SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER 8–12 APRIL 2014
MEETING POINT 9 April 2014 | 02 | EN
SETKĂ NĂ?/ENCOUNTER 9 APRIL 2014
editorials
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main programme
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offprogramme
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exhibition
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party
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little nothing
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programme
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infocentre
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photoreport
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MEETING POINT 24th year of the International Festival of Theatre Schools SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER 8–12 April 2014 Editor in Chief Martin Macháček
Vice Editor in Chief Karolína Vyhnálková
Assistant of Vice Editor in Chief Kateřina Uhrová
Redactors Daniela Boková, Nikola Boková, Jasmína Finkeová, Kateřina Málková, Hana Neničková, Miriam Šedá
Translation Dominika Kováčová, Kristína Pavlíková, Eva Šoltésová
Proof Reading of Czech Version Klára Englišová, Jan Krupa
Proof Reading of English Version Adrian Hundhausen
Typesetting Martina Víchová
Photographers Václav Mach, Pavel Nesvatba, Lucie Říhová
Organizer Janáčkova akademie múzických umění v Brně Divadelní fakulta Mozartova 1, 662 15 Brno IČO: 62156462 DIČ: CZ62156462
Encounter is encounter. So it has started. Anyone who missed the Opening Ceremony will undoubtedly very much appreciate the report by Nikola Boková (just as I did). Currently, Brno is as full of festival atmosphere as the cafes downtown are full of people. If you do not believe it, try to go to any part of the “Štatl”and you will see there is not a single seat left in the cult places. However, this is just a temporary state, because yesterday was only a warm-up that allowed you to wander around the busy streets of Brno and think about the quality of coffee brands. But we can forget all about it today, because the atmosphere of the festival is not made up of coffee grounds or fortune-telling, but rather of the stress felt before entering the auditorium. Alongside the omnipresent questions “Who, where, when, why” (given by the topic of this year‘s festival) are also questions containing “whether”, “if” and above all “what if I don‘t get in”. Happily, watching a SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER performance without experiencing the long wait in the never-ending line in front of the theater just does not have the same charm. That charm comes from knowing that there was a huge crowd of theatre-loving people waiting outside to get in (which they probably didn't) while you can comfortably watch the performance. You will probably notice that we did not publish any interview in this issue. However, we can assure you there will be some interviews in the upcoming Meeting Point issues, because people need to talk to each other, especially at festivals. Otherwise we could start the closing ceremony as an epic hara-kiri. So talk to each other! Martin Macháček
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EDITORIALS
Editorial No. 3
MAIN PROGRAMME
MACBETH, PLAY ABOUT BASTARDS SLOVAKIA, BRATISLAVA
William Shakespeare, Heiner Müller Director: Tomáš Procházka Script Editor: Pavol Száz Translator: Jozef Kot Set: Ľudmila Bubánová Costumes: Zuzana Hudáková Choreography: Marta Poláková, Sumako Koseki Music: výběr First Night: 8/4/2013 Cast: Šimon Ferstl, Katarína Andrejcová, Tomáš Pokorný, Tomáš Turek, Jana Kovalčíková, Braňo Mosný, Matúš Kvietik, Jaroslav Kyseľ, Dominika Zeleníková, Anna Rákovská, Paula Bakoš, Alexandra Palatínusová
Macbeth, Play about Bastards I have read, seen and heard so many Macbeths recently that it all started to be a little scary. Therefore, I have to admit that when I came to see the play, I was too biased. But it might not have been such a bad thing after all – if I had not known the play, there might have been a few essential information missing. At some point, Macbeth mentions that he cannot be murdered by anybody who was given birth by a woman. The unknowing spectator does not know how Macbeth arrived at that idea and how it is later treated. He is dead and that’s it. The same applies for the prophecy with the “walking forest” which was not completely solved. I could go on and on. The play had its own dark and even darker sides. For one thing, it was often the same; there was no significant change. Well, if I do not count a little constrained effort to approach Shakespearean text in 6
an innovative way which basically implies stuffing it with as much blood and sex as possible and using the most heartless and most theatrical weapon, i.e. an axe. Why, for God’s sake? Nevertheless, most of the longer dialogues went hand in hand with the original which could be regarded as a tribute to Shakespeare. Now, let's look at the play chronologically. The first scene involving witches attracted me, it set the scene well. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about other scenes which followed. The more of these scenes, the less effect they have. The actresses were getting enraged which was probably necessary. But, in my opinion, the fact that one of the witches started to look less like an ethereal creature but more like a blood-thirsty sociopath did not quite fit into the story they created. What also made me sad was the reincarnation of witches into murderers. As a result, these characters as if fell into pieces and the madness on the stage was so sudden and pointless that I could simply not grasp it. There might have been too many emotions involved and, therefore, none of them affected me. Firstly, it looked like fear, then like some kind of demonic possession demonstrated by popped eyes and crippled walk. Then one could see frequent touching of a sickle and tossing hair. Nevertheless, I can admit that it all seemed promising in the beginning. The first hair tossing as the deathblow aimed at Banquo struck me as something (finally) lively. This, however, did not have such an effect for the second time. Later, when the hair started to be dipped in blood and it seemed like the sickle aimed for the crotch, the interest of the audience was dying as fast as poor Banquo. Lady Macbeth was not the combination of “dark manipulator” and loving wife I was looking forward to – she was depicted as a hysterical woman. Also, it might have been better if there were not so much of rambling and running around on the stage. Lastly, I have to ask… Macduff to become a king? I might have misunderstood; maybe, it was Shakespeare who has been misunderstood. Or, was it an effort for a novel change? I do not dare to decide. Daniela Boková 7
There Was Blood All Over the Place… Students of the VŠMU decided to break with the usual Shakespearean tradition and make Macbeth a little different. They interested the audience from the very beginning with the help of witches sitting in the middle of the fight ring, demonic creatures observing their surroundings. Undoubtedly, the following parade of the undead clearly suggested what the next almost two hours would be about. The sequence of scenes full of murders, blood, sex, blood, seduction, blood, kisses, blood and biting was sometimes bizarre and tediously long. Nevertheless, it has to be said that the students from Bratislava are indeed endowed with acting talent. Most of all, the witches are seductive, selfseeking monsters who look like zombies. The female cast of the play is generally better than its male counterpart. Lady Macbeth is a much livelier and complex character than her power-ridden husband. It seems that Macbeth floats through the play without willingly interfering in the story. He basically goes mad because of himself. Macbeth's motivations to act would be very unclear without the involvement of his wife. On the other hand, Banquo is one of the few male characters who acts like a real man, driven by his own reasonable judgment. Also, there is one more character demonstrating a bit of manliness: Macduff – played by a women, though. Most of the scenes are accompanied by music of various genres. The music, however, is not limited to any specific style. The scenic background may well be in harmony with the story, but it is suddenly changed by the strikingly different relaxed pieces. These, together with the action, put you in a trance. For instance, the scene where one of the witches murders Banquo is accompanied by peaceful blues. A drastic and self-ironic act. The question is whether the irony was intended, or it just happened to emerge during the festival performance. Nonetheless, one is sure to find more moments like this one in this Bratislavan Macbeth.
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What is more, the whole play is marked by blood. The witches carry it in stainless steel buckets and everybody who gets involved in some kind of bloodshed spreads and pours it on his/her body. Witches cannot, however, be kissing, cuddling, biting or licking somebody at that very same time. In any case, this bizarre parade takes place in a visually effective setting. White scarfs hanging in the background, with the red sand encircled by white stones, create a universal stage suitable for any place of action. In addition, these student guests seem to have adapted quite well to the Husa na provázku Theatre and they made quite lively use not only of the staircase but also of the upper stands for simultaneous secondary actions. Although the theater got a little emptier after the break, the VŠMU students did not slack off. Unfortunately, it was not enough to make the impressions from their Macbeth less contradictory. Kateřina Málková
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OFFPROGRAMME
The Opening Ceremonial Finally, it's here! The festival SETKÁNÍ/ ENCOUNTER has begun. The opening ceremony offered us a DJ believing himself to be a god, a short play in which the actors were faced with all the questions posed by the festival, a dancing zebrasaur, an unorthodox presenter with his helpful interpreter and a few speeches. The whole opening ceremony stuck to the existential questions which form the theme of this year's festival. According to Dagmar Haladová, one of the artistic directors of the festival, the team of directors will attempt to answer these questions throughout this week, but at the closing ceremony in particular. “The theatrical space is a place where we are looking for our identities and it is exactly this idea that we would like both ceremonies to capture. They represent a cycle and the closing ceremony is its ending.” On the stage, actors were faced with the evolution of the human being, fear, self-evaluation and other emotions which one encounters in life. All of that was accompanied by lighting effects, dance music and smoke. Together with a conspicuous choreography, the performance resembled a great party that opened another, even bigger party which is going to last for the whole week. The dashing presenter introduced the participating groups and the jury in a popular TV show style, inserted humorous comments on the current political situation and added in passing: “fortunately, art isn’t politics.” Then came the speeches. Since, as everyone knows, speeches tend to be long and boring, the speakers were limited in time. However, as the rector of JAMU, Ivo Medek, has noted, “artists rarely excel in mathematics.” Nevertheless, everyone wished the festival and its participants good luck and much success. Nikola Boková
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A Family Drama And a Parody Did a Misunderstanding Occur?
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The students of JAMU tried to portray some communication problems in the play “The Dictatorship of Misunderstanding.” They decided to put the performance together using seemingly heterogeneous parts. This experiment carries a big risk of fragmentation for the play, so it was undoubtedly a very bold move. So how did it come together in the end? In the beginning, we become listeners at the lecture of an expert on the constructed language Esperanto. This is a rather brisk part of the play. The parody of the lecture is exaggerated enough, not too little and not too much – it is neither annoying nor imposed on the viewers. A large amount of irony is also added through the character of the English translator, especially given the context of the lecture's topic. However, everything that has happened so far is just a prologue to something much more dramatic. There is a clear shift in the story, and from the relaxed atmosphere of the lecture we are brought into a classical tragedy. The form is radically changed. The atmosphere grows heavier and many effects supporting this change in atmosphere are added to the play. The only connection between the two parts is the character of the professor and the question of mutual understanding. At this point we find out that the very man who believed that a common language can bring peace to the nations of the world is not able to find a common language with his own mother and sister. Although the viewer can be confused in the beginning, both parts are eventually linked together, thanks in particular to the inventive main point and marvelous dramatic performances. Hana Neničková
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EXHIBITION
What Doesn't Encounter Look Like This Year? You don‘t like the graphics of this year‘s festival? Come take a look at all the proposed designs for this year‘s visuals. They are on the outdoor stage of the Na Orlí Theatre. There are 14 designs inspired by the topic of the festival – the questions: Who, Where, When, Why ... to be. These proposed designs were created by students of Thomas Bata University in Zlín and students of the scenography atelier at JAMU. Unfortunately you can‘t enjoy yesterday‘s opening of the exhibition. You should regret that, because you could have enjoyed awesome jazz and an excellent imaginary opening by an imaginary moderator. Petra Havlíková
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After eight o'clock in the evening I ran into Livingstone Club, where this party took place yesterday. At the door I met a girl and we were the first and only quests there for a long time. Aloha! The first brave guests from among the foreign students were from Austria and they occupied one of the big tables “in the darkest corner.” Finally, someone appeared, someone in a shirt with Hawaiian flowers, then I learned that he was the moderator for the evening. There were musical instruments, mainly drums waiting on the stage and they didn‘t sound until just before eleven o'clock, but it was worth the wait. Their predatory tones boosted the effect of the alcohol in the already quite large number of participants from this year's festival. One of the fans was so impressed by these two young musicians – drummers from the Brno Conservatory – that he decided to refresh them with freshly drafted beer. Their music attracted annoying security guys, too. Guys with a camera “on a handlebar” also came and walked around among festival participants who were having fun and they lured them into conversation. They convinced one to drink beer “X,” which was the only action scene the club had seen for a long time. Around midnight, a limbo contest was going to start. This was a contest in which the prize was a voucher for presenting the Meeting Point Party at Melodka Club today. I was afraid not to be present. Jasmína Finkeová
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PARTY
A Lot of Flowers And No Human Being
LITTLE NOTHING
Why – Always Think about Suicide They say that if people talk for themselves, it usually ends up a disaster. Therefore I have decided to express the opinion of the whole generation. Hopefully, in this way I will avoid criticism with respect to my egoism. One day I played truth or dare with my friends and one of them asked me: “Since when have you been thinking about suicide?” He disrupted the smooth course of the evening and overshadowed all the funny stories about our first erotic experiences. Although we had already forfeited most or all of our clothing, the topic somehow captured our imagination. We embarked on an exceptionally long discussion. We were not interested in the age at which one typically considers ending it once and for all, nor the age at which one starts thinking about such things. Although the suicide phenomenon has been researched countless times, has a long historical tradition and is probably older than humanity itself, it still attracts our attention. The heated debate was interrupted by this wise saying: “Scars are tree rings of suffering.” Nothing else than an embarrassing silence could possibly follow. We all looked at each other curiously and waited for the next utterance, which would hopefully give new meaning to this evening. Another friend said into the silence: “I like taking showers, I like water.” In this way the conversation was catapulted into much more pleasant spheres – into the shower. There are hot water, steam and tiles, but despite all this, it is a place where people often think about suicide. And, let’s admit it, often with delight. “You're all morbid,” said another member of our company. There was nothing left to do than to stop thinking about suicide and take a shower. And the rest would come. Miriam Šedá
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PROGRAMME
PROGRAMME APRIL 9 SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER 9:00 Disscussion with a breakfast
Chill out room
10:00 Italy, Rome [WJ]
From Pinocchio
Theatre Studio Marta
11:00 Slovakia, Bratislava
Macbeth, Play about Bastards
Goose on a String Theatre
13:00 Metamorphoses (JAMU)
Room No. 013, Theatre Faculty JAMU
14:00 Workshop
Radim Vizváry's Physical Mime
Astorka
14:30 Poland, Lodz [WJ]
A Couple of Poor,
Polish-speaking Romanians
HaTheatre
16:00 ENC Cinema
Chill out room
16:30 Austria, Vienna [WJ]
Princess Play
Na Orlí Theatre
17:00 Italy, Rome
From Pinocchio
Theatre Studio Marta
18:30 Encounter of Teachers
Na Orlí Theatre
19:00 Discussion with Filip Nuckolls about Situation in Ústí nad Labem
Chill out room
20:00 Czech Republic, Brno (JAMU)
Songs for daddy
Room No. 202, Theatre Faculty JAMU
20:00 Austria, Vienna
Princess Play
Na Orlí Theatre
20:00 Meeting Point Party
Melodka Club
The list is subject to change. [WJ] – Way of Jury 15
INFOCENTRE
INFOCENTRE Theatre Faculty JAMU Room No. 4 Mozartova 1 662 15 Brno Open from the 7th to the 12th of April 2014 Monday – Friday: 9:00 – 21:00 Saturday:
9:00 – 16:00
Infoline: +420 733 127 612
TICKETS Tickets can be bought at the Infocentre 30 minutes before the performance at the latest. If the performance is not sold-out, additional ticket sales will start 15 minutes before the performance at the ticket office of the respective theatre. At off-programme performances, free seats can be taken without a ticket 5 minutes before the start.
TICKET PRICES Main programme: public – 100 Kč students and seniors – 80 Kč students and JAMU pedagogues – 50 Kč Offprogramme: Off-programme performances are free but it is necessary to collect the tickets at the Infocentre. Meeting Point Party: In advance – 100 Kč On the spot – 150 Kč
THE OFFPROGRAMME WRISTBAND Price 30 CZK per band includes:
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discount at selected restaurants (the list of companies will be available at the Festival Infocentre and on the website)
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discounts on merchandise 10%
access to the VIP Lounge Club Livingstone (applies to final Festival night)
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to all Encounter nights (except
Meeting point party). The Offprogramme wristband is cool!
FESTIVAL WARE At Infocentre you can buy this festival ware:
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T-shirts (men, women) – 200 CZK Badge small – 15 CZK Badge middle – 20 CZK Canvas bag – 100 CZK Lighter – 20 CZK Glasses – 100 CZK Pendant Minimon – 100 CZK Earring Minimon 1pc – 50 CZK Brooch Minimon – 80 CZK Chocolate S/E 2014 – 30 CZK
FESTIVAL PREMISES Theatre Faculty JAMU (Infocentre, Chill Out Room, Dalibar 013) – Mozartova st. 1 Na Orlí Theatre / Music and Drama Laboratory JAMU – Orlí st. 19 Theatre Studio Marta – Bayerova st. 575/5 Goose on a String Theatre – Zelný trh sq. 9 HaTheatre – Poštovská st. 8d Melodka Club – Kounicova st. 20/22 Livingstone Club – Dominikánské sq. 5 Kunštátská Trojka Café – Dominikánská st. 9
CHILL OUT ROOM Theatre Faculty JAMU, open every festival day 9:00 – 20:00 hod. The chill out room is a place for all the participants of the festival who are searching for a quiet place to relax and to rest. There will be free magazines to read, board games to play, table football and a Wi-Fi connection. Soft drinks and beer will be available on tap in the chill out room from our sponsor – Starobrno brewery.
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PHOTOREPORT
PHOTOREPORT FROM TUESDAY
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