Annotations of performances
Czech Republic
Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, Theatre Faculty, Brno
Heinrich von Kleist : The Prince of Homburg
Director: Ivan Buraj
Cast: Lukáš Daňhel, Aleš Petráš, Simona Zamrzlá, Alena Doláková, Lucie Končoková, Alfred Texel, Vít Pištěcký, Martin Tlapák, Růžena Dvořáková, Alžběta Hofericová, Monika Matoušková, Jan Řezníček, Zbyněk Humpolec, Ladislav Odrazil/Filip Chlud, Jakub Rek, Zdeněk Polák.
The play is based on historical events from the 17th century Prussia; the author, however, puts them into contemporary perspective. The production reflects some of the current phenomenons, such as identity, the inability to grasp the reality and the multiplicity of its images. The prince does not obey the orders, and starts the attack too early. Is it only his hankering for victory, or does he feel a hunch of something hidden? Does he listen to the law of war, or the law of love? What follows, is a combination of victory and love, but also punishment, the foreboding of death, and the loss of identity. The chaos, that entered the society with the prince’s rash decision in the battle, now stared living its own life. The order is challenged. The plurality of identities and realities reveals itself. The images, projections and motivations multiply. The actuality decreases. According to its thematic aim, the production chooses an adequate combination of artistic devices, and tries to achieve a gripping and inner-dialogic formation that is, in its shape, close to a generational confession.
Language: Czech.
Czech Republic
Academy of Performing Arts, Theatre Faculty, Prague
Jiří Havelka a kol.: I, the Hero
Director: Jiří Havelka
Cast: Sofia Adamová, Andrea Ballayová, Jiří Böhm, Eva Burešová, Mikuláš Čížek, Josef Jelínek, Barbora Kubátová, Marek Menšík, Richard Vokůrka, Petr Vydarený.
The authors of the play titled “I, the Hero” did not work with a script, but rather with official records and testimony from the case of the Mašín brothers, which has recently become a bone of contention in the Czech society. No judgement is made as to whether the Mašíns were criminals or heroes, it is up to the spectator to form his own opinion on these controversial personalities from recent history. In his graduating performance at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre, Jiří Havelka, in cooperation with drama students, presents a “reconstruction” based on facts and testimony supported by evidence.
The imaginative stage design, together with an elaborate collage of individual facts, can either confirm the spectator's opinion or diametrically change it. Polls taken after each performance imply that the Czechs do not hold a unified view on the issue of the Mašín brothers' (evil) acts.
Language: Czech.
Slovakia
Academy of Music and Performing Arts, Theatre Faculty, Bratislava
A. Suchovo- Kobylin – Tarelkin’s death
Director: Lukáš Brutovský
Cast: D. Fischer, O. Culka, D. Kavaschová, L. Dóza, R. Blumenfeld, A. Palatínusová, A. Nováková, J. Bárdos, D. Žulčák, P. Gmuca, L. Pavlásek, M. Kalafut, J. Lorencovič.
A dark satirical performance on a timeless topic – abuse of power and cruelty – with a punchy but complex plot, by a talented young director, Lukáš Brutovský, and an experienced dramaturg, Miro Dacho. The visual presentation is great; the setting ideally corresponds with the concept of frigidity and satire. It is a present-day story; therefore it is credible and offers a number of acting opportunities. Besides the central motif of fish and fishing, other topics such as politics, manipulation or allusions to police-mafia behaviour appear. The authors eventually build on the power of detail, e.g. a bulletin that the audience receives in a sealed envelope. “Tarelkin's Death” is simply an elaborate play with perfect harmony of all theatre performance elements.
Language: Slovak.
Poland
The Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Warsaw
Nikolai Kolyada: Marylin/Catapult
Director: Norbert Rakowski
Cast: Marta Dylewska, Katarzyna Głogowska, Agnieszka Pawełkiewicz, Fabian Kocięcki, Kamil Kula, Wojciech Raszewski, Arkadiusz Śliwa.
Everyone likes to pretend that we live forever. But the truth is, as one of Kolyada’s characters points out, that when faced with death, everyone wants to have truly lived for at least one minute.
Marilyn/The Catapult is a compilation of two apparently unrelated plays written by Nikolai Kolyada, Marilyn Mongol and The Catapult, which - at first sight - have nothing in common. Norbert Rakowski, the director, placed these two plays in the same reality, making the fates of two groups of characters intertwine as they do have one thing in common – their determination to make the result turn out for the good or the bad. Instead of painting a realistic portrayal of provincial Russia, the director focuses on the specific point in life the characters find themselves at. This approach shows in the play’s design, which centers on synthesized reality instead of descriptive realism.
Language: Polish.
Poland
The Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Cracow, (PAŃSTWOWA WYŻSZA SZKOŁA TEATRALNA IM. LUDWIKA SOLSKIEGO W KRAKOWIE)
Carlos Murillo: Dark play or stories for boys
Director: Iwona Kempa
Cast: Anna Kaszuba, Maja Łukowska, Izabela Warykiewicz, Antoni Paradowski, Maurycy Popiel, Maciej Raniszewski, Ryszard Starosta, Arkadiusz Walesiak.
Dark play or stories for boys is a play written by American playwright Carlos Murill. Director Iwona Kempa was invited to cooperate with fourth-year students to prepare a performance as a diploma work. It's an intriguing story about two teenage boys who are looking in the Internet world for what they lack in reality. When one of them - Adam – makes the announcement while chatting, "I want to fall in love", the second - Nick - starts a dangerous game with him in which changing identities and manipulating Adam will attempt to answer the question: "what is this LOVE?". The story begins in the virtual world, but its tragic end is found in reality. “It's a difficult play about growing up in the Internet age, about the dangers posed by anonymity in the network, but also independent of the web capabilities for hunger, acceptance, love and attention”. - says Iwona Kempa.
Language: Polish.
Slovenia
University of Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, (Univerzita v Ljublani Akademija za gledališče, radio, film in televizijo), Ljubljana
Dan Zajc - Pathwalker
Director: Zala Sajko
Cast: Klemen Janežič, Barbara Ribnikar, Jure Kopušar, Maruša Majer, Jernej Gašperin, Vid Klemenc, Saša Pavlin, Stošić, Simon Belak, Zala Sajko, Nina Šorak, Tina Pavlovič, Urška Sajko
Zajc's (Dan Zajc – author) story of “Path walker” is a tale about a man who is searching for himself, and gets lost on the way. It is the story of a man facing death on various levels, the worst of them being living a life of resignation and passivity. The story is about mankind, whose last surviving ideal is a grotesque image of a happy life in a golden era which has never existed. It is likewise about a civilization which has forgotten its own self and is heading for a catastrophe. It is also a story about rivers of alcohol.
Language: Slovene.
Germany
The University od Music, Drama and Media (Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien), Hannover
Stephan Hintze: Barbarian paradise
Director: Stephan Hintze
Cast: Fabian Baumgarten, Ali Berber, Anne Bontemps, Maya Haddad, Lars Koch, Anne-Marie Lux, David Müller, Jonas Minthe, Laura Uhlig.
Circus within theatre, theatre within circus. Cabaret as a panorama of life. Artists, grotesque characters, perform their absurd lot as a set of circus acts. Grand Guignol theatre, the French theatre of horror, meets the poetry of the circus, the deep emotions of melodrama, and the world of vaudeville. The folk theatre of the mid-19th century Boulevard du Temple, Paris, will be come to mind. Barbarians are pariahs, banished from our educational and rational theatrical world. Exiled, they founded their own theatre called Barbarian Paradise. Barbarian paradise works with expressiveness and gesticulation, the actors speak French, English, German, and another strange unknown language. Barbarians move the boundaries between sense and nonsense, burlesque and tragedy, truth and lie beyond our comprehension.
Language: English, German, French.
Turkey
Halic University (Haliç Üniversitesi)
Václav Havel – Largo desolato
Director: Cem Uslu
Cast: Cem Uslu, Murat Engiz, Ayşegül Uraz, Ertürk Erkek, Sercan Gülbahar, Simel Aksünger, Halil Babür, Duygu Yetiş
The main character of the play is an antihero, doctor of philosophy, Leopold Kopřiva. He goes through sheer despair, as he is under constant threat of being put in prison for signing a controversial essay. To avoid this scenario, he tries to prove that the article was written by a different doctor with the same name. But there is no such person in reality. Therefore, the case still remains open. The doctor’s life is dominated by total chaos, and the play is mostly about stress and helplessness. The whole plot revolves around this terrified man who lives under constant pressure, and faces his own inconsistency and moodiness – he might be considered a kind of intellectual in a corner. The play, written in 1984, is based on the author’s own experience during the normalization – the story about the rigour of the system, scepticism, but also love, is, then, a true picture of that time.
Language: Turkish.
South Korea
Sejong University – Academy of Arts and Physical education, Sejong
Anton Chekhov: The five minutes´ proposal
Director: Hyunok Song
Cast: Hyunmin Na, Joowon Oh
Will you marry me?
Formulation of the question “Will marry me?” will only take a few seconds but for the one asked it is so difficult to instantly take a stand on the matter of marriage. The performance The Five Minutes' Proposal brings various answers to the question why Varja and Lopachin haven't talked about their feelings. They have only five minutes for this talk. Will such a short time be enough for them to properly express and explain the storm thundering in their hearts?
Language: Korean.
USA
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California
Caryl Churchill: Cloud 9
Director: Fernando Belo
Cast: Rachel Casseli, Chrissie Harms, Nora King, Justin Montalvo, Pete Laughlin, Stephanie Regina, Joseph Santos, Fernando Belo
Performance lenght: 100 minutes
Language: English
Cloud 9 is a two-act play written by Caryl Churchill performed by The Moving Art Colletive during ENCOUNTER 2012. . First, in a distant past while living in a terra incognita, as Clive, a colonial administrator, lives with his family, a governess and servant during turbulent times in the colony. Then, in the second act, we advance in time and see the same family in a moment close to the present time, although for them only 25 years has passed. Using the actors' bodies, movements and gestures, we discuss, with this piece, how people often rely on sex to fulfill emotional and personal needs other than physical satisfaction. Through the abstraction of habitual movements, the actors’ physicality works as an amplifying lens to the characters thoughts and feelings.
Language: English.
Colombia
Department od Theatrte, Faculty od Arts, University of Antioquia (Departamento de Teatro, Facultad de Artes, Universidad de Antioquia Colombia)
Marco Antonio de la Parra : Tristan and Isolda
Director: Mario Wilson Bustamante Londoño
Cast: Jhoan Manuel Ospina, Hibened Carreño
This contemporary story about the encounter of two lovers, written by Chilean author Marco Antonio de la Parra, is based on the great medieval legend of love.
The despair of impossible love is intertwined with distance and humor, all of which are part of different life situations. The evocations are very intense, and often bear some trace of madness. Is the relationship between Tristan and Isolde real love or is it just a deceit?
They know that their love, no matter how strong, cannot last forever, and they conform to this fact. They feel the warmth and happiness only when they are together. In separation it is the memories of the moments they spent together that keep them alive. In this provocative and obtrusive drama, Parra also works with social themes.
Language: Spanish.
JAR
Wits University of Arts, Johannesburg
Paul Grootboom and Presley Chweneyagae: RELATIVITY: Township stories
Director: Tsepo Wa-Mamatu
Cast: Albert -Mkhoma, Dorah - Mofokeng, B. B. - Ndaba, Coco - Vete, Mogoshi - Mogwera, Thespang - Koloko, Nkuli - Maseko, Zaba - Mchunu, Michael - Mazibuko, Lerato - Sekele, Lerato - Matolodi, Tony - Miyambo, Deliwe - Mzimela, Busi - Mtshali, Zama - Mkhize, Kholosa - Gcali, Ayanda - Seoka, Khotso - Kutta, Ntokozo - Bongi, Vuyani - Pambo
Relativity: Township Stories is a contemporary yet epic drama that explores the underbelly of South African township life when a serial killer begins hunting down young women at night. At the centre of the narrative is the story of a forgotten community and people who have given up hope of a better future. The performance, in its burlesque representation, reveals anarchy in society- a society which has lost sight of its goal but has nonetheless decided to make something from nothing. In this way, the play speaks didactically to the position taken by Milan Kundera, when he noted that “the struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against oblivion.”
Language: English, Zulu.
