses and the drones outside my window.” Review by Marcin Rudy, Head of Movement at East15 and former member of Song of the Goat Theatre: “Frothing mouths. Hungry eyes” is like Marmite - you either love it or hate it. A big majority of people I spoke to loved it, including myself. It is not a linear story that the audience follows. Instead, it is a collage of scenes, impressions on our reality. A very skilful group of actors make us watch, and hopefully, reflect on topics like our relation to elderly people, immigration, climate change, plastic surgery and many, many more urgent matters. We do not watch a lecture with plenty of facts, graphs and data. Instead, the company uses a very specific and original sense of humour to lead us through the performance. It is light and funny but at the same time makes us think about those issues. Very clever and original type of theatre. Highly recommended.”"
    The Main Programme

  • "“I didn’t call him a psychopath. I called him a psychopathic stock broker.” A son of socialists brings his new partner to a family dinner. A child takes pictures with crying strangers. A woman brings out the Kleenex to satisfy her fans. “Frothing Mouths. Hungry Eyes.” is a play that serves a kaleidoscopic view of a fractured world in which people hope and long for love and care, but where the norms of our society and immediate surroundings have permeated our minds to such an extent that a pure connection seems almost impossible. In a staging that moves from the absurd to the realistic whilst the language takes the reverse turn, the play also asks the question: Which truth do we recognise? “I turn around, giving them one last glorious look, and I see the frothing mouths and the hungry eyes, I see the binoculars, I see the camera lenses and the drones outside my window.” Review by Marcin Rudy, Head of Movement at East15 and former member of Song of the Goat Theatre: “Frothing mouths. Hungry eyes” is like Marmite - you either love it or hate it. A big majority of people I spoke to loved it, including myself. It is not a linear story that the audience follows. Instead, it is a collage of scenes, impressions on our reality. A very skilful group of actors make us watch, and hopefully, reflect on topics like our relation to elderly people, immigration, climate change, plastic surgery and many, many more urgent matters. We do not watch a lecture with plenty of facts, graphs and data. Instead, the company uses a very specific and original sense of humour to lead us through the performance. It is light and funny but at the same time makes us think about those issues. Very clever and original type of theatre. Highly recommended.”"
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • "A diploma show impossible to be classified, a mass, dancing, clash of worlds, apocalypse ?! It is hard to predict! You can expect anything! Be afraid and check in your ID if you are the right age! It will be a scary, romantic, tragic, comic, science-fiction, cowboy-detective STORY ... about society and its break-up. We do not strive for precise meanings and conclusions. We touch different points and we are in constant shaking, because that’s the reality around. It breaks and is put back together again, it mixes senses like a blender set for high speed and it’s hard to find oneself in it. I really like that everything in the conventions of diploma shows is extremely relative. It’s a testing ground, emotional exercises on the imagination. Mariusz Grzegorzek – director"
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • Desert or Beer? Both! An evening dedicated to tasty conversations and chill guitar sessions. If you are not that much into talking and guitars, you can still compete in our very own pub quiz. It doesn’t matter which liquid you choose for this evening, important is that you’ll make new friends from another part of the world. WARNING - do not LIQUID-DATE yourself!
    The OFF programme

  • “Each of us wishes his father’s death! And I'm a pretty criminal, too. ” The sons of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov grew up without a father and feel nothing but fear and resistance to the father's house. Yet everyone returned to him so that each of them could set out on their own destiny. The only thing that prevents it is an old jester and a lunar, rotten Karamazov. What happens when young people submit to Dostoevsky's human analysis? How do they clash with the brutality of a world without rules, without authority and without a father, with a world in which everything is allowed…?
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • "“I didn't cover up my ears. Everyone covered theirs up and I alone didn't cover mine and therefore I alone heard everything. Similarly, I didn't blindfold myself with a rag, as everyone else did, and therefore I saw everything. Yes, I alone saw and heard everything. But unfortunately, I didn't understand anything and, therefore, what was the value of me alone seeing and hearing everything?” - Daniil Charms The play tells the story of a writer trying to survive in the preposterous and absurd reality. The protagonist fights against the nonsense of life with the only available weapon - his imagination. Imagination turns the performance's engine on. Logic and rationality dissolve in the theatricality of the play. Violence and cruelty prevail in the background of the performance. However, all characters openly play on stage, because if they did not play, they would die. And for the viewer, the efforts of the characters turn into scary and funny scenes, something reminiscent of their very being. ""The young director Augtumas Danielius Harner was able to master precisely the directorial style of the young Oskaras Koršunovas [head of the 3rd year class of acting and directing in the LMTA], the aesthetic of ""silent cinema"", which his teacher used in his early plays by the works of the Russian OBERIU movement authors [Daniil Kharms, Aleksandr Vvedensky]. The impulsive rhythm of action, cunning acoustic accents, dynamic mise-en-scènes, macabre manners, pantomime, clowning, object equilibria, witty grimace, grotesque mimics, angled black jackets. Director Harner and his actors seem to have seen it all before and have understood it very well."" - Theatre critic Jurijus Lozoraitis (original text “Proceso dalyvio samprotavimai (II)” in art magazine “Literatūra ir menas”)." Hra vypráví příběh spisovatele, jenž se snaží přežít v nesmyslné a absurdní realitě. Protagonista bojuje proti nesmyslu života jedinou dostupnou zbraní - svojí představivostí. Představivost je motorem inscenace. Logika a racionalita se rozpouští v teatralitě hry. V pozadí hry převažuje násilí a krutost. Všechny postavy však otevřeně hrají na pódiu, protože kdyby nehrály, zemřely by. A pro diváka se úsilí postav mění v děsivé a zábavné scény, připomínky existence jich samotných. „Mladý režisér Augtumas Danielius Harner dokázal precizně ovládnout režijní styl mladého Oskarase Koršunovase (vedoucí 3. ročníku herectví a režie v LMTA), estetiku „tichého kina“, kterou použil jeho učitel v jeho raných hrách na základě práce autorů ruského hnutí OBERIU (Daniil Kharms, Aleksandr Vvedensky). Impulzivní rytmus akce, rafinované akcenty, dynamická mizanscéna, podivné chování, pantomima, klauniáda, rovnováha předmětů, vtipné grimasy, groteskní mimika, šikmé černé bundy. Zdá se, že režisér Harner a jeho herci to všechno viděli už předtím a velmi dobře porozuměli.“ - Divadelní kritik Jurijus Lozoraitis, Literatūrairmenas (umělecký časopis ""Literatura a umění"")"
    The Main Programme

  • "“I didn't cover up my ears. Everyone covered theirs up and I alone didn't cover mine and therefore I alone heard everything. Similarly, I didn't blindfold myself with a rag, as everyone else did, and therefore I saw everything. Yes, I alone saw and heard everything. But unfortunately, I didn't understand anything and, therefore, what was the value of me alone seeing and hearing everything?” - Daniil Charms The play tells the story of a writer trying to survive in the preposterous and absurd reality. The protagonist fights against the nonsense of life with the only available weapon - his imagination. Imagination turns the performance's engine on. Logic and rationality dissolve in the theatricality of the play. Violence and cruelty prevail in the background of the performance. However, all characters openly play on stage, because if they did not play, they would die. And for the viewer, the efforts of the characters turn into scary and funny scenes, something reminiscent of their very being. ""The young director Augtumas Danielius Harner was able to master precisely the directorial style of the young Oskaras Koršunovas [head of the 3rd year class of acting and directing in the LMTA], the aesthetic of ""silent cinema"", which his teacher used in his early plays by the works of the Russian OBERIU movement authors [Daniil Kharms, Aleksandr Vvedensky]. The impulsive rhythm of action, cunning acoustic accents, dynamic mise-en-scènes, macabre manners, pantomime, clowning, object equilibria, witty grimace, grotesque mimics, angled black jackets. Director Harner and his actors seem to have seen it all before and have understood it very well."" - Theatre critic Jurijus Lozoraitis (original text “Proceso dalyvio samprotavimai (II)” in art magazine “Literatūra ir menas”)."
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • """Corset"" is a post-dramatic piece of collaborative creation that talks about life in a society that conditions and damages everyone who moves away from the canon, oppressing their way of being and expressing themselves. We can summarize the piece in a personal revival. An explosion from the introspective inside to the outside world. The greater the repression, the greater the explosion. The work is composed of sequences inspired by real and personal experiences, avoiding the psychological field. Trying to present here a plastic piece in which we create images to generate different sensations and visions in each person of the audience. Through the senses. It is not intended to tell a story; We seek to express a great truth that surrounds us, hoping that this is the “beginning of the end”, a celebration. The end of an era that gives birth, which consolidates a new one that does not know about unattainable horizons."
    The Main Programme

  • "Prince Leonce from the kingdom of Popo and princess Lena from the kingdom of Pipi are devoted to each other by a decision of their houses. They are trying unsuccessfully to escape and find their own luck. The Council, however, is a closed circle. When arriving back at the point from which they started they find the information from which they believed to have fled - Prince Leonce finds the right words for their disappointment: ""Ah, Lena, it seems to me that this was an escape to paradise."" Paradise is in this case interpreted in quotes - precisely when it hits them how unfortunate they actually are. Freedom and escape to freedom are the ones who are the main driving element of this work. Leonce inspired by Valerio who is free both in its ideas and real life, finds a much-needed spark that encourages him to run away from home. Büchner, who grew up on the ideas of the French Revolution, committed to the basic idea of ​​revolution Fratelli, Egalite, Liberte, and therefore it is not surprising his premise to write about a free man. Leonce and Lena fell in love with mask their identities, in their false ""me."" The peak of absurdity lies in the paradox that Leonce and Lena at the same time get what they want and they did not want - they were married to the one they wanted, but they could not get married to the own they did not want. The question is whether they are free or not? The main driving action torque was the desire from Leonce and Lena to escape the fate imposed upon them. They question the terms of love and freedom, marital fulfillment or self-realization of identity. In this case, the free young people who seem to choose their own path. In contrast to the mature Hamlet finally realizing that his destiny imposed by birth, Leonce and Lena are completely trapped in existential role that is imposed - other people's projections of their identity."
    The Main Programme

  • One evening and a few people, who don’t know, how to continue with their lives. Everything starts to clear up in intoxication only. Possibly someone will find Jesus Christ. A tragicomedy by current Russian author Ivan Vyrypajev.
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • It´s definitely hard to say which festival evening will be best. But everyone knows that The Meeting Point Party will be unforgettable! Especially when it is being held at Fléda Club! You will enjoy the MYDY band, Fred Madison & Astronauts Without Helmets. We’re gonna taste something from the past, the future and definitely much from the present!
    The OFF programme
    Where
    Fléda Club

  • """Corset"" is a post-dramatic piece of collaborative creation that talks about life in a society that conditions and damages everyone who moves away from the canon, oppressing their way of being and expressing themselves. We can summarize the piece in a personal revival. An explosion from the introspective inside to the outside world. The greater the repression, the greater the explosion. The work is composed of sequences inspired by real and personal experiences, avoiding the psychological field. Trying to present here a plastic piece in which we create images to generate different sensations and visions in each person of the audience. Through the senses. It is not intended to tell a story; We seek to express a great truth that surrounds us, hoping that this is the “beginning of the end”, a celebration. The end of an era that gives birth, which consolidates a new one that does not know about unattainable horizons."
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • """Corset"" is a post-dramatic piece of collaborative creation that talks about life in a society that conditions and damages everyone who moves away from the canon, oppressing their way of being and expressing themselves. We can summarize the piece in a personal revival. An explosion from the introspective inside to the outside world. The greater the repression, the greater the explosion. The work is composed of sequences inspired by real and personal experiences, avoiding the psychological field. Trying to present here a plastic piece in which we create images to generate different sensations and visions in each person of the audience. Through the senses. It is not intended to tell a story; We seek to express a great truth that surrounds us, hoping that this is the “beginning of the end”, a celebration. The end of an era that gives birth, which consolidates a new one that does not know about unattainable horizons."
    The Main Programme

  • "Prince Leonce from the kingdom of Popo and princess Lena from the kingdom of Pipi are devoted to each other by a decision of their houses. They are trying unsuccessfully to escape and find their own luck. The Council, however, is a closed circle. When arriving back at the point from which they started they find the information from which they believed to have fled - Prince Leonce finds the right words for their disappointment: ""Ah, Lena, it seems to me that this was an escape to paradise."" Paradise is in this case interpreted in quotes - precisely when it hits them how unfortunate they actually are. Freedom and escape to freedom are the ones who are the main driving element of this work. Leonce inspired by Valerio who is free both in its ideas and real life, finds a much-needed spark that encourages him to run away from home. Büchner, who grew up on the ideas of the French Revolution, committed to the basic idea of ​​revolution Fratelli, Egalite, Liberte, and therefore it is not surprising his premise to write about a free man. Leonce and Lena fell in love with mask their identities, in their false ""me."" The peak of absurdity lies in the paradox that Leonce and Lena at the same time get what they want and they did not want - they were married to the one they wanted, but they could not get married to the own they did not want. The question is whether they are free or not? The main driving action torque was the desire from Leonce and Lena to escape the fate imposed upon them. They question the terms of love and freedom, marital fulfillment or self-realization of identity. In this case, the free young people who seem to choose their own path. In contrast to the mature Hamlet finally realizing that his destiny imposed by birth, Leonce and Lena are completely trapped in existential role that is imposed - other people's projections of their identity."
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • "Now the world above burns incandescent And stars have fled into the solitude of ignorance. So in these midnight rooms, Beneath the chaos of the world, Amongst the dying thud of passion’s heartbeat And the rot of chemical excess, Our fires, Which once danced amongst the life of the world Now gutter in the dark Alone.’ – GABRIEL FLOYD (student at RCS / cast member) Based on William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, HERMIA’S DREAM attempts put the themes of the play into a contemporary setting. Using intense movement and a thudding heartbeat of bass pulsating throughout, the words of Shakespeare and the well-known story are thrown into a new light. The piece tackles immediate issues affecting young people in the society around us. including mental health, youth climate action, misogyny, and drug use. It also deals with themes of displacement, the climate crisis, dreams and the ignorance of youth. Using the lovers’ scenes and other Shakespeare speeches as a skeleton, as well as other pieces of poetry chosen by the group (including original poetry from cast member Gabriel Floyd), the cast conceptualized the piece and devised movement to fit their dynamic and contemporary style."
    The Main Programme

  • "Now the world above burns incandescent And stars have fled into the solitude of ignorance. So in these midnight rooms, Beneath the chaos of the world, Amongst the dying thud of passion’s heartbeat And the rot of chemical excess, Our fires, Which once danced amongst the life of the world Now gutter in the dark Alone.’ – GABRIEL FLOYD (student at RCS / cast member) Based on William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, HERMIA’S DREAM attempts put the themes of the play into a contemporary setting. Using intense movement and a thudding heartbeat of bass pulsating throughout, the words of Shakespeare and the well-known story are thrown into a new light. The piece tackles immediate issues affecting young people in the society around us. including mental health, youth climate action, misogyny, and drug use. It also deals with themes of displacement, the climate crisis, dreams and the ignorance of youth. Using the lovers’ scenes and other Shakespeare speeches as a skeleton, as well as other pieces of poetry chosen by the group (including original poetry from cast member Gabriel Floyd), the cast conceptualized the piece and devised movement to fit their dynamic and contemporary style."
    The Jury’s Path
    The Main Programme

  • The festival is almost over - the best moment to rest from the wild DJ music and enjoy something as lively as dulcimer music! The Wallachian music Cimbálová muzika Pazúr from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm and the pleasant space of the Black Box Cafe in BURANTEATR, nothing better could happen on Friday!
    The OFF programme

  • The last piece of pleasure, the last party, the last night of this kaleidoscopic dream. Everyone has their own path for tomorrow but today is our last chance to steal from the fridge together. These 5 days of the festival will be lost in our heads and only colorful memories and flavors stay. But before that let’s enjoy this evening. Starting with The Closing ceremony and Announcement of outstanding performances followed by incredible band Golden Delicious. We don’t even have to mention the DJ, right. TASTE THE TIME FOR THE LAST TIME.
    The OFF programme

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Location

Mozartova 1, 662 15 Brno

The heart of the festival – as we often call it – is on the ground floor of the Theater Faculty. You will find a lot of things there, a lot of people there. Ideal meeting point.

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