In November 2017, the Touring Stage of the Finnish National Theatre premiered a production called Toinen koti [Other Home] in its Omapohja Studio, performed by a group of native Finnish and refugee professional actors, though also including refugee …
There was a time when a traveler to Berlin in late June would have faced a much-reduced selection of theatre offerings, but today most of the major houses are still presenting a full selection of attractive works at that time. …
My first article in this journal (European Stages, Vol. 11, June 2018) dealt with productions inspired by Trump’s election and the resultant upset of the political landscape. The present article will deal with productions with diverse theatrical explorations where …
Flight of the Escales is an international theatre company that creates experimental and political theatre based on the personal experiences of its team. It aims to deconstruct narratives to reach the hidden, oppressed and ignored voices in the texts. It …
One of the best-remembered lines in Othello is surely Iago’s loud cry at Brabantio’s window: ‘An old black ram/ Is tupping your white ewe’ (I i 89-90), but even before that insulting metaphor, Roderigo refers to Othello as ‘thick-lips’ (I …
Once a year in August, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe transforms Scotland’s capital city into a vibrant, artistic landscape filled with over 4000 shows across a range of performing arts media: theatre, comedy, opera, dance, circus, and much more. The Edinburgh …
This revival of Marivaux’s seldom produced play, Le Triomphe de l’Amour, was mounted by a stellar team: Denis Podalydès (director) who is also a sociétaire of the Comédie Française (and winner of two Molières) and a frequent supporting actor in …
Gender-based discrimination was a key theme in the 72nd Avignon festival. At least twelve shows in the festival program dealt with gender questions. Il pourra toujours dire que c’est pour l’amour du prophète (He can always say that …
Started in 1964, the Arctic Arts Festival in Harstad, Norway, has steadily grown from a three-day celebration of Nordic music to a week-long collection of northern performing arts. The arctic locale was selected by the festival’s founder, the Norwegian journalist …
Curated by Christophe Slugmuylner, the Kunstenfestivaldesarts is an exceptional festival devoted to modern art and stage innovation that gathers imaginative productions from around the world, many of them partially produced by the Festival. The 2018 festival took place from May …
If you are in Norway, at any time of the year, you may see outstanding examples of Ibsen, Norway’s most important artist. But if the time is September that means the international Ibsen Festival, Norway’s biggest festival, which brings together …
Norwegian stage director Eirik Stubø is Dramaten’s current Artistic Director, after spending many years as the head of Norway’s National Theatre. One of the highlights of the 2018 Ingmar Bergman International Theatre Festival was Stubø’s production of Erland Josepson’s play …
Ingmar Bergman, the late, great Swedish film and theater director, was born on July 14, 1918, and film and theater enthusiasts alike are celebrating this Centennial year with festivals and film retrospectives world-wide. Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theater (Dramaten), where Bergman …
For states across Central and Eastern Europe, 2018 marks the centenary of their national independence, gained in the aftermath of WWI. In the case of the Baltic States, this independence was, of course, lost in the aftermath of WWII, when …
After accepting an invitation to sit on the jury of BITEF 52 (Belgrade International Theatre Festival) in 2018, I read through the list of previous prizewinners. The history of the festival is a history of European theatre, reflecting its many …
In the week in which Spanish Prime Minister’s Mariano Rajoy’s implication in the promotion of a culture of political corruption and cronyism saw his Popular Party government fall from government with a new coalition headed by the Socialist Party’s Pedro …
In an interview for the Teatro Real, Calixto Bieito talked of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s 1965 opera Die Soldaten, an adaptation of Jakob Lenz’s 1776 play, as a work that ‘reflects the infinite brutality of the twentieth century. It reflects …
by Philip Wiles
Thanks to a generous grant from the Sidney E. Cohn and Lucille Lortel Chairs at the CUNY Graduate Center, I was able to arrange a short stay in Berlin (with a brief excursion to Hamburg) to see …
by Philippa Wehle
The Avignon Festival, July 7 to 26, 2022, director Olivier Py’s last festival after an eight-year leadership, introduced new voices and unknown works by artists from many different countries. Nine out of the forty-one official shows were …
What does it mean to be a stranger or how does someone become a stranger? Is a stranger always a sign of something dangerous? Can we speak about the strageness of our own self? These are the questions that were …
In Poznan for a week in early October of 2013, I saw four productions that together give a sampling of the offerings in this theatrically active city. On my first night I attended the Teatr Polski, which was presenting Piszczyk…
The highlight of my trip to Minsk this summer was West Side Story at the Belarus State Musical Theatre (BSMT). Having flown in to see a performance of the show on 27 May 2013, a little over a year after …
