Perspektywy 2017
Nationwide Theatre Festival Perspektywy 2017: Theatre - awant-garde in action, was a review and a meeting of the most interesting phenomenas of new theatre in Poland. One of the most important ideas of the festival was a presentation of artistic groups working in environments threatened by exclusion and artists with various physical and mental disabilities, in the context of the avant-garde. Here the artistry, originality and high professionalism of the performers go beyond institutional stage art formulas. Theatres invited to this year's edition are emerging from very original social contexts, or are refering to specific social contexts. Through performances, concerts, presentations, workshops and meetings with the artists, we created a new perspectives for the theatre, which does not play with the form, but whose living content creates new forms of communication with the viewer.
Program of Nationwide Theatre Festival Perspektywy 2017: Theatre - awant-garde in action
Festival Perspektywy 2017 was a review of the latest achievements in Polish independent, avant-garde and socially engaged theatre. We consider the avant-garde character of all theatre productions invited to our Festival in three aspects.
The first group of performances related directly to the tradition of theatrical avant-garde works of Jerzy Grotowski. Here we proposed a performance 'Hamlets Case Study' created by CHOREA Theatre in cooperation with Theatre Academy in Warsaw, referring to the contemporary approach to Shakespeare, through Wyspiański’s and Grotowski’s texts, as well as performance 'Deadline' from Studium Teatralne form Warsaw, directed by Piotr Borowski, a former cooperator of Jerzy Grotowski.
The second group of performances were those emerging from special social contexts, unpredictable for theatre. They create visions and narratives which are extremely revealing and inspirational, not only for theatre but for the whole art. In this group we presented the performance 'Clowns, about a family. Episode 3' created by Theatre 21 from Warsaw, performed by actors with the Down Syndrome, and the performance 'Do not tell anyone' created by Adam Ziajski and a group of deaf people, offering an extremely innovative way of communicating with the audience. There was also a premiere of performance 'Darkness. What is hidden' created by CHOREA Theatre with participation of blind and visually-impaired people.
The third dimension of the avant-garde was created by professional and quasi-professional theatres, which break away from existing canons of art. The subject, content and form of their productions offer new perspectives for the theatre. In this group of performances we have placed the latest production of Cinema Theatre from Michalowice, performed jointly with the AKHE Enineering Theatre from St. Petersburg (Russia). Their show 'Nice/July 14th, 2016' refers to a terrorist attack and it is a strong artistic and human voice, in the face of this tragedy. We also invited performances: 'Intro' created by Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre from Gdansk, concerning the problem of our helplessness against immigrants and "strangers", rebellious and brave performance 'Manifest 1.2' by Stefan Batory Theatre from Chorzow, and the premiere of dance and music performance 'Oratorio of earth', a co-production of CHOREA Theatre, KIJO Dance Theatre form Lodz, and The Cormorants musical group from Wroclaw.
Timetable of Nationwide Theatre Festival Perspektywy 2017: Theatre - awant-garde in action
Festival Perspektywy 2017 took place form Aprill till November 2017, in 5 cycles.
First cycle took place on 22nd and 23rd April. The audience had a chance to participate in: performance 'Clowns, about a family. Episode 3' created by 21 Theatre, performed by actors with Down Syndrome, dance performance 'Intro' by Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre, workshops led by Justyna Sobczyk - director, pedagogue, founder of 21 Theatre, the only group in Poland, whose members are people with Down Syndrome and Autism, workshops led by Katarzyna Chmielewska dancer, choreographer and director.
Second cycle took place on 13th and 14th May. We hosted performance 'Nice/July 14th 2016', co-produced by Cinema Theater form Michalowice and the avant-garde AKHE Engineering Theater from St. Petersburg, performance 'Deadline' created by Studium Teatralne from Warsaw and the workshop led by a former collaborator of Jerzy Grotowski - Piotr Borowski.
Third cycle took place on 23rd and 24th September. It was the premiere of music and dance performance 'Oratorio of earth', co-produced by CHOREA Theatre, avant-garde music group The Cormorants and KIJO Dance Theater, performance 'Do not tell anyone', created by a group of deaf people, and theatre workshops lead by director and performer Adam Ziajski.
Fourth cycle took place on 27th, 28th and 29th October. The audience had a chance to participate in the premiere of performance 'Darkness. What is hidden' creatde by CHOREA Theatre together with a group of blind and visually-impaired people. We also hosted the performance 'Manifesto 1.2' created by Stefan Batory Theatre from Chorzów. The music and rhythm workshops were led by Tomasz Krzyzanowski - the music leader of CHOREA Theatre.
The fifth cycle took place on 17th, 18th and 19th November. We presented a Lodz premiere of the concert 'Spojrzystosc', performed by CHOREA Theater Choir, inspired by poetry of Boleslaw Lesman. The second event was the performance 'Hamlets Case Study' a co-production of CHOREA Theatre and Theatre Academy in Warsaw. The closing event was a concert 'Songs of the Passage' performed by duo Grochocki_Odorowicz - Grand Prix winners of this year's edition of the biggest folk music festival in Poland 'New Tradition'. Rosanna Gamson - choreographer and director from Los Angeles was a leader of intensive master class theatre and dance workshops 'The Games'.
During the last cycle of the Festival we also hosted the Third Congress of the Polish Society of Theatre Research.
During the fourth and fifth cycle we also invited the audience to a special photo exhibition '7.15 p.m.' created by Wiktor Moraczewski, with mesmerizing photographs of Greg Noo-Wak, referring to the history of theatre spaces of the Grand Hotel in Lodz.
