Volume 12

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 …

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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Gender-based discrimination was a key theme in the 72^nd 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 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 …

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 …