The next edition of the "KONTAKT" / "CONTACT" Theatre Festival in Torun will feature fourteen productions from ten countries as well as new stagings by Peter Stein and Oskaras Koršunovas.
Since 1991 "CONTACT" has been presenting the most interesting of theatrical phenomena, focusing primarily on productions from Central and Eastern Europe. During this time, the city of Torun has played host to productions by masters of the stage from Lithuania and Germany, artists who went on in the 1990s to gain fame throughout Europe.
This year audiences will have another opportunity to see a new production by Oskaras Koršunovas. In tandem with his theatre company from Lithuania, the artist will show Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET, set in... a pizzeria, where instead of feuding families, two teams battle it out using kitchen utensils. Another special event will be the appearance of contemporary theatre classic Peter Stein and the Russian Drama Theatre of Riga with a production of Anton Chekhov's THE SEAGULL.
Anna Augustynowicz with the Teatr Wspolczesny (Contemporary Theatre) of Szczecin will show
Stanislaw Wyspianski's WYZWOLENIE / LIBERATION, a production pulsating with issues pertinent in Poland today, while
Pawel Szkotak and the Teatr Biuro Podrozy (Travel Office Theatre) of Poznan will present SWINIOPOLIS (PIGOPOLIS) - an ironic commentary on revolutionary mechanisms. The Teatr Provisorium and Kompania Teatr (Theatre Company) are scheduled to present their joint production of
Tadeusz Rozewicz's DO PIACHU / SIX FEET UNDER directed by Witold Mazurkiewicz and Janusz Oprynski, while the festival's host, the Teatr im. Wilama Horzycy (Wilam Horzyca Theatre) of Torun will show Nikolai Kolada's MERYLIN MONGOL / MARILYN MONGOL directed by Norbert Rakowski.
This edition of "CONTACT" will also feature appearances by the A. Kazantsev and M. Roshchin Center for Playwriting and Direction from Moscow and the Kammerspiele from Munich. The ensemble from Moscow will perform its original work titled CZERWONA NITKA / WITH A RED THREAD, which through metaphors describes contemporary Russia. The troupe of Munich's Chamber Theatre will perform Jon Fosse's KTOS TU JESZCZE PRZYJDZIE / SOMEONE IS GOING TO COME, a story about the impossibility of achieving inter-human, in this case marital, understanding. Love, the complications of human feelings and the manipulation of others are the subject of Pierre Marivaux's NIESTALOSC SERCA / CHANGES OF HEART as staged by the Globus Theatre of Novosybirsk. In ROBERTO ZUCCO by Bernard-Marie Koltés the Estonian troupe of the Vanemuine Theatre from the city of Tart will offer a study of the mind of a murderer. Belgrade's Alelje 212 Theatre is scheduled to present Biljan Srbljanovic's contemporary play AMERYKA, CZESC DRUGA / AMERICA, PART TWO - the engaging story of an emigrant who finds it very difficult to assimilate in his new homeland. The festival will also feature a number of productions exploring contemporary times based on texts and motifs of the Classical world. The Aron Tamási Theatre of Romania will show Sophocles' ANTIGONE, while a Spanish troupe from Seville is scheduled to perform ELECTRA based on texts by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Heiner Müller and Hugo von Hoffmannstahl. The Radnóti Theatre from Budapest will present German author Hans Henny Jahnn's interpretation of MEDEA by Euripides.
In Torun, all of these theatres will compete in front of an international jury that will award prizes to the best production, director and actors.
The festival will also feature a program of satellite events that will include performances of the production CYRK DEKAMERON / DECAMERON CIRCUS by the Teatr Baj Pomorski (Pomeranian Storyteller Theatre), photography and theatre exhibitions, as well as meetings and academic sessions devoted to theatre.
Teatr im. Wilama Horzycy
Director: Jadwiga Oleradzka
Plac Teatralny 1, 87-100 Torun
tel. (+48 56) 622 52 22, 622 12 45
fax (+48 56) 622 37 17
www.teatr.torun.pl