Platform Shift+ Yearbook 2016

DIGITAL CHALLENGES IN THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES YEARBOOK 2015/2016

DIGITAL CHALLENGES IN THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES YEARBOOK SEASON 2015/2016

4 DIGITAL CHALLENGES IN THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES PLATFORM shift+ is a larger scale cooperation project announced by the European Commission under their European Culture Funding Stream Creative Europe.

The network of 11 partners from 9 countries was created to meet the new challenges of producing theatre for young people in the digital age. The partners have identified the urgent need to engage with digital technology in order to understand the target audience.

They plan a major investment in the professionalization of theatre makers on an international level.

40 theatre productions, correlated to the reality of the digital age, will be developed. In more than 50 activities PLATFORM shift+ will connect theatre makers with young people in an artistic dialogue. An extensive programme of activities will encourage transnational exchanges of artists/artistic products and provide training in digital technology through Creative Forums.

PARTNERS

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1. Pilot Theatre Company (York/Great Britain)

Artistic Director Dirk Neldner

ˇ 2. South Bohemian Theatre (Ceské Budejovice/Czech Republic) ˇ

Literary Adviser Odette Bereska

3. Elsinor Centro di produzione teatrale (Milan, Forlì, Florence/Italy)

Project Coordinator Sven Laude

5. Kolibri Theatre (Budapest/Hungary)

Project Assistance Sophia Neubert

6. Theatre Massalia (Marseille/France)

Education / Engagement Mandy Smith (Pilot Theatre)

7. Teatro O Bando (Palmela/Portugal)

Creative Forum Ben Pugh (Pilot Theatre)

8. tjg. Theater Junge Generation (Dresden/Germany)

Youth Work Andrew Siddall (Emergency Exit Arts)

9. VAT Teater (Tallinn/Estonia) 10. Teatret Vårt (Molde/Norway) 11. University of Agder (Kristiansand/Norway)

Financial Administration Charles Moore (Pilot Theatre) Financial Assistance Jackie Raper (Pilot Theatre) Support Project Administration Lucy Hammond (Pilot Theatre) Monitoring Gunnar Horn (University of Agder) Website & Social Media Administration Sam Johnson (Pilot Theatre)

5 | PARTNERS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

4. Emergency Exit Arts (London/Great Britain)

6 5 7 10 12 14 16

Partners and Project Management Preface Dirk Neldner, Artistic Director PLATFORM Shift + Programme 7th Annual Encounter & 2nd Creative Forum of PLATFORM shift+ Preface János Novák, General Manager and Artistic Director of Kolibri Theatre for Children and Youth Introduction: 7th Annual Encounter & 2nd Creative Forum of PLATFORM shift+ My Story: My Cloud Andrew Siddall (Opening of the festival “MyStory”)

National Productions 18 Pilot Theatre Company (York/ UK) 22 Kolibri Theatre (Budapest/HU) ˇ 26 South Bohemian Theatre (Ceské Budejovice, CZ) ˇ 30 Emergency Exit Arts (London/UK) 34 Elsinor Centro di produzione teatrale (Milan, Forlì, Florence/ IT) 38 Theatre Massalia (Marseille/FR) 42 Teatro O Bando (Palmela, PT) 46 tjg. Theater Junge Generation (Dresden/DE) 50 VAT Teater (Tallinn/EE) 54 Teatret Vårt (Molde/NO) 58 University of Agder (Kristiansand/ NO) 60 Outlook PLATFORM shift+ Co-Productions 62 My Digital Addiction

64 Introduction Creative Forum TED like Speeches 66 Eva Gyarmathy (HU) 67 Karina Frick (CH) 68 Florian Müller (GER) 69 Frank Reichert (NO) 70 Damian Murphy (UK) 71 Stuart Grant (NZL) 72 74 76 78 80 82 87

Hands-on-Workshops Bence Samu (HU) Tabea Hörnlein (GER) Michele Cremaschi (IT) Claudia Mayer (GER) Philippe Domengie (FR) My Digital Addiction Advertisement World Assitej

Presentations and Reference Productions of the PLATFORM shift + Partners 88 Pilot Theatre Company (York/ UK) 92 Kolibri Theatre (Budapest/HU) ˇ 96 South Bohemian Theatre (Ceské Budejovice, CZ) ˇ 100 Emergency Exit Arts (London/UK)

104 Elsinor Centro di produzione teatrale (Milan, Forlì, Florence/ IT) 108 Theatre Massalia (Marseille/FR) 112 Teatro O Bando (Palmela, PT) 116 tjg. Theater Junge Generation (Dresden/DE) 120 VAT Teater (Tallinn/EE) 124 Teatret Vårt (Molde/NO) 128 University of Agder (Kristiansand/ NO) 130 My Digital Addiction PLATFORM shift + Activities 132 6th Annual Encounter and 1st Creative Forum Portugal, June 2015 138 Advisory Board Meeting, Berlin, December 2015 140 Marketing Meeting, Marseille, April, 2016 142 My Digital Addiction 143 Timeline 145 Addresses 146 Imprint

One year ago, at the opening of the Creative Forum in Portugal, I spoke about the “i-revolution”, an era of rapid change, full of upheaval and enormously exciting challenges.

As critical theatre makers we had to confront this revolution both as individuals as well as in our accountability towards our young audience. I spoke these words in front of 100 colleagues from 10 European countries and on a live stream in the world wide web.

I happily confess it made me somewhat proud to reflect freely, in discourse with other people, on revolutionary memories and perspectives, to argue and to try to improve at least our theatre world.

However, a lot has changed over the last year.

All of a sudden, frontiers, borders, fences and walls have sprung up. Us against them. From the bottom to the top. Right wing versus left wing. Christians versus Moslems.

In the media, self-appointed experts passionately discuss their viewpoints and hardly any meetings with my friends take place without this theme being part of the conversation. Demagogues are experiencing a boom and they know how to place themselves in the centre of the stage.

A new class struggle is encasing Europe.

No longer is it like Europe at the beginning of the 20th century with its poverty, widespread unemployment and deficit of information.

The history of all so far existing societies is the history of class struggles. Karl Marx

7 | DIRK NELDNER ONTO THE “VIRTUAL STREET”!

ONTO THE VIRTUAL STREET!

Dirk Neldner (Artistic Direct or, PLATFORM sh ift +)

8 It's the intellectuals' combat for plurality and the free development of the individual against narrow mindedness and simplicity.

No longer is it divided into the traditional right wing/left wing or rich/ poor compartments.

Today, standing on the one side are we, linked together in many ways, creative, cosmopolitan in the way we think and act. Opposite us are the backward thinkers who need to have borders in their heads as well in societal life.

Examples besides the big headlines about Trump, Le Pen and the new fences, which have been erected on European borders?

A theatre in Slovakia (EU- member) was forbidden by the regional fascist government from taking part in a EU-cultural programme.

A Hungarian theatre is not allowed to work on a European Odyssey because its audience may come to false conclusions about the Hungarian political policies concerning refugees.

As a German, I asked my parents and grandparents how it came to pass that Hitler was elected into power in Germany. The widespread poverty was often given as a reason. For me, however, it was the indifference and passivity of the people that led to the strengthening of the fascists. I am convinced that we - who are standing on the side of the barricade, which stands for freedom and vital necessity - now have to be very alert.

These are lines from “The International”, the old battle hymn of the workers and yet they sound very up to date.

As theatres for young audiences, we have so much to throw into the scales for this battle: we have the stories. We have the ideas and we learn the concepts that we can share in an interesting and differentiated way in the future. We have the young people in our audiences. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. May we, using our weapons of free thought, fantasy, creativity, collective intelligence, vouch for everything we love and for the reason we gather together in Budapest.

We have to be alert for this class struggle and learn how to intervene. Activate the silent majority - summon them onto the “virtual street”. A good example of this is

www.pleasedontgouk.com.

On this Internet-Platform, Europeans show that we want to retain Great Britain in the EU: with photos in which British people are being hugged (#hugabrit).

A virtual contribution to the upcoming referendum (Brexit)!

We cannot let it happen, that this fantastic country, with its wonderful people, says farewell to the idea of Europe. Via the Internet we can all intervene, we can all fight.

We can also show our teeth with our powerful Festival and Creative Forum here in Hungary, a country, which is threatening to turn its back on European values. It's not the people, it's the government. We want to show them that they can't simply vote us, the world open Europeans, out.

Following the demonstrations of solidarity after the recent Parisian terrorist attacks we should say “We are the European Hungary". (Mi vagyunk az európai Magyarorszá.)

9 | DIRK NELDNER ONTO THE “VIRTUAL STREET”!

The world is about to change its foundation We are nothing, let us be all.

Let us group together, and tomorrow

PROGRAMME 7TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER AND 2ND CREATIVE FORUM THURSDAY, JUNE 16 ARRIVALS 10.00 Operetta The Machine Stops (Pilot Theatre | UK) only for schools 10.30 E 10 A Project on Breaking up in the Digital Age (tjg. theatre junge generation | GER) only for schools 19.00 Hotel Mendosz Dinner 20.00 Main Stage Duplicity (Kolibri Theatre | HU) 22.00 Outdoor Opening and Welcome FRIDAY, JUNE 17 10.00 Operetta The Machine Stops (Pilot Theatre | UK) 12.00 Operetta Talks: Reflection on the productions 13.30 Hotel Mendosz Lunch 14.30 Foyer Kolibri Theatre Expresso Bar (our “Speakers Corner”)

15.30

17.00 18.00 19.30 20.30 22.00

E 10 A Project on Breaking up in the Digital Age (tjg. theatre junge generation | GER) Outdoor You are here (Emergency Exit Arts | UK) Operetta Talks: Reflection on the productions Main Stage Smart Stones (Teatro Elsinor | IT) Dinner Foyer Kolibri Theatre Expresso Bar

SATURDAY, JUNE 18 10.00 Operetta Presentation: Labyrinth A Theatre Experience you can get lost in (Teatret Vårt | NO) 11.00 Operetta Talks: Reflection on the productions 12.00 Main Stage Presentation: Human of Budejovice (South Bohemian Theatre | CZ)

Hotel Mendosz Lunch Foyer Kolibri Theatre Expresso Bar Operetta Presentation: The girl from the platforms (Theatre Massalia | FR) 15.30 Operetta Talks: Reflection on the presentations 17.00 Puppet Theatre Web Demon (Teater VAT | EE) 19.00 Puppet Theatre Talks: Reflection on the productions 20.15 Dinner All days on invitation only: Of the end (Teatro O Bando | PT) 13.00 14.00 14.30

TEAM KOLIBRI THEATRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JÁNOS NOVÁK DIRECTOR GYÖRGY VIDOVSZKY TYA EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM COORDINATOR ESZTER GYEVI-BÍRÓ INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FANNI SZÁNTÓ PRESS AND PR OFFICER ANIKÓ RUPP THEATRE ARTISTIC MANAGEMENT KORNÉLIA SOÓS, ESZTER VÉGVÁRI BOX OFFICE MANAGER ÉVA PÁNTI TECHNICAL MANAGER ISTVÁN FARKAS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER VIKTOR ZIGÓ PLATFORM SHIFT + ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DIRK NELDNER LITERARY ADVISER ODETTE BERESKA PROJECT COORDINATOR SVEN LAUDE PROJECT ASSISTANCE SOPHIA NEUBERT OPENING FESTIVAL MYSTORY ANDREW SIDDALL, CRAIG ALAN WEST (EEA) TECHNICAL SUPPORT BENJAMIN DAVID PUGH (PILOT THEATRE) SUPPORT ANNUAL ENCOUNTER ELISA BRAUN, JOHANNA MALCHOW

11 | PROGRAMME 2ND CREATIVE FORUM

MONDAY, JUNE 20 Departures

7TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER AND 2ND CREATIVE FORUM

JUNE

SUNDAY, JUNE 19 - 2ND CREATIVE FORUM 10.00 E 10 Opening by Mr. Ádám Somlai-Fischer (Architect, Interaction Designer and Founder of Prezi, a cloud-based presentation software) 10.30 E 10 TED like Speeches Eva Gyarmathy (HU) Frank Reichert (NO) Florian Müller (GER) Karina Frick (CH) Damian Murphy (UK) Stuart Grant (NZ) 13.30 Lunch 15.00 E 10 Hands-on-Workshops Bence Samu (HU) Tabea Hörnlein (GER) Michele Cremaschi (IT) Claudia Mayer (GE) Phillip Domengie (FR)

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DIGITAL COMMUNICATION A POWERFUL TOOL TO REINVENT THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF THEATRE

János Novák

From the very first moment of our lives, we immediately become consumers and shapers of the culture into which we are born. Within the sacred space of the theatre, even early years audiences require a shared and equal viewpoint for artist and viewers alike, in order to get a better understanding of ourselves. By comprehending our cultural heritage we are able to shape our present and future.

Constant change characterizes the inner and outer environment of children of all ages. If we, as artists, want to create something substantial and meaningful, and if we want our young audiences to recognize themselves and their problems in our performances, the topics that we elaborate have to respond to the changes in their lives.

We have to offer them innovative and attractive formal solutions through the process of interpretation. The language of youth and children’s theatre, which has for a long time been regarded as a uniform mode of expression, is now noticeably differentiated: today we take it for granted that the performances for early years use their own theatrical language, which is completely different from that of the children or youth

performances; and, in turn, youth theatre defines adolescents and young adults as two separate audience groups each requiring a distinct approach. Theatre makers today seek the most adequate theatrical language tailored to the specific needs of a given age group, trying to adopt a new and fresh perspective through themes that young people can identify with, represented by novel theatrical forms of high artistic quality.

The EU international cooperation project PLATFORM shift+ offers unique opportunities for all theatre experts who aim to renew the language of theatre by adapting the technical innovations and communication philosophies of the 21st century.

The natural and self-evident way young people use digital technologies today, and the intensity of life they experience while using them make digital communication a powerful tool to reinvent the universal language of theatre and to find the right forms to portray age-specific content.

MyStory, Budapest As we are halfway through our cooperation project, it is time for us to give an account of what discoveries we have made in the digital world, and to share with each other our stories and experiences. These shared stories will give us a new impetus to go on with our joint work towards a successful completion.

I wish our partners good fortune in all their endeavors to accomplish the common goals of the PLATFORM shift+ collaboration.

With best regards, ☺

János Novák General Manager and Artistic Director of Kolibri Theatre for Children and Youth

13 | JÁNOS NOVÁK DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

A new phase in the process of continuous change and renewal has been opened up by the global move toward digitalization and the rapid expansion of social media. Completely transforming the way we organize our lives, digital communication has become an integral part of young people’s world – a world many of the older generation feel excluded from. For most of us, it is now evident that in order to create a common platform with young audiences we have to acknowledge and understand how the new world of digitalized communication and social networking operates.

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The challenge set for the first stage of the project was: the digital world as the direct starting point for the content or the form of theatre productions for young audiences.

INTRODUCTION

7TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER AND 2ND CREATIVE FORUM

The 7th Annual Encounter brings the PLATFORM - partners to Budapest. As the leading children's and youth theatre in Hungary, Kolibri Theatre has many years of experience in putting on festivals and international meetings. It is consequently the ideal host for the PLATFORM-Festival of National Productions.

The challenge set for the first stage of the project was: the digital world as the direct starting point for the content or the form of theatre productions for young audiences.

The presentation of the concepts at the 6th Annual Encounter in Portugal in June 2015 provided the opportunity for the theatres to exchange and develop ideas which then flowed on into the work on the National Productions in the 2015/16 season. Several productions grew out of the direct involvement of young people in the artistic process.

The focus on participation in the concept of PLATFORM shift is reflected in the opening of this year's Annual Encounters. Together with his European colleagues and young people from Budapest, Andrew Siddall from Emergency Exit Arts London will work on a digitally embossed open air Event My Story, which will mark the beginning of the Festival of National Productions. Following this, the young target audience and audiences from 9 European countries can view and discuss 8 complete shows and 3 staged presentations.

The last day of the meeting will be determined by experts from the digital world who will come to Budapest for the Creative Forum.

These experts will pass on their knowledge and experience to the participants in TED style speeches and workshops.

VAT Teater in Tallinn (Estonia) will play host for its European colleagues in the Creative Forum "crtl-Cultural Technology + Real Life." Shortly after this, the 7 international co-productions on which the partners are working on in the 2016/17 season, will be on show in the PLATFORM shift - festival in Dresden, Germany.

15 | 7TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER BUDAPEST

The Annual Encounters are the core of the PLATFORM - project work. Once a year, about 100 professionals from the 11 partner companies meet to reflect on the artistic work of the previous year and to receive new impulses for the next stage of the project in the Creative Forum.

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ANDREW SIDDALL

MY STORY: MY CLOUD In our modern world we spend a lot of our time hurling our images, texts, films and documents up into this illusive thing we call the Cloud - a swirling digital mass of data somewhere out there in the ether.

But what is it? How can we describe it, visualise it, imagine it?

During the course of the My Story Festival we will generate billions of bytes between us - we’ll film rehearsals, performances and interviews; photograph stages, actors, places and people; send countless texts and tweets, create memes and vines and gifs and snapchats -producing enough whirling digital data to fill our very own cloud - the My Story cloud.

My Story: My Cloud aims to capture this activity, harness its power and give it back to us as a live, evolving, physical entity floating above our heads right in the heart of the festival site. Bringing together meteorological balloons, helium gas, LED lighting, live data feed, high lumen projections and pixel mapping we will create a ten metre wide installation of our own digital existence.

Together with our young local and international My Cloud film-makers we will devise an opening and a closing moment to the festival, and we’ll be editing live every night in Jókai tér in the centre of Budapest.

ANDREW (SID) SIDDALL is an artist, designer, technician, teacher and project manager working internationally in theatre, education and community settings.

He combines visual arts, celebration and performance to enable participants and audiences to cross borders of race, culture, geography, language and ability. He has a particular interest in youth oriented, sitespecific, non-venue based events which involve space transformation, installation, exhibition and procession. Based in London, he is a founder member and associate artist of Phakama (UK & South Africa), project manager at Emergency Exit Arts (London), associate artist of Tallaght Community Arts (Dublin) and module tutor at London Metropolitan University. He was previously Visual Arts Coordinator for PLATFORM 11+ and is currently developing ideas for Youth Actions at the Annual Encounters throughout PLATFORM shift+.

17 | ANDREW SIDDALL MY STORY: MY CLOUD

In the week running up to the My Story festival, Andrew Siddall, associate artist at Emergency Exit Arts will be working with media and performance students from Norway and Hungary to create content for a multi-media son et lumiere event in celebration of the opening night.

The installation will then run live throughout the festival, evolving and shifting as new digital material is captured from both public and participants.

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PILOT THEATRE COMPANY (YORK, GREAT BRITAIN)

A world premier production of EM Forster’s classic short story The Machine Stops Adapted for the stage by Neil Duffield The production is based on EM Forster’s short story masterpiece published in 1909 and is astoundingly prophetic and poignant in 2016.

The play is set in a world where humans now live underground and can only connect via technology. Forster’s chilling prediction in 1909 leads to an exploration of our own increasingly complex relationship with technology today and calls into question our own attitudes towards human connection.

"You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that." In a dystopian world where humans have retreated far underground, Kuno alone questions their now total dependency on technology to live and communicate with each other, but in his struggle to break out can he reach the Earth’s surface before the Machine stops?

The show features a brand new soundtrack composed by John Foxx, pioneer of electronic music and founder of Ultravox, and analogue synth specialist, Benge.

19 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION PILOT THEATRE

THE MACHINE STOPS

20 In connection with this production we are currently working with three of York Theatre Royal’s 11-14 year old youth theatre groups to create a devised piece that encompasses physical movement, music and storytelling, inspired by The Machine Stops. Each group will focus on the themes of the play and will be empowered to explore a world where direct communication is prohibited and question what it means to be part of a controlled state.

“

We have tasked one young person from each of the sessions to document their experience and imagine that what they were capturing was going to be shared with other people worldwide. They will do this by building a montage of the world they are inhabiting and take one selfie, one picture from each practical session that sums up their experience entitled with a dynamic caption and one short video that is either a response to a practical exercise or a key message they want to share about being part of this experience.

I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that.

We will then compile all of this material, which will then be edited together into a digital format that encapsulates the many individual experiences of the process.

Director Juliet Forster Design Rhys Jarman Lighting Design Tom Smith Music John Foxx and Benge

21 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION PILOT THEATRE

Cast Karl Queensborough, Caroline Gruber, Gareth Aled, Maria Gray

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KOLIBRI THEATRE (BUDAPEST, HUNGARY)

DUPLICITY A14 and A15 get to know each other in the chat room of an online video-game. They are absolutely honest with each other about everything, except one thing – the most important. But can you achieve fulfillment without acknowledging our perceived weaknesses?

Misdirection and parallel paths eventually lead to understanding and mutual acceptance. One part of the audience accompanies the girl, while the other part makes the journey with the boy shifting away from one another – to each other.

23 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION KOLIBRI THEATRE

By Viktória Jeli & István Tasnádi

24 The two shows run parallel to each other and merge at the end. Some scenes are mirrored in the two locations, but played by different actors. The motifs of the music and visual design are very similar, and some actors perform in both shows, but in different roles.

Apart from the main characters (the girl, the boy and their avatars), in each show there are characters that are the personification of different digital applications: the Wifiman and the Hideman. Both of these – just like in a fairy tale – are companions to the heroes through their journey.

Director György Vidovszky Set Design Réka Pintér Costume Gergely Szabó Music András Monori Digital Design Tamás Zádor, Bence Samu Slideshow István Farkas, Péter Mikuska Sound Zoltán Csinos, Attila Temesvári Lighting Krisztián Homoki, István Kalóz, Erik Nagy Movement Eszter Gyevi-Bíró Cast Ágnes Bartos, Dániel Fehér, Szabolcs Ruszina, Rita Alexics, Császár Réka, Dániel Nizsai, Dávid Szanitter, Edit Nyakas, Gerg Bárdi, Melinda Megyes, Tamás Mészáros

25 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION KOLIBRI THEATRE

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SOUTH BOHEMIAN THEATRE (CESKÉ BUDEJOVICE | CZECH REPUBLIC)

We approached a group of high school students from Budweis (all participants in a school theatre class) and asked them if they were interested in working with our theatre on a production that will be part of the repertoire in our next season.

We gave them the assignment: “The content and the form of your production are exclusively up to you. We will put into effect whatever you come up with or dream of.

During the staging of the production our theatre will be in your hands.”

After a few sessions the team of young creators stabilized to a group of 6-7 students in the age range of 17-18 years old.

Though it was not intentional, it should be said that it was the older students from the original group who became members of the team.

Proposals for acting workshops or activities during which the students themselves would become actors weren’t popular. They saw themselves much rather in the position of authors/ dramaturges/philosophers.

From the beginning we had little success in breaking down personal boundaries and getting the students to open up and tell us something personal.

Therefore, we made the decision to give them the role of documentarians rather than objects of the documentary.

27 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION SOUTH BOHEMIAN THEATRE

HUMANS OF BUDEJOVICE

28 We found inspiration in the Facebook page for Humans of New York (humansofnewyork.com), which was established by a photographer who takes pictures of random people in his town. These pictures along with answers to some - often quite personal - questions become individual posts on the page.

Our students finally decided to set “the stories of common, randomly met people” as the theme of our project, and we started to work on how the concept of Humans of ... could be transformed into a theatrical form, and the plan became clearer. We would turn the town into a theatre.

Following the theatrical group Rimmini Protokoll, we decided to find a hundred inhabitants in our town and place them on a large stage in the park in the town centre.

Each of them would represent 1 per cent of the population of the town, and thus the one

hundred would create a sort of miniature Ceské Budejovice, through which we would be able to examine the town and to ask them anything. Each of the one hundred people on the podium would give answers by means of their movements along the stage. The centre of the podium would be equipped with a hanging camera recording the whole group of one hundred participants and broadcast them live on a screen behind them. Thanks to the live broadcast, we would see all the answers shaping a large human graph.

To fulfil the purpose of the project, we joined the largest student festival in Ceské Budejovice which will open the performance of Humans of Budejovice. The local sociological company Behavio Labs and the popular VEES band are also taking part in the project.

The aim is to turn the town into a theatre, exchange boring sociological data for concrete human faces and create, along with the students, an event at which the town can meet itself and talk to itself about what connects it and what divides it. To make the town become a large theatrical-sociological Hyde Park.

At the moment, the project is at the stage of advertising and recruiting those one hundred participants. Will the plan succeed? We will find out on 23rd and 24th May 2016.

29 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION SOUTH BOHEMIAN THEATRE

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EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS (LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN)

This summer EEA will be inviting members of the public to enter into an extraordinary experience where the digital world becomes the physical and the virtual becomes the real. Discovering how we can navigate our way together in a world that is constantly updating, YOU ARE HERE is an interactive, outdoor performance created for families and communities.

Marking the start of the show is a giant, inflatable, red map pin, which will be physically erected and animated in the public space by EEA’s street performers to denote that YOU ARE HERE.

Tracking an intrepid journey inspired by people’s voyages across borders, members of the public will invited to play a game with us and follow the giant blue dot, drop the big red pin and explore what it means to belong, to be lost and to be here.

Throughout the show, performers in role will encourage spontaneous moments of interaction and reflection from the audience.

The aesthetic of YOU ARE HERE honours and celebrates the technologically blended world that we live in and will encourage a playful space in which people of all ages can interact.

31 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS

YOU ARE HERE

32 This group interaction will provoke, encourage and celebrate transactions between performers, participants and audiences. The fusion of nostalgic early computing and gaming worlds will collide with the latest in post-web emoji typefaces and transcultural iconography to create an alternate vision of a world.

YOU ARE HERE has been created over a yearlong consultation with young people as part of our Street Arts Academy. This enrichment programme works with young people aged 12 – 16 who work with EEA on a weekly basis to create outdoor performances/happenings in public spaces.

Our previous cohort of young people played an integral role in helping us to explore the digital world and understand its cultural significance in relationship to their own identities and its connection to their world.

Running alongside the production, EEA is instigating an outreach programme with young people in Greenwich, including young refugees, to help generate stories and sound material for the production and also to use the opportunity to connect with new audiences and participants in two phases.

These contributions will be recorded by our Sound Artist and they will be embedded into the show and the devising process.

“

Phase 2 is taking place in two local secondary schools where young people (aged 12 – 15) will work with our Creative Practitioners to develop outdoor performances, “YOU ARE HERE Tour Guides”. This collective of young performers will roam the festival sites where YOU ARE HERE is programmed and give members of the public alternative tours of their local parks and streets.

This group interaction will provoke, encourage and celebrate transactions between performers, participants and audiences.

33 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS

Phase 1 will involve EEA connecting with young people to trial games and activities, which we intend to use in the production and to also generate ideas and material linked to journeys people have taken.

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The course of human history had a real turning point with the invention of... the SmartStone, popular cave-age device of incredible possibilities.

ELSINOR CENTRO (MILAN, FORLÌ, FLORENCE, ITALY)

SMARTSTONE A troglodygital one-act play Directed by Michele Cremaschi Cast Michele Cremaschi, Giuditta Mingucci Multimedia programming by Michele Cremaschi Millions of years ago the Earth was populated by cave people and dinosaurs.

Human beings used to live adapting to what the land offered them, and sometimes their lives progressed thanks to the intuition of the most creative and their inventions.

The cavemen learn to use the club, the wheel, fire, and many other things that made their life easier. But the course of human history had a real turning point with the invention of... the SmartStone, popular cave-age device of incredible possibilities.

35 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION ELSINOR CENTRO DI PRODUZIONE TEATRALE

DI PRODUZIONE TEATRALE

36 It was a stone with functions that no one knew well defined, but people liked it a lot.

Even the dinosaurs developed a passion for the SmartStone, and abused it, they stopped feeding and reproducing - until they became extinct. From then on the milestones of human history were marked, for better or for worse, by the presence of that pervasive and valuable tool.

A show that tackles comically the influence that digital technologies have on people's daily lives, relationships and habits, through the use of physical theatre, live video projections generated by webcam on the stage, multimedia objects theatre and real-time graphic processing of image.

Opening May 5th, 2016, in the frame of the festival Segnali, in Milan

That first step that takes us on stage which brings us to share ourselves with others and to accept others - to accept ourselves. Using physical training, improvisation and exercises to sharpen the senses and attention, observation and collaboration, we explored the indefinable threshold between 'off-stage' and 'on-stage', in search of our 'stage presence', our way of being on stage. We observed how the expressive possibilities of the individual performer interact with those of the others, each carrying a little farther than where we would arrive alone. Discovering what is close to us in what is faraway and the unbridgeable distance with what is next to us.

Exploring for the first time, or indeed ongoing the act of making theatre with other people.

Gaining confidence, connections and new understandings. Facing the theme of “faraway, so close” from different points of view: physical, spatial, of time, existential. Trying to understand how digital technologies can create or cancel distances. And what that changes in our human relationships.

Starting from November 2015 to May 2016 different workshop were led in the theatres and in schools. Each workshop led to the creation of a show, site specific or on a traditional stage; the plays were devised by the participants.

37 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION ELSINOR CENTRO DI PRODUZIONE TEATRALE

Educational work A work in progress called “Faraway, so close”

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THEATRE MASSALIA (MARSEILLE, FRANCE)

Text by Karin Serres Last season, Karin Serres wrote a text inspired by the workshops she had conducted with a group of young people from 14 to 16 years old. The text introduces a mysterious girl, Gabrielle, who comes from a platform.

Actually, the girl is not present: she might be a fiction, a story told by teenagers to one another. At the end of the play, no one knows if Gabrielle is real or if she was created by the group.

The text was divided into several blocks of lines, which could be removed as much as the artistic director, Philippe Domengie and the Collectif Le nomade village would need to. The Collectif began its work on the play in September. We, Théâtre Massalia, had asked them to create a participative show including the young people who had taken part in Karin Serres’ workshops. They also decided to work with a class from the stage techniques school.

Six of them would take care of light, sound and video control and the others would be on stage dealing with lights and machinery...and acting.

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THE GIRL FROM THE PLATFORMS

40 The younger participants and the professional actor make 17 persons working on stage amongst 26 working in the production!

It turned to be a show about our responsibility for hosting the foreigner, the one who comes from elsewhere and needs help. It's also about the relationships between adults and young people. The show stages six teenagers being questioned and manipulated by a group of older ones and an adult. What for? Is it a game or is it real? Who is Gabrielle? At the end, you may not have all the answers...

Karin Serres: The world of the Platforms Parallel to the staging, Massalia offered me the opportunity to lead new research on artistic collaborative work with young people, using the opportunities found online. We’ve gathered a new group to collectively make my conceptualised world of platforms a virtual reality.

Aged from 13 to 24, these 20 young creators have got diverse backgrounds, lots of humour and a wild imagination. We’ve met regularly at Massalia, talking, arguing, drawing, thinking hard, sharing words, objects, sounds, images, pizzas and creating through the positive jigsaw method. I have been igniting the sparks, helping them develop their creativity, in any area they chose.

Text Karin Serres Direction | Video Philippe Domengie, Virginie Coudoulet-Girard Assistence Yoan Mourles Sounds | Music Sylvain Delbart Light | Sounds | Video 1st year students of Blaise Pascal High School (backstage techniques studies in performing arts) Cast Yoan Mourles, Claire Baulès, Zoé Brooner, Fabien Capelier, Alice Lefèvre, Zacharie Noell, Matthias Madé And technicians students: Felix Audinos, Augustin Bonnet, Mathias Bossan, Lisa Desutter, Sören Gsegner, Féline Juge, Océane Martel, Léa Thomas, Robin Belisson, Saba Cadagiani-Charlin, Sébastien Dorne, Niels Gabrielli, Alex Lepinay-Tharreau, Nadal Marchal, Baptiste Mouillas, Victor Pierre

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It’s been thrilling to watch them building our fictional world step by step, personally and together, enriched by their intuition and individual ideas. Within four months, our great team has built an amazing system of seven platforms and its story (including a shelter role for Massalia). Everyone has created his/her avatar living on them, deciding why they are there and what secrets they have. We’ve launched a Wikipedia page about the Platforms World, fed by all of us, and the Platforms Society on FB, where our avatars gather virtually, developing their “real” life on their own FB page. Echoing the performance to come, our Platforms World has come to virtual life. Since the Platforms Society has become public, a second part of this live experiment begins now. Where will it lead to? How long or wide will it develop? To be continued.

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TEATRO O BANDO (PALMELA, PORTUGAL)

From clash of generations and related experiences with the new technologies will be born Of The End (the finitude in every one of us), a show portraying a path, a pagan ritual of the technology apocalypse and the birth of a new era.

With this show we want to consider, taking support on the perceptions of the ones involved, the influence, in the most diversified scopes and degrees, that systems, online platforms and communicational gadgets, have on our current daily lives and on society.

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OF THE END

44 To do so, we decided to join a group of young people from ages 12 to 18, from our training course CONFRARIA DO TEATRO; the senior Community Theater “As Avózinhas” (The Grammas); and Raul Atalaia, a professional actor from our team.

This project holds the objective of facing the new challenges on theatrical creation and production directed to young people in the digital era, doing so with the belief that the future of Theater will keep on being the live performance in the real world, but having also a creative partnership with the digital world. This show will be drawn and directed

by Miguel Jesus and João Neca.

Main Idea & Dramaturgy Miguel Jesus Director João Neca & Miguel Jesus Group Coordinator of Community Theatre “As Avozinhas” Dolores De Matos Support of Corporeality Juliana Pinho Scenography Miguel Jesus, João Neca, Fátima Santos and Rui Francisco.

Music Jorge Salgueiro Props and Costumes Clara Bento Video Design Guilherme Noronha Cast “As Avozinhas” Carmo Abranches, Diogo Cunha, Emília Veloso, Isabel Dos Santos, Joana Miranda, Madalena Costa, Maria Pereira, Matilde Dos Santos

Educational Work We support the idea that concrete sensations give power to the appearance of fiction. We will assume the many scenic spaces of the show Of The End as creative stimulus and enhancer means of the materialization of the dramaturgical concept of finitude, intending that the conclusion of the show happens close by the lake of our headquarters space, in a ritual of purification that makes the transition to the new era of a renewed identity.

In parallel, and consequently with the work developed with the teenagers of from our training course CONFRARIA DO TEATRO, we invited As Avozinhas’ Community Theater senior group of Palmela, with whom we did the previous projects OS HENRIQUES (2005) and COTOVIA (2007).

Our relationship with this group occurs within a non-charitable solidarity, with a reinforcement of self-esteem and respect for the artistic dimension of projects, as the senior projects, which increase social cohesion to the immaterial gain of affections that emerge through artistic appetencies.

We believe that, with these aspects, we promote an exercise of citizenship, diversify artistic sensibility, and contribute to delivering a better capacity for the audience to decode the most unexpected creations.

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Collective creation inspired by surrealist writer António Maria Lisboa

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tjg.THEATER JUNGE GENERATION A PROJECT ON THE BREAK UP IN THE DIGITAL AGE MAX: 05:00 YES!!! I DO!!! I’M BREAKING UP WITH YOU!!!!!!

LISA: 05:02 No, you don’t. We stay together and that’s it.

MAX: 05:03 ARE YOU KIDDING ME? LISA: 05:04 If you’re quitting, I’m gonna upload all pictures you send me to Facebook and Twitter. You know what I mean. I still hav’em on my phone.

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(DRESDEN, GERMANY)

48 Breaking up hurts. Both the one whose heart is broken as well as the one who asks to break up. But in the age of digital media and social networks breaking up has reached a new dimension: Until a few years ago the one who ended a relationship via SMS was seen as insensitive.

Today the German Knigge Society gives it a green light on social networks.

But even though they use the phrase "it's over" it is usually far from over. In school you can’t just get out of the way as you could on a social network. How fast can you change the relationship status without offending the expartner? Does "Let us be friends!" apply for Facebook and WhatsApp as well?

How do you get the ex-partner to clear the common couple photos from the timeline?

Director Susanne Zaun searches the web for tracks of ended relationships and connects her findings with building blocks from the international network Platform shift+.

Despite there being new ways to break up, the five classic phases of doing so still apply. These five phases have proven their timelessness and are going to appear as a basic and omnipresent element of the staging: Phase 1: premonition Phase 2: shock Phase 3: negotiation or activism Phase 4: admission or rage Phase 5: acceptance and new beginning

At the start of the project young people advised us on their professional expertise and experience about digital media and relationships: What relationships do exist on the web? How are they maintained and terminated? Together with the young people, texts were developed, researched and videos were collected. The results are incorporated into the development of the play " A project on the breakup in the digital age.�

Three school classes have become our partners for the research as well as students from the German Language Department at the University of Dresden. They have been exploring the way in which the language of breaking up and how people do it is reshaped by communicating via digital media. Together they are collecting material including clips, audios, gifs and stop motion animation which will be evaluated together with the staging team, in order to build an archive of analogue emoticons.

Text / Direction Susanne Zaun

Cast Marja Hofmann, Hanif Idris, Sara Klapp, Lukas Stรถger

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Stage / Costumes Ulrike Kunze

50

VAT TEATER (TALLINN, ESTONIA)

WEB DEMON A 14-year-old girl vanishes from in front of her computer. A web detective makes it his mission to find her. The detective himself is a serious and cynical old school man who despite all warnings wants to solve this mystery.

Unfortunately the web is not what it used to be back in the good old days – the world has become larger, shinier, and faster. The detective is not comfortable with all of that. In addition to the regular web another one has appeared – the Dark Web. All leads bring the detective towards that ominous world. In order to save the girl he must dive into the deepest layers of the Dark Web.

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A JOURNEY INTO THE HIDDEN WEB

52 To research this topic, the investigative team of VAT Theatre (Mari-Liis Velberg, Margo Teder and Mihkel Seeder) worked with the group that have the most interaction with the dark sides of the web – the youngsters.

The playwright Mihkel Seeder worked with the group for 6 weeks and together they developed the characters, gave them back-stories and edited the text. Following this process, the second draft was ready for the rehearsals.

From January to May 2015 VAT Theatre organised workshops in schools around Estonia, where various web phenomena (like chain mail, viral posts etc.) were played through and analyzed. VAT Theatre also initiated a competition among teenagers to collect stories about the myth of a web demon. More than 100 texts were sent to us, telling real and fictional stories about bizarre encounters in the digital world.

The result is a cryptic and at times confusing world, where the characters and the audience have to constantly ask: “Where have I ended up now and who are the people around me really?”

In the autumn of 2015 the first draft of the play was ready but then a new group was introduced to the process – the drama group of Tallinn’s 32nd High School started working as script advisers and developers.

The premier of the production was on the 27th of January 2016 and divided the audience quite quickly. As the teenagers felt home in this digital world, teachers and parents expressed confusion and distance towards this kind of reality. Even a young theatre critic ended her review of the production with the words: “I feel I’m too old to understand everything about this world.”

This sparks an old question: is the Internet dividing generations really so strongly?

Secondly it is important to examine the question - How well does the web-generation understand their “home environment”? To try and answer this VAT Theatre stays in close contact with the audience following the show, sending them after the show questionnaires and informational materials.

Author: Mihkel Seeder Director: Margo Teder Set/Costumes: Pille Kose Musical designer: Ago Soots

We also run a workshop “VATinarium”, that has the goal to discuss the topics of the production and develop interesting storylines and characters even further. This workshop was created specially for “WEB DEMON” but can be used for every production of VAT Theatre.

Light designer: Triin Hook

Cast: Elina Reinold, Liis Pokinen, Tanel Saar, Ago Soots

53 | NATIONAL PRODUCTION VAT TEATER

Video: Sander Põldsaar

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TEATRET VÅRT (MOLDE, ÅLESUND, NORWAY)

LABYRINTH – This is the story of the magic Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth, that has surfaced in different places at different times throughout the ages of human history. The Labyrinth hides dark secrets: over the years too many people have entered but never found their way out.

The very last time Professor Elizabeth Brix went into the Labyrinth, she never found her way out. Her disappearance is a mystery as she was very close to unravelling the Labyrinth’s secrets.

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A THEATRE EXPERIENCE YOU CAN GET LOST IN

56 Her latest invention - an apparatus that can see what the Labyrinth is trying to hide – has been left inside in different places. In order to try to find out what happened to the Professor, her assistants now send brave people into the Labyrinth - maybe they can accomplish what Elisabeth Brix could not?

Virtual Reality (VR) meets theatre in this project, which explores how new technology can be used in making theatre for a young audience. This is an artistic experiment by award winning director Hilde Brinchman and game designer Johan Prell from Vobling a leading company in Scandinavia for developing Virtual Reality. The result is an installation that uses elements from computer games.

The audience is let into the Labyrinth one by one, and on their journey to find the Professor, the virtual reality glasses uncover elements not usually visible to human eyes.

We also plan to collaborate with Ålesund videregående skole (College) on developing marketing strategies to reach our target group.

Cooperating on the types of messages that will reach the targeted audience (main target group between 13 to 16 years old). The plan includes

a framework of how to build content marketing and how to choose which channels to release the different material on. The work will be built from the content of the production of Labyrint, and the students will work with the material from the actual making of the production. We hope that this will give them a feeling of ownership with the Labyrint project. Because of this work, they are also part of the audience development strategy, although the primary reason to involve them is to get to know what works in communication with this particular age group.

Script / Set / Direction / Professor Brix Hilde Brinchmann Virtual Reality - Design / Composer Johann Prell Length approx 30 minutes

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Educational Work Within the production of Labyrint we will work with young people from the drama department of Fagerlia Collage. The students will be used as a reference group. Working with new technology in an installation without actors, there are many things we need to try out during the rehearsal period: Does the audience understand the clues laid out for them in order to go through the labyrinth? How do they tackle going in one by one? Aside from working with us as a reference audience, they will also act as the professor’s assistants in the production. This means meeting the audience when they come in, and when they come out, and technically in the Labyrinth itself.

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UNIVERSITY OF AGDER (KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY)

The performance Hijack Protocol is about surveillance. In different genres and scenes we examine what is private and what is public. The performance illustrates involuntarily monitoring, and investigates how our careless and unawareness attitude towards signing different terms of conditions can cause hacking and unlimited access to your private life.

This is how the students described it in their Facebook-event: “IP Hijacking is an annexation of several IP addresses and an infection of the computers and other technological devices connected. A hijacked machine can be used to spread viruses or to steal private information from its own storage device.

It becomes increasingly difficult to detect if your device is hijacked. Do you know whether your web camera is actually turned off?”

The performance was devised and presented at Aladdin, the city's old cinema building that is now turned into a cultural center.

Professionals from film, theatre, music, literature, drawing and graphic design have offices and workshops in the center.

Supervisors in the devising process Marit Wergeland-Yates and Merete Elnan Composer/Sound Designer Silje Hansen (MA student) Technical Assistance Øystein Flemmen (MA student) Student-actors Jenny Drevland, Mary Ann Skretteberg Andersen, Kine Minge Holt, Julie Roterud Amundsen, Mathias Olsen

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HIJACK PROTOCOL

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“

After two days of intense discussions rough concepts for the co-productions were presented. It was very surprising, how different these approaches have been and how various the first ideas look.

In order to develop our young audiences we must produce work for them. The creation of new artistic products is at the heart of the artistic vision of PLATFORM shift+. We believe in the unique nature of theatre as a live medium and do not intend to replace “real theatre” by theatre on the Internet, but as a means for us to discover new ways to portray young people’s reality live on stage.

With the Festival MyStory the first phase of our PLATFORM shift project is finished.

11 national prodcutions were staged and are presented to an regional and international audience.

Already the eleven working processes were influenced and inspired by ideas, which the artists got during the project-meetings with the colleagues from the other countries and during the 1st Creative Forum.

So it is only naturally that the 2nd phase of the project is dedicated to coproductions. They will be developed in bi – and multi-national teams and with the participation of artists from different countries. A week of common rehearsal starts the process, which unites very different methodical approaches, artistic signatures and initial conceptual starting points from all European directions. The coproductions will continue as part of the normal programme/repertoire of the theatres and will include new technology to attract ”hard to reach” audience.

Im March 2016 representatives of the companies met in Forli, Italy, to discuss the approach to the 2nd project-phase. Host was Teatro Elsinor, which managed to create a relaxed and inspiring atmosphere for the first steps into an unusual working process.

After two days of intense discussions rough concepts were presented. It was very surprising, how different these approaches have been and how various the first ideas look.

Dance and new interactions with touchscreens will be used as a medium of communication for people, who cant talk to each other in the same language (tjg / EEA), Hologramms will be developed for the Italian – Estonian coproduction, the impact of Roma – people on their societies is the topic for the artists from Czechia and Hungary and the Portuguese – French coproduction under the working title “A pleasure to be angry“ will work on hot political issues.

But this is just the first approach. The processes will bring big discussions and changes of the current concepts for sure. They can only be successful if all participants are in the mood to forget their certainties and their proven experiences. But it will be for sure a pleasant challange to exchange with artists from different cultural backgrounds and with different artistic methods.

We are looking forward to see the results at the 8th Annual Encounter in Dresden, June 2017!

61 | OUTLOOK CO-PRODUCTIONS

LOOKING FORWARD: THE CO-PRODUCTIONS

62 MY DIGITAL ADDICTION Digital addiction? That sounds horrible. I can imagine people sitting at a meal together, not communicating with one another because they are staring at their mobile phones, children who don’t meet outof-doors after coming home from school but sit at their PCs contacting one another in online games, exchanging e-mails but not meeting each other...

Listen, have you done something about the wi-fi yet? Now that’s wonderful! And how do I access Facebook?

Denisa Posekaná (Actress, South Bohemian Theatre, Budweis, CZ)

My ultimate digital guilty pleasure would be Facebook.

On a daily basis, usually while I await the trains that take me to work across London, I log on into this virtual space and log out of the real world. Scrolling through a never ending newsfeed, my eyes and ears are slaves to photo and status updates but more importantly, I’ve instantly become aligned to what is happening in the world. News articles, petitions, topical buzz feeds, historic milestones and debates. Before I know it, I’m sucked in and I’ve become one of those vacant looking zombies who slowly stumble about the pavement, trying hard to walk in a straight line but being distracted by the newly refreshed Facebook feed on my phone. I’ve managed to cut down on caffeine, but I don’t think Facebook is an easy habit to kick.

Ross Bolwell-Williams (Youth Arts Producer, Emergency Exit Arts, London, UK)

I voluntarily pay a monthly fee for having an electronic body part. Its name is Samsung Galaxy S4, and it's located between my right thumb and index finger. Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook - repeat. My classmates from high school, my friend who moved across the globe, the woman I met once at a party, all placed between my thumb and index finger. It's detachable, and when it's not attached, I still hear it ring, I still feel it vibrate in my pocket. Phantom Pain. And a feeling of panic spreads through my brain, when my phone is not attached.

Mary Ann Skretteberg Andersen (Student, University of Agder, Kristiansand, NO) I am really into visuals that use digital tools in cool, surprising or glitchy ways - so I am kind of addicted to screenshots and GIFs of pixel art, procedurally generated environments, concept art and the like. My weak spot is sci-fi with a poetic edge and a rich color palette :) Examples are Hyper Light Drifter (www.heart-machine.com) and No Mans Sky (www.no-mans-sky.com) Johann Prell, Vobling (Composer / VR – Designer, Teatret Vårt, NO)

Instagram is my digital Achilles heel. With this app you can tell something about yourself through pictures and short descriptions. You can transform your pictures with filters and effects, you can tag your friends and comment. What I love most is hashtags. It’s a kind of connection with the whole world and it’s so easy. I think they are very useful in the arts field, because it’s a way to spread your new ideas and projects and receive some feedback too. I often try to create new hashtags with my friends: we do love rhymes and puns, so we always have lots of fun. I think Instagram can be a very interesting and a different way to learn something about the people around us and also about their creativity. For me it’s like a digital album in which you can collect all your memories. I definitely love it! #mydigitaladdiction #instamoments #platformshift+ #wemaketheatrehappen Claudia Luca (Marketing, Teatro Elsinor, Forlì, IT)

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MY DIGITAL ADDICTION

64

Marcus Romer, former Artistic Director of Pilot Theatre, at the 1st Creative Forum in Lisbon, Portugal, June 2015

In PLATFORM shift + educative opportunities concerning digital technology are delivered through annual Creative Forums, meetings with lectures and training opportunities. The idea behind these sharing and learning events is based on the Shift Happens Conference model that lead partner, Pilot Theatre, has run since 2008.

The Creative Forums will be attended by PLATFORM shift+ delegates and are also open to a local/regional public audience. Global audiences will be connected through digital channels.

In the first 3 seasons the Creative Forum takes place at a single theatre partner location: 2015: Lisbon (Portugal), 2016 Budapest (Hungary), 2017 Tallinn (Estonia).

In order to involve young people as audiences/participants in the 3rd season an International Youth Encounter will take place alongside the Creative Forum.

In the final season (2017/18) each theatre creates its own Creative Forum at its home location in 10 European cities. Young people will participate fully as performers, co-creators and audience.

Each Creative Forum focuses on a different aspect of the theatre/technology partnership linked into specific phases of PLATFORM shift+: In Season 2 the subject is “The future of storytelling” , which is related to the preparation of the co-production-processes, with their special focus on accessing new “hard to reach” audiences by the use of digital technology.

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CREATIVE FORUMS

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Experience and research have given us hints already about how to use emergency solutions and values, till the more elaborate actions will be provided:

TED SPEAKER

EVA GYARMATHY HUNGARY INSTITUTE OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH CENTER FOR NATURAL SCIENCES OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY Abandoned generations with limitless opportunities The immense changes in the levels of infocommunicational technology has brought significant changes to the development of the generations born in the digital era. The main challenges, which also present developmental opportunities, are found in the wide-opening info-communication spaces and the diversity caused by the stimuli-enriched environment.

The new generations are born into an environment with limitless opportunities, but they’ve got no usable instructions to the usage of the power they’ve got in their hands.

Parents, educators, media and all the sources send rather contradictory messages starting

from calling the young people de-generations, to calling them the genius generations. It is high time to confess that we have no idea what is happening, and start to think in a totally different way about child rearing and education, development and learning, entertainment and professions. In general we have to rethink all the values that we have thought to be universal.

I suggest moving in two directions to revalue our world: we have to identify our universal values and through these values find the values of the infocommunicational era.

•

Enhanced importance of the arts and strategic thinking

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Enhanced importance of the personal and interpersonal skills

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Learning and thinking in networks

•

Recognition of the value of diversity

Eva Gyarmathy is a clinical and educational psychologist. She is senior researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology of the Research Center for Natural Sciences of the Hungarian Academy. Her research interests focus on multiple exceptional gifted individuals, such as talent associated with specific learning difficulties, ADHD, autism and/or social, cultural differences. She is also a university lecturer at other universities and is consultant to private schools that serve children and adolescents who cannot be integrated in mainstream schools.

TED SPEAKER

KARINA FRICK SWITZERLAND Emojis and Language The use of emojis is very popular in everyday written communication such as WhatsApp, Twitter or Facebook. We encounter the little yellow icons almost every-where; they have become an important part of the written language.

In this regard, pessimistic voices utter the fear that emojis may threaten the written language (and, as a consequence thereof, our culture).

There is talk of the decay of language and the question is brought up, if emojis are a new universal language, how realistic are those fears from a linguistic point of view?

In my talk I try to answer this question by looking at the relation between icons and characters as well as the communicative function of emojis in everyday written com-munication.

In a second step, the manner of use will be addressed: Which icons are most commonly used? Are there cultural differences concerning the interpretation of the icons? Is there a correlation between the use of emojis and language’s external factors such as age or gender?

Karina Frick studied German Linguistics and General History from 2006 until 2011.

Afterwards she wrote her PhD thesis, which she successfully completed in autumn 2015.

In her dissertation she inves-tigated ellipsis in Swiss German text messages. She is currently working as a lecturer at the Zurich University of Teacher Education. Furthermore, she is scientific coordinator of a citizen linguistics project, which is concerned with the perception of Swiss German dialects.

67 | TED SPEAKERS

ZURICH UNIVERSITY OF TEACHER EDUCATION

68 TED SPEAKER

FLORIAN MÜLLER GERMANY Virtual reality or virtual insanity?

New forms of storytelling in journalism Truth No.1: Journalism is in a deep crisis.

Truth No. 2: There is also a gold rush.

In his talk, Florian Müller explores and illuminates issues and ways out of the journalistic identity and narrative crisis. He shows how pioneers create new forms of journalism and redefine journalistic approaches. If the user, for example equipped with virtual reality devices, is moving increasingly autonomously and independently in our stories, what tasks do the journalists, who create and curate these worlds, need to accomplish? Which control models do they have, are they still gatekeepers? Is too much closeness dangerous?

Florian Müller (*1979) is co-founder of the innovation and transmedia lab “DIE BOX” (ndr.de/diebox ) of NDR television (GER). In this unit, new forms of production and storytelling for TV and online are developed and implemented. During his research grant project florytelling (2015), he spent two months in New York to report on new forms of storytelling.

Prior to working in the department "Documentary and Reports" he spent five years as an editor for the cultural programs of NDR where he portrayed various artists and social debates (f.e. he was one of the first journalists to interview Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London).

Twitter: @florytelling www.tagesschau.de/kultur/florytelling-101.html www.florytelling.com

TED SPEAKER

FRANK REICHERT NORWAY The future is here to stay Gizmos, Gizmos, Gizmos ... and they are all intelligent, modular, flexible, connected, and .... need nearly no batteries. When you walk in the streets today the sun casts a long shadow behind you. When you walk in the streets tomorrow you'll cast an electronic trace in an interactive environment that is trying to interact with you. Your interactive sunglasses will not only protect you from the sun but from the information storm thrown at you in the hope to grab your attention.

In an artistic experience the audience are no longer anonymous watchers. They will express feelings through their new-found cyber capabilities to be a part of the performance.

An artist may experience a nearly telepathic relationship with the audience. Our eyes and ears are the entry portals to new senses and signals.

The technology behind all these miracles can only be seen in its infant stages today. We don't have the communication networks yet that can handle the wireless capacity needs and real-time challenges. Artificial intelligence that is personal and always available requires computational power and connectivity that we still have to wait for. But it will be coming.

Prof. Frank Reichert, rector of the University of Agder (NO), has been working on technology and strategies for fixed and wireless communication systems for nearly 30 years.

From 1995 he was with Ericsson Sweden, guiding investigations on, e.g., Future Service Layer Architectures, Wireless Internet technologies, and 3G applications and terminals. Assignments included creating and managing European Research projects (e.g.

EUREKA Subproject PRO-COM, ACTS OnTheMove). Frank established Ericsson Cyberlab Singapore in 1999, focusing on user centric, ethnographic application and terminal design, as well as rapid prototyping of new HW/SW products exhibited at fairs likeĂĽ.

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UNIVERSITY OF AGDER

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that surrounds us, to be auditioned and tested for the acoustic impact such developments will have on our day-to-day lives.

creativity in the context of music production, mixed media artwork and interactive performance.

TED SPEAKER

Research in the Department of Electronics Audio Lab at the University of York, UK, is investigating new methods to improve how auralisation is both implemented and delivered. One key application area is in the development of novel creative content for the new generation of virtual reality headsets now becoming more widely available – in addition to the visual content, high quality auralisation, and accurate spatial audio, are key to the creation of believable, immersive, and engaging virtual reality experiences. As well as the more established area of digital gaming, there are also exciting opportunities as to where this technology might be applied to deliver new creative, interactive artistic experiences for both practitioners and audience members alike.

Dr Damian Murphy is Reader in Audio and Music Technology, Department of Electronics, University of York and the University Research Champion for Creativity. His research focuses on virtual acoustics, spatial audio, physical modelling, and audio signal processing. He has been principal investigator on a number of funded projects relating to room acoustics simulation and auralisation, and published over 100 journal articles, conference papers and books. He has also held visiting researcher status at a number of universities internationally. Dr Murphy is an active sound artist. His work has been presented nationally and internationally and included varied collaborations with writers, photographers, interactive digital artists. He is a founding member of Geodesic Arts through which most of his more recent work has been produced.

DAMIAN MURPHY UK UNIVERSITY OF YORK Sound Design for our Sound Environment: Virtual Reality and Audio Creativity The soundscape of our environment helps us to better understand the world we live in and is fundamental to both our place within, and interaction with, our surroundings. Auralisation - the audio equivalent of visualization enables us to listen to the soundscape of virtual acoustic environments that have existed in the past, that are about to be built, or that are purely fictional, and is a key part of the modern architectural and environmental engineering design process. The techniques used enable proposed buildings and spaces, from concert halls and classrooms, to major interventions in the landscape and countryside

In this presentation we will consider how to effectively capture and reproduce our sound environment, and the use of auralisation, virtual reality and the application of audio

TED SPEECH VIA SKYPE

Igniting Children’s Creativity as Active Co-creators Capital E in Wellington, New Zealand is a unique creative organisation specifically for children and young people. Capital E comprises a National Theatre for Children, the biennial National Arts Festival, a public events programme, an OnTV Studio and MediaLab. MediaLab offers engaging, computer-based sessions in a state-of-the-art digital studio, from App Design and 3D Movie Making, to Music Making, 2D Animation, Game Design and more. The brand new professional and purpose-built OnTV studios offer hands-on television production experience. Students work together in our unique tailor-made studio to create their very own television broadcast.

The close connection between theatre for young audience and new digital media offers many opportunities to inspire, exemplify and to unlock doors for children and young people.

Capital E engage with them as creative producers in encounters that ignite and fuel their creativity – equipping them to contribute as confident, capable, creative citizens in a world of possibilities.

Stuart Grant, Artistic Director of the company, will present this exceptional way of working for young people in a TED like speech via Skype.

Stuart Grant trained in Computer Engineering at the Central Institute of Technology in the early 1980’s before going on to complete a B Ed. and BA (Hons) at Waikato University, focusing on children and media. He taught in Christchurch, then in bilingual classrooms in both Geneva and in Tokoroa before taking up a position as head of arts & technology at a Hamilton school. He joined the Capital E team in 1999 in the OnTV Studio then as creative technology manager before being appointed director in 2002.

Stuart has overseen the curation of Capital E’s biennial National Arts Festival since its inception in 2003. He has consulted on creative youth projects in Australia and Singapore and is passionate about creativity as a life skill enabling young people to shape their future.

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STUART GRANT NEW ZEALAND

72 WORKSHOP

BENCE SAMU BINAURA HUNGARY Visual music In new media there has been research going on since the 60s, where artists and engineers were trying to find connections between sound and image. I have made various attempts which were based on the physical similarity of colour wavelengths and the frequencies of sounds. Others were trying a more intuitive, artistic approach to making this connection. We are creating interactive systems, where user interaction is a key element. The bodies of our instruments are the interface. We are using metaphors as a key to understanding the underlying system.

Physics simulation is usually involved as a common platform for all human beings, like gravity, strings, membranes, etc. One can interact with these virtual elements through touch interfaces or with simple body gestures.

On the workshop we will give a presentation of our creative process, which leads us to creating systems where glitch, errors and probability are unavoidable elements. This can remind us of creative writing where sudden events can shape the result, thus a real conversation is induced between the work and the people who are creating it.

We will introduce some of our research projects, the audience will try out various interaction methods as well as different type of interfaces. We will share some great open source tools for beginners to start with, as well as projects that inspire us.

Binaura is a team of creative technologists, makers, and artists. We do not create generic products or software, we make solutions for problems using the latest technologies. We design visuals for theatres and events. We communicate and educate visitors with our installations for museums. We develop unique applications.

73 | WORKSHOPS

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TABEA HÖRNLEIN GERMANY tjg.THEATER JUNGE GENERATION Digital feedback Look at yourself. What is in your hand while you are watching TV? Mostly it is your smartphone. In front of the big screen you have your small second screen close to you.

It’s a common behaviour. It also became common to talk online about what you see on TV through this second screen. It’s a kind of live review and a possibility to ask for background information or to just chat with others about the program like you’re sitting on the same sofa.

But can you imagine this in a theatre while watching a play?

The workshop offers the possibility to explore what the so-called second screen could be in theatre. What does it mean to watch a performance and give feedback or answer questions in nearly the same moment?

Does it change your perception? Do opinions and observations of the spectators influence your thoughts? And if so, how? And what is about the actors? How does it feel to have an audience with such a shared attention?

A smartphone and Whats App are needed.

Her last production in Dresden was first contact, which researched the possibilities of digital media in theatre and ended with the solution of handing out smartphones to all spectators and opening a closed Whats-App Chat to give feedback on the show while watching it. She recently changed her role at the tjg and is now literary adviser for digital media.

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Tabea HÜrnlein studied Cultural Studies at the University of Hildesheim. Before she became the artistic director of the Theatre academy of the tjg. theater junge generation Dresden in 2011, she was the artistic director of TheaterFABRIK Gera for three years. She realised many productions with young people on stage, in which they either pointed out their views on classic theatre texts like Cechov’s Three Sisters, the plays of G. Hauptmann, or showed and talked about relevant biographical stations in their life like drug addictions or puberty.

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MIKELE CREMASCHI ITALY Augmented Stage A short speech about an innovative system for the stage that allows the creation of virtual sets, able to be moved and modified by an actor’s movement. It also allows for the possibility to replicate the actors themselves on the stage. Joining holographic technique with modern motion-tracking systems, we'll show how it is possible to fill an empty stage with objects projected without the need of a projection surface. We'll investigate also how actor's body can be detected and the relationship between holograms and movement.

We’ll start with a presentation of an older predigital technical system: pepper ghost. This was a reflection setup that enabled ‘ghosts’ to be presented on stage and used at the end of the 19th century. We’ll test a real pepper ghost setup and enjoy how it can be still an astonishing way to entertain and add a bit of magic to a show. We’ll go on upgrading the setup thanks to more modern techniques such as video projection that allows us to not only visualise objects, but also show recordings and visuals. We will also show what it looks like to record the actor on the stage and project them back onto the stage in that moment,

creating the opportunity to “perform with yourself”. Video-looping software also allows live recording and filming; so why not go one step further and give our avatar the possibility to be realtime sampled?

Furthermore, modern motion tracking techniques can tell the computer our body position; this can be used to create realtime props based on our body position. Why, e.g., don’t we try to set your hand on fire?… but don’t call fire department, it will be a safe workshop!

In the end, we’ll really experiment with the setup, trying live the possibilities this setup allows; whilst always keeping in mind that we’re not fighting against 20th Century Fox to get the most astonishing special effect, but just to collect new ways to tell stories and entertain in a theatrical way, keeping in mind that we’re creating art and not blockbuster movies. So, we’ll always ask ourselves how and for what can all this can be used? What are good artistic ideas that fit into this setup?

What are the right stories to tell?

We’ll investigate under which circumstances the realtime interactivity that this system allows really does captivate our audiences.

We’ll then list the practical needs to recreate the setup: which materials are required, which software works best. A final open discussion slot will allow everyone to ask for further details.

E-Mix Quality Label – visual theatre festival network prize in 2011.

Author of paper “Towards Augmented Coreography” selected for ArtsIt 2011 – International Conference on Art and Technology, since 2014 he teaches “Multimedia Dramaturgy” at LABA – Fine Arts Academy in Brescia (IT). In 2015 he ideated and directed the “Augmented Stage” project, founded by UnionCamere – Camere di Commercio della Lombardia, Regione Lombardia, Fondazione Cariplo focused on promotion of new technologies for the stage.

http://michelecremaschi.it michele.cremaschi@gmail.com +39 320 2992681 skype: michelecremaschi

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Michele Cremaschi, *1973, graduated in Information Technology in 1997, actor, director, digital artist. With his shows he takes part at festivals in Europe, Russia, Africa, Asia, being awarded of several prizes; among them

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CLAUDIA MAYER GERMANY Caching Budapest – Creating treasure hunts with your mobile devise There are more then 2 million geocachers in the world, you have probably met some already. You have been a muggle and you didn't know. You missed treasures and extraordinary places and this should stop now!

We will enter the exciting world of geocaching expeditions.

Geocaching is a great opportunity to explore your surrounding with a mobile devise. The community of Geocaching developed many different ways of caching, exploring difficulties and platforms.

You will get to know the complex potential of the Geocaching world: the difference between a Cache, a Multi-Cache and Travel-Bugs.

To create a cache that works sounds easy, but there are many things you have to be aware of so you won't fail.

We will create our own digital GPStreasure hunt through Budapest with our smartphone.

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Claudia Mayer (1979) is working as Culture Educator and Project Manager of Rückenwind für Familien (an association for underprivileged children and young people), freelance theatre and media educator, and media artist. She is teaching art and media in the University of Weingarten and the Institute for Social Profession in Ravensburg. In the project 'Kultur macht stark' she worked with underprivileged children in Trier, Flensburg and Munich and developed ways how the kids could explore their urban surrounding with the help of digital devices, including geocaching. Claudia worked in the General Secretariats of ASSITEJ (GER, SWE, AUT) and the ASSITEJ International General Secretariat, for International Children's Theatre Festivals (Small Size - Big Festival, ASSITEJ World Congresses & Performing Arts Festival for Young Audiences in Adelaide and Malmoe/Copenhagen, Augenblick Mal Berlin, STELLA Graz, the Austrian Festival and Award of Theatre for young Audiences. She was the Artistic Director of the German-Danish Children's Theatre Festival 2013. Claudia was artistic adviser and assistant of the Artistic Director of the application of Sønderborg (DNK) to become the European Capital of Culture 2017.

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PHILIPPE DOMENGIE FRANCE COLLECTIF LE NOMADE VILLAGE Syphon Technology A licence free protocol to share video streams between apps, computers, smartphones and different locations.

Participants will experiment by directing live video feeds using the storyline of a detective seeking the truth.

Syphon for OS X (called Sprout on Windows), is a protocol to send (as a server) and receive (as a client) video frames from video, 3D software or camera input devices. It is completely free and works well if you adhere to the technical requirements. We will see how to use an iPhone as an HD wireless camera and how to receive and share the video content with a computer and a beamer.

As a participant, you will either be a cameraman or a suspect, and you will have to come with your smartphone or your laptop fully charged.

Philippe Domengie (42) left his maths and physics studies in Lyon for a Jazz School.

He then played guitar in many bands before he arrived in Grenoble, where he found himself at the controls of a recording studio and crossed paths with Sinsemillia, Gnawa Diffusion and Barbarins Fourchus. Then, in love, he discovered Street Art in Annonay. Living above a printing house, photography and video became part of his daily life. Depressed by the weather, he settled in caravans near Aix en Provence to join a contemporary circus. He produced the first album of the singer Anais, which became a platinum selling album.

www.lenomadevillage.com www.facebook.com/lenomadevillage contact@lenomadevillage.com

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Then, in love again, he moved to Marseille and collaborated with many artists as musicians, actors, directors, and dancers. He founded the collective Le Nomade Village, whose mission is to collect all these universes. Since then, he has become a dad, a director and a producer. He works on various projects including the companies L’Entreprise (François Cervantes), Dynamo Theatre (Joelle Catino) Dehors / Dedans (Claire Lasne Darcueil). He was the artistic director of the first digital creation Overclock Festival edition (May 2015) and will realise a multimedia installation for the national museum Le MuCEM (Marseille) in 2016. Together with Virginie Coudoulet-Girard he directed the National Production of Theatre Massalia, „The girl of he platforms“.

82 MY DIGITAL ADDICTION My digital addiction has much to do with my job. It’s QLab - a software that you probably know as it’s the standard for show control all over the world. I discovered it as the perfect solution the first time I had to deal with video playback in a show. One option was to hire a second technician, the other one was to use a software allowing me to programme each single event - the same way a light designer programmes a light board, but involving videos and sounds too. QLab was the solution. Since then, I began exploring all the possibilities that this digital shift in show control brought me. From synchronizing a bunch of other devices - actually I’m working on connecting an old slide projector inside the whole setup - to interactivity - letting an actor’s movement trigger show multimedia to live-cinema setup, thanks to the possibilities of writing custom plugins to extend the programme default features.

A technical solution becomes a new way of thinking about a show, opening possibilities I wouldn’t have thought possible. QLab enabled me to hit the crosspoint between the technical side and artistic side.

Michele Cremaschi (Associated Artist, Teatro Elsinor, IT)

I am a Facebook addict for more than a year, thanks to PLATFORM shift. Before, as a playwright, I used the Internet looking for information or posting news about my work on my blog. As I HAD to create my FB profile I looked for a pseudonym, trying any hero crossing my mind, suddenly FB agreed with Diego de la Vega, then said that there was more than 6500 people going by this name: welcome to FB’s nonsense. As Diego de la Vega, I spent my first sleepless nights, likes-sick, mesmerized by the FB’s infinite layers.

When I got my sleep back I begun to play with FB, posting short fictional texts echoing pictures taken the very day. Exploring FB as a fierce rider, a horse called Horse became my first virtual companion (Tornado died long time ago). Going once to the seashore, I posted a picture of Nina, a seagull: first attempt of humour on FB (failed). Then we met a Blue Dog…etc. This has become my first severe FB addiction: nowadays, I post as often as possible pictures from my real life to develop Diego’s fictitious story which has become a double life of mine I love.

This season, thanks to Theatre Massalia, my FB addiction worsened.

Leading a research with young people, we chose to explore the FB’s creative opportunities by making my alleged ocean platforms world

(from the play) a reality. And I became schizophrenic, as Karin Serres and Diego don’t know each other. I can’t use the same pictures on my blog as on Diego’s posts, although they are taken the same day…How more addicted to FB could I be? I don’t know what “real” means any more. Like my young partners in the Platforms World Creation Team, I’m dying to see what will happen to my avatar, to his fellow platformers and to their live story in real-time. I can’t help but to go again and again on the Society page to check the updates. We discovered two real Indian people misusing the same Platform, Ohio FB page to post their pictures from REAL oil platforms. And the new square in front of Massalia will be named by La Friche, nothing to do with us… the Platforms Square! My real life is vanishing in thin air, totally sucked up by my/Diego’s fictional one. Thanks to PLATFORM shift+ , I am now totally addicted to the creative opportunities of FB that we’re just scratching the surface of, and I love it.

Karin Serres, aka Diego de la Vega, aka Horse, Nina, Blue Dog… (Playwright, FR)

| Kolibri Theatre BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 8383| MY DIGITAL ADDICTION

MY DIGITAL ADDICTION

84 MY DIGITAL ADDICTION I can't live without listening to the radio and especially to World Music. When I was young I had to wait until Sunday night to hear my favourite programme on Portuguese Radio. Now, with my smartphone, I can hear this and other programmes by using the podcast app at the time I want and without losing any detail.

João Neca (Teatro O Bando, Palmela, PT)

My first digital addiction is my iPhone.

I take all kind of pictures with apps such as hipstamatic, more lomo or vintage camera. One can create so many visual effects with these apps, which make any ordinary picture special. I wish I was strong enough to change for a more ethical phone but I’m weak and addicted to Apple…

I'm a kind of Facebook addict as well, especially since I entered the world of platforms and created an avatar for the Platforms society, juggling my personal account, my professional account and my fictitious one as Nash Pulawski, diver/searcher and adventurer: totally schizophrenic!

Walking around on FB as an imaginary character widens the scope of possibilities, the only limit becomes the imagination. I post mostly music and videos on FB, it's also a great place to communicate with other people from the platforms all around the oceans!

Marion Héry (Digital Marketing, Théâtre Massalia, FR)

MY DIGITAL ADDICTION I have recently become obsessed with Colorfy. It is an app, which allows you to colour in pictures like a colouring book. I find it really relaxing to do on long journeys, particularly when there is no wifi and no other distractions. I love painting and used to spend time at the easel instead of my phone, but with a busy life that is not always possible. I know its cheating as you are colouring in instead of drawing original work, but any chance to flex my artistic skills is appealing. I do sometimes colour in famous pictures and send them to my Mum who thinks they are great but can’t work out why they look so familiar!

I’m a Facebook addict, but I use it more to get information than to share. I don’t have a big need for sharing on social media. YouTube is another great place to be.

I love to find hidden gems which are showing me inspiring, funny and talented people. My ultimate favorite must be Wikipedia, I use it for everything! Even as a competition between friends. My iPhone never leaves my side. My whole life is packed into this small computer, everything from getting in touch with friends to my banking. I actually just bought a car using only my iPhone.

Ole Thomas Grimsli (PR manager, University of Agder, Kristiansand, NO)

85 | MY DIGITAL ADDICTION

Katie Posner (Associate Director, Pilot Theatre, York, UK)

86 MY DIGITAL ADDICTION My digital addiction started sometime in the sixth class, when I exchanged some food as a kind of payment for half an hour playing The Prince of Persia on a friend’s old 386.

As time went by, my addiction got stronger, technologies developed faster, games were even nicer and, unfortunately, more boring. And for that reason, I took to music. I can never tire of music because I do it the way that I want to do it and the way that it pleases me. At present, thanks to my PC and music programmes, actually, also thanks to smartphones, I can experiment with sound, tone and image to an extent that I never used to be able to. It is wonderful that thanks to all kinds of controllers using samples I can record a whole orchestra (which I can’t really do, unfortunately, but it is possible through technology, and that’s all it’s about). At that moment I had the feeling that I had taken a proper portion at last!! What a ride!

Sometimes until the morning. There is still so much to discover that it would be a shame to take a kind of rehab, “switching off my notebook and going out-of-doors”.

Anyway, it’s sometimes a fine detoxication if you take your guitar, banjo, mandolin, and have a nice time playing at a pub, just so... But caution! Switch your PC into hibernation only! Don’t switch it off!

Ideas are flying around everywhere!

Petr Hubík (Actor, South Bohemian Theatre, Budweis, CZ)

87 | MY DIGITAL ADDICTION

De Grey Rooms by Paul Simpson

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PILOT THEATRE COMPANY

Pilot are based in York, England. They work across platforms to produce and distribute work digitally, run training conferences, livestream performances, conferences and events for multiple partners, and provide a wide range of online educational workshops and resources.

Pilot create pioneering contemporary work celebrating diversity in all its forms with particular relevance to young people and the issues they face in their lives. Through nurturing emergent talent and aspiring artists from all walks of life, Pilot provide an opportunity for them to share their voice and their art with the world.

Pilot are one of the UK’s few national touring mid-scale companies to be based outside London and are therefore able to offer unique training & work opportunities for artists and young people in mid-scale touring that they may be unable to get anywhere else in the region.

89 | PILOT THEATRE COMPANY YORK, GREAT BRITAIN

(YORK, GREAT BRITAIN) Pilot Theatre is one of the UK’s leading touring theatre companies, delivering work nationally and internationally. Their vision is to produce work that sparks passion and ignites debate across the globe through their performances and digital networks.

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Co-production of Pilot Theatre and Northern Stage

FROM THE NOVEL BY JONATHAN TULLOCH ADAPTED BY LEE MATTINSON

THE SEASON TICKET This updated adaptation of a novel tells the story through the eyes of two teenagers, best friends, Gerry and Sewell. Their one dream is to get season tickets to see their favourite football team Newcastle United play at St James Park Stadium. But in a world of payday loans and cash-on-credit, how easy is it for these two boys from Gateshead to make one thousand pounds?

Gerry and Sewell try every trick in the book but find that making money is much more complicated than avoiding school. Or home.

The Season Ticket is a play about love and friendship, hardship and the priceless currency of hope.

Director Katie Posner Designer Gene Chan Sound Design and Composer James Frewer Lighting Design Alexandra Stafford

91 | PILOT THEATRE COMPANY YORK, GREAT BRITAIN

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

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(BUDAPEST, HUNGARY) Founded in 1992 by János Novák, executive and artistic director, composer and theatre director, Kolibri Theatre for Children and Youth is the only professional children’s and youth theatre in Hungary which has its own company and performs for children from 0 up to 18 years of age.

Kolibri’s extensive and manifold repertory ranges from adaptations of classic, Hungarian and world literature, through contemporary Hungarian and international authors’ plays, to performances, puppet shows, fairy tale plays, operas and physical theatre for small children and adolescents.

Owing to János Novák’s innovative practice, Kolibri pioneered in establishing new genres in Hungarian children’s and youth theatre by introducing live music on stage, theatre for babies and toddlers, class room theatre, youth plays, opera, and new adaptations of novels for screenplay and stage.

Kolibri has also been a leading figure in Hungarian educational programs related to theatre and drama pedagogy.

Kolibri proudly announce that we continue our participation in both PLATFORM shift+ and Small Size – Performing Art for the Early Years –through Creative Europe, the new European Commission’s programme for supporting the culture and audiovisual sectors.

93 | KOLIBRI THEATRE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

KOLIBRI THEATRE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

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EMILIA AND THE ANGEL

BY ANGELA KOLOZSI

Emília is an average nine-year-old girl – with a very unusual guardian angel. However, the little girl and the angel – who finds herself quite out of place in angel society – have a lot in common: they are willing to break the rules in certain situations, both are looking for glory and recognition, and failure terribly upsets them. They are irritable, often selfish and petty, but at the right moment they are able to behave generously and make the right decision.

Cast József Tóth, Juli Erdei, Bea Tisza, Melinda Megyes, Gergő Bárdi, Szabolcs Ruszina, Dániel Fehér, Kriszta Rácz, Kármen Rácz, Zsófia Boróka Molnár, Dániel Nizsai, Károly Szívós, Ági Török, Rita Alexics, Mária Kőszegi, Edit Nyakas Musicians László Baranski, Szilveszter Bornai, Zsolt Derzsi, András Kaboldy, Gábor Kecskeméti, Tamás Tóth.

Scenery Réka Pintér Creative Technology Bence Samu Music János Novák Choreography János Lakatos Music lead by Szilveszter Bornai Musical Contributor Gábor Kecskeméti

Dramaturg Péter Horváth

Director János Novák

Costumes | Puppets Ágota Matyi

Suitable for audiences of 7 to 10.

95 | KOLIBRI THEATRE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

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SOUTH BOHEMIAN THEATRE/ SMALL THEATRE The Small Theatre is one of the ensembles of the South Bohemian ˇ ˇ Theatre in Ceské Budejovice.

It deals systematically with original productions for young audiences – both in terms of age and of spirit.

It is headed by Petr Hašek, the artistic director, and Janek Lesák, the in-house director.

The production covers age groups ranging from the youngest children aged four (Radovan’s Joys), followed by primary-school age (Etiquette for Rascals, How I was Cyrano, The Sinful Village of Dalskabáty, Charles – the Father of the Country), up to teenagers and students (Filmmakers, Frankenstein, George Kaplan).

The Small Theatre regularly provides open-air site-specific productions for the whole family (Quixote, Autobud’) and prepares performances every year for the unique space of the Open-Air Theatre with the Revolving Auditorium in the baroque gardens of the castle in Ceský Krumlov (Baron Munchhausen).

The typical feature is the authors’ playful approach to the production process. Every new project is tailored to the theme, space, site and situation of the piece as well as to the target spectator.

At the same time, however, it endeavours to enrich the dramatic art by means of the project Trojctení, in which it annually stimulates the translation into Czech of contemporary foreign dramatic texts aimed at young audiences, and presents them in cooperation with other Czech theatres in the form of scenic sketches.

97 | SOUTH BOHEMIAN THEATRE/SMALL THEATRE CZECH REPUBLIC

(CESKE BUDEJOVICE, CZECH REPUBLIC)

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FRANKENSTEIN The mute horror of the Small Theatre, Frankenstein, is staged for audiences aged 13+, and combines the approaches of all four ensembles, co-existing under the roof of the South Bohemian Theatre – drama, opera, ballet ensembles and puppet theatre.

The story of the insane scientist Victor Frankenstein is regarded to be the first work of science fiction, which was written almost 200 years ago. Developed by the director duo, the monster in the central role appears as a life-size puppet, which the stage designer Jan Brejcha spent over a year creating.

On stage, the monster is animated by a group of four actors, who underwent, before the rehearsals started, a two-week

AFTER MARY SHELLEY

workshop, in which they learned how to work with the puppet. Apart from the puppets, a female organist, a four-member opera choir, the young ballet dancer Katerina Varon, and Vjaceslav Zubkov as doctor Frankenstein, appear on stage.

Jan Ctvrník is in charge of the music.

The audience will hear the harmonium, a four-member opera choir, as well as an electronic adaptation of music by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Cast Budlana Baldanova, Dana Chroustová, Petr Hubík, Václav Marhold, Vjaceslav Zubkov, Katerina Varon, Marie Hulová, Petra Kubíková, Radek Martinec, František Talír, Karla Hesová, Jaroslava Plevková

Music Jan Ctvrník feat. J. S. Bach Set / Costumes / Construction of the puppet Jan Brejcha Dramaturgy Petr Hašek Director Janek Lesák and Tomsa Legierski

99 | SOUTH BOHEMIAN THEATRE/SMALL THEATRE CZECH REPUBLIC

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

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EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS Emergency Exit Arts (EEA) makes dynamic, surprising and ambitious work in the public realm by using a multi-disciplinary approach that responds to people, places and current agendas.

EEA believes in providing access to high quality, inclusive opportunities for children and young people, helping them create and express their responses to local and global concerns.

EEA helps develop the skills and talents of creative practitioners giving them further opportunities to work in the arts. The company has a national and international reputation for excellent site specific and touring work using visual performance, processions, puppetry, music and pyrotechnics.

EEA’s Youth Arts programme encourages young people to become creative activists. Our projects are designed to empower young people to express their ideas, animate public spaces, and take a role in becoming a catalyst for change. Positive transformation is at the centre of work, allowing young people to make change happen through the engagement of performative and artistic experiences. These programmes take place in primary and secondary schools, colleges and community settings.

EEA has been based in Greenwich since 1980.

The company has recently been awarded a small capital grant from Arts Council England to create the Greenwich Making Space, a 21st century art making and training centre for creative practitioners to explore and develop new skills, including digital arts, and involve our local community and young people in creative activities.

101 | EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN

(LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN)

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THE BROKEN PLATE: DRAWING ON THE PAST, LOOKING TO THE FUTURE As part of our research we have developed a relationship with the University of Greenwich, Department of Creative Professions and Digital Arts. Our artists have been able to work with academics, students and technicians to create our reference production, The Broken Plate: Drawing on the Past, Looking to the Future, which is supported by Arts Council England. This artistic collaboration traces the stories of the people and the built environment connected to the site of the University’s architecturally significant building.

Three deep water wells were excavated during the construction of the building and numerous artefacts were uncovered, including a broken plate depicting redundant grave diggers sitting idle while a mechanical digger does the work. This scene resonates with the new building, a beacon of technological advance, and signifies the passage of time and the passing into memory of former industries and practices.

EEA associate artists Alex Evans, Lisa Hayes, Zhan Wang, Anna Bruder, Arjunan Manuelpillai and Nick Cattermole have

created a site specific promenade performance with interactive experiences and digital installations, inside and outside the building, which will attract new audiences to the space. The artists have also involve local residents and school children in the creation of animated drawings, sound installation and projected graphic designs that draw on the history of the site and imagine the future of the city.

103 | EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

Sala Testori, ForlĂŹ

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(MILAN, FORLÌ, FLORENCE, ITALY) Elsinor’s driven commitment is focused on the exploration of contemporary theatrical prose, and the exchange and synergies inspired by traditional and new approaches.

What we do: •

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Create performances Since the turn of the new millennium, Elsinor has created over 130 new shows, plays and children’s theatre, for theatres or site-specific locations (in schools, along harbour canals, in squares and streets, on the roof of cathedrals...)

Tour Elsinor has performed all around Italy and in over 20 different countries on 4 continents.

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Our theatres Elsinor is represented by Teatro Sala Fontana in Milan, Teatro Cantiere Florida in Florence, and Teatro Giovanni Testori in Forlì, therefore it is permanently present in three regions which are considered highly influential for Italian theatre: Lombardy, Tuscany, and Emilia Romagna.

Theatrical seasons Elsinor organises theatrical seasons: shows for schools, for families and adults' theatrical season. Beside the shows, Elsinor offers the audience presentation meetings, special events and post-show discussions.

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Festivals Elsinor organises theatre festivals, this includes the collaboration with Teatro del Buratto, “Segnali”, one of the most important children’s theatre festival in Italy, and the festival of youth theatre “Platform Milano”, created and hosted in Teatro Sala Fontana since 2011.

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Encourage Participation: Besides shows, Elsinor offers lectures, workshops and seminars for students, amateurs and professional theatre makers.

105 | ELSINOR CENTRO DI PRODUZIONE TEATRALE MILAN, FORLÌ, FLORENCE, ITALY

ELSINOR CENTRO DI PRODUZIONE TEATRALE

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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE What happens when Shakespeare meets the under 30 generation? A very young director (but not a novice) and a cast of young actors and co-workers have decided to rewrite this Shakespearean work, focusing on all the aspects that we no longer question about the play.

In this way, the text is free from all the classical elements people usually associate with Shakespeare. The new text is centred on the cruel irony and the obscene deterioration, which were typical of the author, so it is very far away from the traditional seriousness and austere respect of the tragedy lovers. The result could be cheeky.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Finally, it is not a deferent work, it is not what audiences expect, it does not present a philological approach to the text. It is a rigorous experiment on language and on a new kind of show.

In this play, Venice represents the epicentre of a moral earthquake, which will able to question the human conceit about being infallible, the inevitable and subtle line between order and revenge.

Ethical, social and cultural confrontation, conflict between love and friendship, the power of money loyalty and fairness: these are the main themes that will make us think about our present, moving away from the temporal limits of the period in which Shakespeare wrote.

Translation and Direction by Filippo Renda Cast Sebastiano Bottari, Mauro Lamantia, Mattia Sartoni, Beppe Salmetti, Laura Serena, Irene Serini, Simone Tangolo Direction / Costumes Eleonora Rossi Light Designer Marco Giusti

107 | ELSINOR CENTRO DI PRODUZIONE TEATRALE MILAN, FORLĂŒ, FLORENCE, ITALY

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

108

THEATRE MASSALIA (MARSEILLE, FRANCE)

Massalia was created in 1987 and first programmed puppet theater. It is now dedicated to young audiences. The main activity consists in producing 20 to 25 shows per year from all performing arts: drama, puppets, dance, circus... In addition to the shows, the theater also delivers artistic activities in schools and the wider community.

This programme also supports our associated artists in their work each year. Massalia also often works with other theaters in the Marseille area and beyond.

It is considered a leading company in theater for young audiences, not only in Marseille but across France.

In 2016 and 2017, Massalia is sharing the PLATFORM shift + project with the Collectif Nomade Village.

Collectif Nomade Village We seek a new relationship with the public, between shows, exhibition and mediation, in innovative projects. The collective is a laboratory of artistic and technical research.

We handle contemporary dance, theater, visuals, music and programming, to weave writing in perpetual motion.

We use digital tools as a vector to connection.

Digital tools, integrated from creation to production, provide a connection with the audience during the performance, and provide another dimension to better serve the storyline. We try to channel all possible fields that enable digital tools. The Collective has chosen to explore the real, by the body, the flesh and the narrative. We invent stories, stage designs, imaginary constructions combining virtual spaces and real time, inside and outside the theatre.

109 | THEATRE MASSALIA MARSEILLE, FRANCE

The theatre is situated inside La Friche Belle de Mai, a former tobacco factory, transformed into a cultural hive. The office of Massalia is one of 70 different artistic organisations working at La Friche with whom Massalia share five performance spaces.

110

SUDDENLY THE NIGHT The premiere took place during the Festival d'Avignon in 2015, which was also one of the producers of the show, as well as the ThÊâtre Massalia. It has since been touring to theatres around France this season.

The play takes place in a big European international airport, in the observation room of the airport medical service. In the room time seems to have stopped and the people too, as they can't leave the room. They can hear planes taking off and landing in the day, and silence at night.

WRITTEN BY OLIVIER SACCOMONO DIRECTED BY NATHALIE GARRAUD

So they talk, dream and babble deliriously. They see ghosts. Among the travellers, a mysterious doctor seems to babble too and frightens them by making them have a clearer look at the world around them as the night goes on.

The play asks the audience questions about the identity of Europe today, relationships to foreigners - the others... But it is also an attempt to build a poetic and political way of living in today's society...

The teenagers, who saw the show at the La Friche, were very moved and impressed, by the actors and by the whole play. They had a lot of questions afterwards. They also felt that they had been considered as (almost) adults to be invited to attend such a show. And they liked it.

111 | THEATRE MASSALIA MARSEILLE, FRANCE

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

112

TEATRO O BANDO (PALMELA, PORTUGAL)

The basis of the work is street theatre, activities for children in schools and cultural associations, integrated into and working with communities. O Bando’s creations are defined by their staging dimension, marked mainly by the Scene Machines, polysemic objects that signify an idea of action.

The dramaturgic work is also very important: parting mainly from Portuguese authors, most of the times not dramatic work, which the theatrical form, in its multiple languages, provides a different communication.

Having created more than 100 performances, O Bando presented about 4500 shows to over 1.5 million spectators.

The company goes on seeking for the singularity of their creations, aiming to achieve more cutting edge and unexpected art works.

These are the result of a collective methodology where an expanded artistic direction facilitates difference, the interference, the collapse, and the collision of points of view. Rural or urban, adult or child, learned or popular, national or universal, dramatic, narrative or poetic.

These are the borders that Teatro O Bando transgresses.

Throughout their journey, the group have connected with multiple national and internatioal projects and the touring investment continues to present several shows throughout the country.

After several homes, O Bando is now settled in a Farm in Vale dos Barris, Palmela, where many potential stages can be found. It is there that O Bando is waiting for you, always with soup, bread and cheese, Muscatel, and a cosy chat next to the fireplace.

113 | TEATRO O BANDO PALMELA, PORTUGAL

Teatro O Bando is a major Portuguese professional traveling theatre company that have been active since 1974. They are a collective, that elects transfiguration as an aesthetic mode of civic participation and community engagement. It's a Portuguese National Entity of Public Utility and a Certified Actor's Training establishment.

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Dramaturgy, Scenography and Direction João Brites

Light Design Guilherme Noronha and Rita Louzeiro Music Jorge Salgueiro

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

Support to the Scenography Rui Francisco and Fátima Santos

ABSTENTION

Costumes Clara Bento

Cast João Neca, Juliana Pinho, Raul Atalaia, Rita Brito and Sara De Castro

From the unedited text of Abel Neves – O Cruzeiro, we recognized an inquietude relating to the concepts of family, secrets and promise. On the edge of a stone element the audience accompanies a family through the daily life of a tragic existence with a much greater threat that encircles them. A mother who made a vow of silence, punished by life itself, coexists with the attitude of the father, powerful in the dependence that blindness imposes on him, under whom two brothers survive, both sharing the same passionate stare for a feminine figure that magnetizes the whole family.

The construction of Abstention was purposely different. It was based on a script made for theater, with which we tried to respect the stage directions and the physical spaces where the action of Abel Neves’ text takes place.

How do we reflect the situation of todays’ Europe and the role that several countries have in this authentic chess game - the international economic and financial policies?

We wanted to associate each character to a flag and, consequently, a country.

How do we represent a village, a store, a threshing-floor, a house, a room without a realistic illustration from the scene of each of the elements of the markedly rural imaginary?

How to affirm this show with a social position, politically concerned in its narrative, where there is a relationship between Ethic, Moral and Power?

Orality Teresa Lima and Sara De Castro Corporeality Vânia Rovisco

115 | TEATRO O BANDO PALMELA, PORTUGAL

Text O Cruzeiro of Abel Neves

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tjg. THEATER JUNGE GENERATION The theatre operates on three levels (acting, puppet theatre, theatre academy), and it presents over 600 performances every year, making it one of the largest children's and young people’s theatres in Germany.

Indeed, since its founding in 1949, it's impossible to imagine life in the city of Dresden without it as a part of the local cultural scene. The performances for children, young adults, and families are enjoyed by 93,000 visitors each season. Since 2008 the theatre has been successfully led by its Artistic director Felicitas Loewe. In 2016/2017 the company is facing a major change, when it moves to the city centre along with other cultural institutions, stimulating and transforming the “Kraftwerk Mitte” (a former historic power plant) into a place to be.

Dresden's puppet theatre amalgamated with tjg. in 1997, and celebrated its 60th birthday in 2012. The theatre academy was founded in 2008 and functions as a research laboratory for theatre educators, as an experimental workshop for children and young people interested in theatre, and as a further education centre for teachers and kindergarten teachers.

Current projects that describe the concept of the tjg are: the founding of the national festival “Theatre from the Beginning”, artistic involvement with the “Theatre for the Youngest Audience”, extensive work of the academy, further development of theatre with

children and young people, a partnership with the EU theatre project “PLATFORM shift+” and the cooperation with the State Youth Theatre in Hanoi (Vietnam).

The broad assortment offered by its various branches enables the theatre to integrate current trends, e.g. from the fields of dance and performance, into its own productions in a contemporary way. This exchange and cooperation that takes place between different cultural organisations, institutions and artists active outside of children's and youth theatre also play an important role.

117 | tjg. THEATER JUNGE GENERATION DRESDEN, GERMANY

(DRESDEN, GERMANY)

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Director Karen Becker Stage / Costumes Ulrike Kunze

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LIGHTS OUT

Performers Jannes Donner, Ada Greifenhahn, Amelie Großer, Katharina Felde, Lydia Henkel, Lisa Naumann, Julia Metzner, Michael Pflaum, Paula Preuß, Christin Schanz, Melissa Stock, Carolin Ufer

In the air there is still a hint of tension, a shadow dance between the rows of seats, a last flicker and then: the lights go out.

A theatre moves and leaves a building full of history and stories. Young people of tjg. theater academy sneak onto the main stage for the very last time, listen to the whisper of the planks, the creaking of cables, pack boxes and dance tracks in the dust of the past.

While the process of connecting the past, the future and the present always seems to be a natural part of ambitious contemporary theatre work, the children and youth theatre of Dresden carries the word “generation“ in its name and is now facing the challenge to keep all the networks and connections with its audience that have been shaped and tightened through the decades.

Tjg is facing a major challenge in 2016 / 2017, when the theatre will move from its current dilapidated and remote site to the city centre to the so-called “Kraftwerk Mitte”, a former historic power plant.

So the staging of “Lights out“ is trying to establish a virtual and temporary theatrical connection lasting for the duration of the performance between the decades and between different generations taking part

as an audience, that will be directed and connected by messages and sounds via headphones, starting outside the theatre and slowly moving inside towards the main stage, where finally the lights will be turned off once and for all.

119 | tjg. THEATER JUNGE GENERATION DRESDEN, GERMANY

Music Katharina Lattke

120

VAT TEATER (TALLINN, ESTONIA) VAT Theatre is oldest independent theatre in Estonia, formed 1987 in Tallinn.

VAT is unique mixture of artistic freedom and social sensitivity. 15 people work there every day, additionally numerous designers, performers, musicians, directors, writers and others.

VAT Theatre gives performances on their home stage in National Library Theatre Hall, as well as in other performance venues and cultural institutions. Each year approximately 200 performances for more than 20 000 spectators are given.

The performances have taken the company to Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Turkey, Serbia, Slovakia, Japan, Zimbabwe Portugal, and USA. Performances have taken place across the polar circle and on the other side of the equator.

VAT Theatre is a member of the Estonian Theatre Association, Estonian Association of Performing Arts Institutions, Estonian Centre of ASSITEJ, Estonian Union of Nonprofit Associations and

Foundations, and Association of Free Education.

VAT Theatre is leaded by executive director Tiina Rebane and artistic director Aare Toikka.

121 | VAT TEATER TALLINN, ESTONIA

The theatre has developed it’s own minimalistic esthetics. The work can be mainly described as theatre minimalism and the group has adopted the principles of epic and physical theatre. VAT theater's epical-physical theatre follow the simple principle – to do all the necessary and as little as possible.

122 REFERENCE PRODUCTION

ROCKS KEEP FALLING FROM THE SKY Kristjan Jaak Peterson (1801-1822) carries such importance for the Estonian culture that his birthday is celebrated annually by Native Language Day. The weight of Otto Wilhem Masing's (1763-1832) significance is no less – he created the letter 'õ' in Estonian language, not to speak of other innovations and changes. These two should definitely not be confused with Jaak and Otto, the characters in this production.

These two also make great deeds but on top of that they have to resolve a very burning question: which time and place have they ended up in?

TEXT PAUL-EERIK RUMMO

The author Paul-Eerik Rummo had his starting points in history and Jaan Kross's novel "The Rock from the Sky". Rummo has created a diverse world with no geographical or time borders, where people can live forever. What becomes more crucial is whether their goals and dreams come true. Is the rock that fell from the sky a sign of benevolence from higher forces? Can Jaak become the icon for great national aspirations? Will Otto's wife stay by his side, or will she embark on a new mission that is more closely related to Jaak?

"Rocks Keep Falling from the Sky" is tightly interwoven with citations and mythologies,

and it takes the audience from Tartu to Italy, from Tuule Pub to Neverland.

Directed by Raivo Trass Set / Costumes Riina Vanhanen Sound Design Peeter Rebane Light Design Sander Põllu Video Sander Põldsaar Cast Maarja Mitt, Kristiina-Hortensia Port, Lauli Otsar, Laura Kalle, Raivo E. Tamm, Ago Soots, Lauri Saatpalu, Tanel Saar and Meelis Põdersoo

TEXT FERENC MOLNÁR

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

PAL-STREET BOYS A STORY ABOUT FRIENDSHIP AND WAR

But Molnár´s story is so ageless and relentless that in November 2015 the production had a new premier in VAT Theatre – this time with a new cast and in a much bigger theatre hall.

That means the winner of the epic fight between the “Redshirts” and the Pal-Street Boys is still undetermined!

Translation Julius Mark Adaptation / Direction Aare Toikka Design / Musical Design Kaspar Jancis Light Design Sander Põllu Cast Mihkel Kabel, Meelis Põdersoo, Martin Kõiv and Marius Pärn Age group 12+

123 | VAT TEATER TALLINN, ESTONIA

Pal-street boys first premiere in VAT Theatre was on 16th of November 2004. Back then the cast was Margo Teder, Janek Sarapson, Tanel Saar and Kaspar Jancis. They played the show for 200 times during 10 years. Last performance was on 7th November 2014.

Barneteatret VĂĽrt, Ă…lesund

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TEATRET VÅRT / BARNETEATRET VÅRT (MOLDE, ÅLESUND, NORWAY)

We are the regional anchor point of telling stories reflecting regional identity as well as a window towards Europe and a showcase for theatre as an art form. In 2012 Teatret Vårt moved into a new theatre. We now reside in an architectonical regional landmark, where we coexist with 4 of the most important cultural institutions in the region; the library, the Regional Centre for Artists, Bjørnsonfestivalen; festival for International Literature and Molde International Jazz Festival.

In 2009, as a result of Teatret Vårts work with children and youth, the theatre was granted the funds to open Barneteatret Vårt. This department would produce exclusively for children and young people between the age of 0 and 15. Barneteatret Vårt was located in Ålesund, the biggest city in Møre og Romsdal.

Barneteatret Vårt has an artistic director whose main focus is building a repertoire and artistic vision for a young audience.

The company started in 2009 producing two shows a year; as of 2016 Barneteatret Vårt now produces four productions in the same timeframe. The company holds workshops with both professional actors and young people and runs a program for developing new ideas with independent companies who we regularly invite for guest performances.

125 | TEATRET VÅRT MOLDE, ÅLESUND, NORWAY

Teatret Vårt has since 1972 been one of Norway’s most well respected and influential regional theatres. As a state funded theatre, we aim to produce modern, often newly written Norwegian or European drama or classics in an attempt to take social responsibility in the modern Norwegian society.

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LEGENDS OF THE CENTURIES A comic play about good and evil. With a wry glance at amateur dramatics. Moreover, it is a wild and playful theatre game.

The party committee in the local community house has decided to stage the play Legends of the Centuries. They are five very different people who meet quite a few different challenges in the process of working together. Ambitions are high, and they throw themselves into a project of storytelling theatre where everyone has to work as both actors, light technicians, DJ’s and stage technicians. Will they succeed in making this their common project?

TEXT VICTOR HUGO TRANSLATION/RECREATION BJØRNSTJERNE BJØRNSON

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s translation and recreation of Victor Hugo’s cycle of poems emerges as twelve short stories about good and evil. As in the rest of Bjørnsons’s authorship, there is a search for a universal moral. As a third party in the eternal tug of war between good and evil the landscape plays a particular role. In Bjørnson’s world, the nature that surrounds us is not only a backdrop - it makes us become better human beings. It sets our lives in perspective and reminds us how small our problems and we ourselves are.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in literature “as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has

always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit", becoming the first Norwegian Nobel laureate. In 1911, Bjørnson translated and re-created Victor Hugo’s “Legends of the Centuries” from 1859.

Direction / Idea Tormod Carlsen Set / Costumes Karin Gille Cast Lars Melsæter Rydjord, Vivi Sunde, Bjørnar Lisether Teigen, Hugo Mikal Skår, Nasrin Khusrawi

127 | TEATRET VÅRT MOLDE, ÅLESUND, NORWAY

REFERENCE PRODUCTION

128

UNIVERSITY OF AGDER (KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY)

In addition, the section invites audiences to venues on campus or in cultural institutions in the city of Kristiansand.

Some of the performances are artistic research generated by the academic staff; others are devised by the staff with students as performers. The section offers differÂŹent subjects, among others a specialist teacher training program, and the staff is a part of an interdisciplinary masters programme at the Faculty of Fine Arts.

The Faculty's academic staff is characterized by a twofold competence, encompassing both artistic and scientific skills. Artistic performance is the key focus area for many staff members, while other faculty members have a strong expertise in didactics and education. As theatre-practitioners, teachers and researchers, several of the employees have extensive experience in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA): performing arts for children, by youth, theatre with children, or theatre discussing childhood.

The section has a long cooperation with the national Assitej, and was one of the funding organisations behind ITYARN (the International Theatre for Young Audiences Research Network).

129 | UNIVERSITY OF AGDER KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY

The theatre section at Department of Visual Arts and Drama, Faculty of Fine Arts University of Agder in Norway, is an organization that produces approximately twenty performances every year, most of them touring in kindergartens and schools in the region.

130 MY DIGITAL ADDICTION My Iphone 5s is like part of my body. I use my smart phone all the time. Life without it is difficult, I´m not saying impossible, but difficult for sure. I feel I can do much more things and much quicker with my phone.

And that means, I have more time to do, what I actually want to do.

I adore my Iphone 5s.

Tanel Saar (Actor/Director, Teater VAT, Tallinn, EE)

MY DIGITAL ADDICTION When I look at my mobile I see 3294 Photos and 204 Videos. Yes, I am digitalphoto-and-video-addicted. I have at least 18 photography apps and 6 for videos.

I love to capture all these little moments in life. I’m so afraid to forget - my mobile is my visual diary. I also like to make and share little photo summaries after team-meetings or encounters with the family, so that everybody can capture the special atmosphere of these moments from time to time.

131 | MY DIGITAL ADDICTION

Tabea HĂśrnlein (Online-dramaturge, tjg.theater junge generation, Dresden, GER)

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6th Annual Encounter at Teatro O Bando, Palmela, Portugal, June 2015

133 | ANNUAL ENCOUNTER REVIEW

The 6th PLATFORM Annual Encounter was the first of the PLATFORM shift + project and took place in Portugal in June, 2015.

Teatro O Bando, one of the most well known independent theatres in the country, hosted more than 80 artists coming from all 11 participating companies.

134 1ST CREATIVE FORUM IN LISBON, PORTUGAL The Encounter started with the first Creative Forum, where educational opportunities concerning digital technology were delivered.

The partner for this event was the Lisbon Theatre and Film School (ESTC), where in the morning delegates, and regional and global audiences could attend, connected through digital channels, the lectures from the international experts from the fields of technology, digital art and philosophy. These included: Dr. Kristin Alford, Sarah Ellis, Hannes Grassegger, Martin Zepter and Stephan Jürgens.

In the afternoon the delegates could brush up their skills in theme based workshops run by:

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Friedrich Kirschner, professor of Digital media at the University for Performing Arts in Berlin. He posed the question “what would happen to video games if their rules were transferred to the real world?” It was a lot of fun, as we can see!

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Presenting his project Polder - a Transmedia Experience, Samuel Schwarz from Switzerland reflected on peoples’ fascination for the narrative possibilities of the digital world and the sharing options of social media.

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New media expert Stephan Jürgens surprised his workshop participants with new digital tools for the creative process and beyond.

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The French Video artist Philippe Domengie explained how to adopt the studio technique of green screen to performances on live stages.

135 | ANNUAL ENCOUNTER REVIEW

Over the next four days the participants of the Encounter were guests of Teatro O Bando. After many years in Lisbon, the company has now settled at an idyllic farm near to Palmela, a small town 40km from the capital.

Presentation of the concepts of the National Productions The creation of new artistic products is at the heart of PLATFORM shift + - artistic vision. The two days that the delegates spent with the National Productions, which are in the focus of the first period of the project. Therefore the artists were required to engage with young people to gather themes for new plays and concepts in new aesthetics during the first season. All 11 concepts for these National Productions were artistically presented and discussed.

There were new performative, site specific, public space and participative models, reflecting the growing importance of nonwritten, conceptual work in contemporary theatre, alongside the traditional text-based play.

The whole range of shows was produced in the 2015/16 season and will be presented at the 7th PLATFORM shift + - Annual Encounter in Budapest (Hungary), June 2016.

Discussions One of the central concerns of the Annual Encounters is the dialogue between the partners about current themes in their work. Much of the discussion in Palmela was about the utilization of digital media in winning new audiences and the possibilities for educational projects.

Actors Workshop At the end of the Encounter the actors from 9 nations had the chance to participate in an intense shared experience. Joao Brites, Teatro O Bando’s Artistic Director, and actor and director Sara de Castro, conducted a workshop entitled “Actors and Conscience on stage.” The participants had the chance to get to know the methods and techniques behind Teatro O Bando’s exceptional way of working. The subsequent surprising confrontation with the city men’s choir made a strong and unforgettable emotional impact on both the workshop participants and the observers.

Partners were also treated to the open air production In the name of the Land, which was a great chance to experience a result of Teatro O bando’s working methods live.

137 | ANNUAL ENCOUNTER REVIEW

6TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER AT TEATRO O BANDO

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The Artistic Directors of the partner institutions met in December 2015 in Berlin for one of their regular updates. The meeting was held in „Podewil�, a cultural centre in the middle of Berlin. There was a lot to be done during the two days and the tight schedule didn't allow much time to discover the decorated, pre-Christmas Berlin.

In preparation for the 2nd Annual Encounter in June 2106 the main focus of the meeting was on sharing the progress that had been made on the National Productions in preparation for their presentations at the My Story Festival in Budapest. Initially, Dirk Neldner, Artistic Director of PLATFORM shift+, presented the festival concept.

Gyuri Vidovszki, leading director of the host, Kolibri theatre, informed the artists about the technical possibilities of the potential performing spaces.

For the expected 100 participants, this year as well, the meeting will be combined with the Creative Forum in which current developments and trends in the digital world will be aired in TED-like talks and workshops. There were discussions about which speakers would be suitable and about the day-to-day schedule of the festival.

Once again, many participants expressed great interest in exercises on the practical application of the new knowledge.

SPAM by Lovefuckers (credit Christian Marquardt) At the end of that intense meeting there was the performance SPAM from the theatre group Lovefuckers. The two performers delivered an original testimonial to the handling of digital technology on stage thanks to their bold and unconventional grasp of content, an above all, their style of storytelling.

139 | ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

ADVISORY BOARD MEETING BERLIN, GERMANY DECEMBER 5TH 2015

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PLATFORM shift+ in Wonderland – How to make your customers follow the white rabbit Frank Tentler actually wanted to become a vet and his dream was to save wales. Here in Marseille he is with us to share what has become his passion for years: The development and the realization of a gripping strategy for online marketing in the digital age.

For us, 19 participants of the Marketing Meeting Marseille which takes place within our PLATFORM shift+ project, Frank gives a keynote on the topic of “communication in theatre 2020”.

The furniture of the fairly small room in the old tobacco factory “La Friche”, where our partner theatre Massalia is seated, is stylish. It is a remnant from 2013 when Marseille was the cultural capital of Europe.

For Frank, us theatre people, already have what is the key element for successful marketing: the “soulful content”. Content is the queen, if a topic really grasps and fascinates people, they “don’t give a fuck about their privacy”.

The localization function of the smartphones stays on and marketing can begin: Location based technology for Frank is an essential part of an exciting and lively marketing strategy for the future. It is all about storytelling. Creating something, augmenting reality and reaching the client pulling them into story, like “Alice in wonderland” who follows the white rabbit. In order to achieve this it is essential to use new technologies like for example Beacons – small sensors, which are fed with data.

But also a proper Mission Statement, an unambiguous positioning about the dangers behind using digital technologies should be present in every online marketing strategy. It is important to understand that the psychology of human beings is behind the use of technologies.

Mobile only in 2017 – everybody wants to share their life with others, show what they love and hate. The consequence: if you give to your customers what they are interested in and what you can easily take a picture of and share, your customers will become transmitters and will send your ads directly to the right target group. The customer is interested in “the insights”, in what happens backstage, explains marketing expert Frank.

Before we go backstage and dive into the rehearsals of the National Production “The girl of the platforms” of Theatre Massalia, the participants of the marketing workshops present the strategies they have been using up to now.

Inspired by Frank’s keynote, we then together develop ideas how to perfect the PLATFORM shift+ digital marketing and make a big audience for the Creative Forums.

141 | ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

MARKETING MEETING MARSEILLE, FRANCE 8TH, 9TH OF APRIL 2016

142 MY DIGITAL ADDICTION I'm addicted to food, air, love... to new information, to spiritual growth... to art and music. Internet and digital gadgets offer me various ways to learn new skills, to develop old ones... to become smarter and more aware and to find friends all over the world. As I choose my food carefully, I also know there's a lot of junkinformation in the Internet and many junk-apps/games/digitrash. But you learn on the way to click on the right link, to still trust your gutfeeling and not the blinking screen. I don't use a running-app when I go running and don't have a blue-tooth toothbrush to tell me when I have brushed enough, I trust my body on that one!

Ago Soots (Actor, Teater VAT, Tallinn, EE)

Though it is not very exciting one of my most beloved apps is Evernote - www.evernote.com - their tagline says "that Modern life can be complicated. Simplify it with Evernote, the app to manage it all” I love to have information at my fingertips … and i’m one of those people who is constantly ‘saving something for later’ an image, a weblink, a photo of the whiteboard from a meeting, a scan of a bank statement, or a letter and so on and so on.. Evernote lives in the clouds, on my laptop , on my phone and my iPad.. so everything is everywhere all the time, and all search-able! As well as being a great resource it is fast becoming a fascinating archive of my life and work!

Ben Pugh (Digital Producer, Pilot Theatre, York, UK)

Jihoceské divadlo ˇ ˇ Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic Director: Lukáš Prudek Doktora Stejskala 424/19, CZ-370 01 ˇ ˇ Ceské Budejovice www.jihoceskedivadlo.cz Emergency Exit Arts London, United Kingdom Artistic Director: Deb Mullins Rothbury Hall, Azof Street, GB-London SE10 OEE www.eea.org.uk Elsinor Centro di produzione teatrale Milan, Florence, Forlí, Italy Artistic Directors: Giuditta Mingucci, Gianluca Balestra, Rossella Lepore Via Boltraffio 21, IT-2059 Milano www.elsinor.net

Kolibri Gyermek – és ifjúsági színház Budapest, Hungary Artistic Director: János Novák Jókai tér 10, HU-1061 Budapest www.kolibriszinhaz.hu

VAT Teater Tallinn, Estonia Artistic Director: Aare Toikka Uus 5, EE-10101 Tallinn www.vatteater.ee

ACGD Théâtre Massalia Marseille, France Artistic Director: Emilie Robert, Friche Belle de Mai, 41 rue Jobin, FR – 13331 Marseille cedex 03 www.theatremassalia.com

AS Regionteatret I Møre og Romsdal Teatret Vårt Molde, Norway Artistic Director:Thomas Bjørnager Gørvellplassen 1, NO-6413 Molde ww.teatretvart.no

Teatro O Bando Palmela, Portugal Artistic Director: João Brites Vale dos Barris, PT-2950-055 Palmela www.obando.pt

Universitetet i Agder Kristiansand, Norway Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts: Per Kvist, Gimlemoen 25, NO-4604 Kristiansand www.uia.no

tjg. Theater Junge Generation Dresden, Germany Artistic Director: Felicitas Loewe Wettiner Platz, 01067 Dresden www.tjg-dresden.de

ADDRESSES

143 | ADDRESSES

Pilot Theatre Company York, United Kingdom Artistic Director: Esther Richardson c/o York Theatre Royal, St. Leonhard’s Place, York Y01 7HD www.pilot-theatre.com

NOV 2014 APR 2015 SEP 2015 FEB 2016

CO-PRODUCTION EACH THEATRE

7TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER BUDAPEST, HU

CREATIVE FORUM 2 BUDAPEST, HU

CREATIVE DEVELOPERS WORKSHOP FORLÌ, IT MARKETING MEETING MARSEILLE, FR

ADVISORY BOARD MEETING BERLIN, DE

NO BOUNDARIES - SHIFT HAPPENS MANCHESTER, UK

CREATIVE FORUM 1 LISBON, PT

ADVISORY BOARD MEETING MOLDE, NO

ARTISTIC KICK-OFF-MEETING BUDWEIS, CZ

NATIONAL PRODUCTION EACH THEATRE

6TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER PAMELA, PT

INAUGURAL MEETING WINCHESTER, UK

144

JUL 2016

YOUTH ENCOUNTER TALLINN, EE

MAY 2017 OCT 2017 MAR 2018 AUG 2018 145 | TIMELINE

YOUTH ENCOUNTER MARSEILLE, FR EVALUATION MEETING MARSEILLE, FR

ACTORS’ WORKSHOP FORLI, IT

FINAL PRODUCTION TOURING IN EUROPE

CREATIVE FORUM 3 TALLINN, EE

MID TERM EVALUATION KRISTIANSAND, NO

CREATIVE FORUM 4*11 11 CITIES IN EUROPE

YOUTH ENCOUNTER FORLI, IT

NEW PARTNERSHIPS LONDON, UK

ADVISORY BOARD MEETING BERLIN, DE

8TH ANNUAL ENCOUNTER DRESDEN, DE

YOUTH ENCOUNTER YORKSHIRE, UK

DEC 2016

146 DIGITAL CHALLENGES IN THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES YEARBOOK SEASON 2015/2016 Publisher Dirk Neldner Editor Odette Bereska Layout & Design www.spacecreative.co.uk Printed by Druckhaus Köthen (Germany) | www.koethen.de English Corrections Sam Johnson, Lucy Hammond Picture Index Ben Pugh, Paul Simpson (Pilot); Judit Szlovak (Kolibri); Jules Hodgson, Alex Evans, Enrique Rovira, Ross Bolwell-Williams, Martin Brown (EEA); Filippo Renda, Ilaria Sironi Elsinor); Jeff Garaud, Cyrille Weiner (Massalia); theaterakademie, Dorit Günter, costumedrawings Ulrike Kunze, Visualisation Stesad (tjg); Rolf-Inge Petersen (Vårt); Siim Vahur (VAT), Christian Marquardt, Gerhard Ludwig (SPAM, p 142/43), Elisa Braun (5th Annual Encounter)

© PLATFORM shift+ PLATFORM shift+ Digital challenges in theatre for young audiences is a European Theatre Network supported by the European Commission.

The views expressed in this publication are only the views of the authors. The Commission cannot be held responsible for any use, which may be made of the information contained therein.

Contact: Odette Bereska | odette@platformshift.eu Head Organisation: Pilot Theatre Company | York, United Kingdom Artistic Director: Esther Richardson | c/o York Theatre Royal, St. Leonhard’s Place, York Y01 7HD | www.pilot-theatre.com Office: Kalkseestrasse 7 A – D-12587 www.platformshift.eu

DIGITAL CHALLENGES IN THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES YEARBOOK 2015/2016

PLATFORM shift+ is a larger scale cooperation project announced by the European Commission under their European Culture Funding Stream Creative Europe.

Particpating Theatres Pilot Theatre Company (York/Great Britain) ˇ ˇ South Bohemian Theatre (Ceské Budejovice/Czech Republic) Elsinor Centro di produzione teatrale (Milan, Forlì, Florence/Italy) Emergency Exit Arts (London/Great Britain) Kolibri Theatre (Budapest/Hungary) Theatre Massalia (Marseille/France) Teatro O Bando (Palmela/Portugal) tjg. Theater Junge Generation (Dresden/Germany) VAT Teater (Tallinn/Estonia) Teatret Vårt (Molde/Norway) University of Agder (Kristiansand/Norway)

www.platformshift.eu