A scene from "Ardour" ("Żar") Leszka Mądzika; photo by Ana d'Almeida / ACTA - A Companhia de Teatro do Algarve
Directed by Paweł Kotla, 111 musicians from Poland and countries of the Eastern Partnership joined distinguished pianist Peter Jablonski for Prokofiev's Scythian Suite, Szymanowski's Sinfonia Concertante No 4 and Symphony No 5 in D-minor by Shostakovitch - at the closing ceremony of the festival at the Lublin Concert Hall
The President of Lublin Krzysztof Żuk expressed his enthusiasm for the city hosting the first official concert of ICO's European tour as "the idea of bringing the countries of the Eastern Partnership closer through cultural and social initiatives is extremely important".
The 16th Lublin Theatre Confrontations kicked off with Leszek Mądzik's "Ardour", based on a 14th century Portuguese story of doomed love, not less tragic than the famed Shakespearean "Romeo and Juliet" - the fruit of the director's collaboration with ACTA (A Companhia de Teatro do Algarve) in Faro.
The festival continues the long-term tradition of presenting the Russian theatre in the context of theatre phenomenon in rest of the world - this year countries from the Eastern Partnership are in the spotlight. Changes taking place in the theatres of the former Soviet Republics are analysed: how much of the Russian theatre is still present in their performances? Where does regional theatre remain under influence of the Russian aesthetics and where are the links with the past were torn away?
The Free Theatre from Belorussia presents two performances directed by Vladimir Shcherban. "Eurepica. Challenge" is an attempt to create the new European epic using fourteen different texts from fourteen different countries as diverse as Sweden, France, Spain, Poland and Turkey. "Being Harold Pinter", touching on the topic of violence in various relationships, is based on theatre works of the English Noble Prize laureate in an original combination with the letters of the political prisoners from Belorussia. Among the characters we can recognise some public figures, famous for their political or social activity.
Based on the myth of Oedipus and a play of the contemporary Russian playwright Klim, "Edypus. Dog's Cage" is an excellent commentary on the political situation in today's Ukraine, presented by DAKH, the Modern Arts Centre from Kiev.
Tbilisi Vaso Abashidze Music and Drama State Theatre performance of a contemporary production of the Shakespearean "Macbeth" features elements of acrobatics, experiments with lighting and video projections, while Praktika Theatre's from Moscow "Babushkas" is inspired by the tales of residents of the 20th century Siberian villages, filled with folk traditions, rituals and songs.
Polish theatre is represented by (among others) the Eighth Day Theatre with their performance entitled "Jailed. Młyńska 1" with the participation of Poznań prisoners on screen, TR Warszawa's "No Matter How Hard We Tried" directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna is based on a play Dorota Masłowska were she brings together different generations of Poles, juxtaposing their languages, ways of thinking, functioning and different realities they exist in, Paweł Demirski's "Long live the war!!!" directed by Monika Strzępka, inspired by the cult Polish TV series based on a novel by Janusz Przymanowski, "Four tank men and a dog" performed by the Dramatic Theatre from Wałbrzych.
The most interesting local performances are presented in a special thematic block entitled "The Lublin Showcase" featuring "Stones in his pockets" by Scena InVitro Theatre, the Provisorium Theatre's "The Karamazov Brothers" directed by the festival's director Janusz Opryński, laureate of the prestigious Konrad Swinarski Award. The neTTheatre from Lublin and Coincidencia Group from Bialstok present "Turandot" written and directed by Pawel Passini - a performance which was awarded Total Theatre Award and the Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011.
Choreographer Tomasz Bazan's MAAT Festival - this year joining forces with the Theatre Confrontations Festival - presents the most interesting performances of body language, movement and related forms from the region, including three choreographies by Maciej Mikołajczyk: "Waiting", "It is you with whom I wish to see the world" and "Plaisir d'amour".
"Theatre Confronatations" is accompanied by concerts, screenings of films and meetings with artists.
The I, CULTURE Orchestra performs at the closing ceremony of the "Theatre Confrontations" Festival as an introduction to their European tour. The Orchestra is a unique, innovative project of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, one of the flagship projects of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council. Conducted by Paweł Kotla and Sir Neville Marriner, the Orchestra will continue to famous concert halls in Kiev, Berlin, Brussels, London, Madrid and Warsaw. See more on the international I, CULTURE Orchestra tour.
The International "Theatre Confrontations" Festival
20-007 Lublin, ul. Peowiaków 12
director: Janusz Opryński
ph. 81 536 03 18 (fax), 81 536 03 20
e-mail: konfrontacje@ck.lublin.pl, reske@ck.lublin.pl
www.konfrontacje.pl
Organisation: Lublin Cultural Centre
Source: press info, www.culture.pl, www.konfrontacje.pl, www.e-teatr.pl, www.kultura.lublin.eu, www.cjg.gazeta.pl