A performance-oriented society forces never-ending production. Can we not only focus on economically profitable performance, but also look at other aspects of life, as well? The performance Cannibals has stirred up a topic that is extremely relevant at the moment.
The lived reality of young artists. What are we willing to sacrifice for the final applause? For recognition? Everything, even our health. But that’s what’s expected. We’re artists, after all, aren’t we?
Among the regular participants of the festival Setkání/ENCOUNTER are groups from the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU). This year they presented to the audience a musical adaptation of Brecht's well-known opera The Beggar's Opera. However, the opera’s protagonist Mackie Messer is slightly in the background and the theme of power takes priority. But what kind of power are we talking about here? Is it social power - who rules who? Is it the power of money - which so clearly moves the world? Or is it the power of masculinity - where men are the ones who stand at the head of the masses? Basically, all three answers are correct in this production.
This year, DAMU is represented by students of the Department of Drama Theatre with a subversive satire called The Beggar's Opera or The Case of the Bouncer. This unexpected syncretism of all possible and impossible genres blurs the boundaries between the fictional world and real, ongoing political controversies.
The blissful spring weather was unexpectedly replaced by minor hurricanes with a dusting of snow. Although the weather didn't turn out quite as we had hoped, this taste of January winter didn't interfere with the opening ceremony of the thirty-third annual Encounter/Encounter International Theatre Festival. For this official Corona-FREE year, the festival was attended by university theatre companies from Austria, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Slovenia, and Georgia. Over the course of five days we can expect a varied, educational, and above all experience-rich programme full of theatre performances, discussions, and workshops.
Aleksandra Gosławska's raw and live-action monodrama Stand-up from the Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Warsaw is an authentic account of the contemporary theatre environment, where students struggle for recognition in their field. A Faustian dilemma in the form of an endless marathon to reach success and recognition at the expense of one’s physical and mental health.
Second-year students of the Berlin Academy feature Cannibals at this Encounter edition. Empty stage. A table made of rostrum parts. Five characters, and the performance may start.
This year, the festival will be accompanied by Meeting Point - in previous years a physical magazine, this year a virtual blog full of reflections by student editors. The editorial team will be headed by supervisor Mgr. Eliška Hondlová.
