FESTIVAL: 45th Maribor Theatre Festival

From MARK BROWN (UK), member of the AICT-IATC Executive Committee

Slovene National Theatre

Members of IATC were in the beautiful city of Maribor, Slovenia (October 20-24, 2010) as guests of the annual Borštnik festival of Slovene theatre, which celebrated its 45th edition. Delegates saw a wide array of performances in the splendid Slovene National Theatre. In addition, IATC colleagues from Slovenia and around the world participated in an excellent international symposium at Maribor University on the subject of “Intercriticism.” Many rich papers were given and an energetic debate was held.
 


What He Does for Art:
Marko Mandic in Viva Mandic



The festival kindly hosted the meeting of the IATC Executive Committee at the Slovene National Theatre. IATC President, Professor Yun-Cheol Kim, and the entire excom offer their warmest thanks to Alja Predan, artistic director of the Borštnik festival, Mojca Planšak, guest manager of the festival, and the festival team for their tremendous organization and hospitality.



Alja Predan, Artistic Director

 



CONFERENCE: Criticism Reflecting Nations’ Theater?


From JEAN-PIERRE HAN, Vice President of AICT-IATC

Abbazia aux Hommes, Caen



Does your country’s dramatic criticism reflect your national theatre?

La Comédie de Caen

(the National Center for Drama, Normandy)

and

the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC)

present

An International Conference

December 14 and 15, 2010

Organizers of this conference invite presentations, of up to 15 minutes in length, that discuss the state of drama criticism and theatrical production in the presenter’s home country. What are the links—or interferences—between dramatic criticism and the development of theatrical production? Does dramatic criticism participate in the chain of theatrical creation? If criticism has a role, how does that interaction occur?

The conference, including a series of roundtable discussions, will be held December 14 and 15 at the Theater of Caen. Ten contributions by critics are planned. Roundtable discussions will focus on shows seen locally and on dramatic criticism from the Internet (blogs, etc.).

La Comédie de Caen

International guests are invited from Monday, December 13 until Friday, December 17. 

During the stay in Caen, guest critics will have the opportunity to attend two plays presented in the official programming of the Avignon Festival :

• La Mort d’Adam, by Jean Lambert-wild, director of the National Center for Drama in Normandy. Patrice Pavis wrote of the productions that “in spite of the complexity [of its] device, of the multitude of tracks and interpretations, this play gives an impression of lightness, harmony and humor. An impression certainly engendered by the very mastered configuration of each of the components (read text, high-definition video, music, magic, photography) and their combination in the production.”
• Wolfstunde, by Silke Mansholt. Performer Mansholt raises questions, in Wolfstunde (Wolflesson), on the wolf that is inside each of us, on the dark part of each individual and the battle between the dark part and the lighter, human part. Based on Mansholt’s personal experience, the work questions the power and impotence of art. Is art free? Are we? If there are, in our contemporary world, wolves and scapegoats, are we wolves or scapegoats? If we are trying to be what we do not want to be, is the wolf transformed into a scapegoat—or is the scapegoat transformed into a wolf? (Adapted from the Festival d’Avignon website)

Participants may also become familiar with the IMEC (Memory Institute of the Contemporary Edition) which possesses archives of such writers and artists as Jean Genet, Bernard-Marie Koltès, Kateb Yacine, Michel Vinaver, Jerzy Grotowski, Antoine Vitez, Alain Françon, and many others.

Deadline for application is 16 November 2010.

Jean Lambert-wild,
Director, National Center for Drama in Normandy

Jean-Pierre Han
Vice President, AICT-IATC
jp.han@free.fr