New Classics
The 14th International FLORA THEATRE FESTIVAL will take place in Olomouc, Czech Republic, between May 11–25, 2010 under the motto “New Classics”.
The 11-day long non-competitive theatre festival organized by Divadlo Konvikt, Civic Association, will offer a total of 70 performances at seven venues with nearly half of them accessible free of admission. This year, a score of theatre artists and musicians from 14 countries will perform in Olomouc: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Romania, Israel, South Korea, the US and Brazil.
Moravian Theatre Olomouc – “new” theatre classics
As part of this year’s festival motto, the event focuses on staged performances of classic works of literature (both plays and fiction) transferred to the stage using modern language of theatre in creative interpretations of major figures of contemporary theatre direction and performed by major Czech and Slovak theatre companies. On the stage at Moravian Theatre Olomouc, the festival will, apart from two productions by the host company (Terry Pratchett’s Men at Arms and the ballet Macbeth), present six other productions by guest companies: Euripides’ Medea (Slovakia’s State Theatre Košice, dir. Michal Vajdička), William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Divadlo Husa na provázku Brno, dir. Jan Mikulášek), Büchner’s Woyzeck (Divadlo na Vinohradech Prague, dir. Daniel Špinar), K. H. Mácha’s Gypsies (Slovácké divadlo Uherské Hradiště, dir. J. A. Pitínský), Ibsen’s The Wild Duck (Divadlo Petra Bezruče Ostrava, dir. Jan Mikulášek) and two one-act plays by G. Feydeau Enema for This Child, Please! and Hortense Says, “I Don't Give a Damn!”(Divadlo v Dlouhé Prague, dir. Hana Burešová)
new dance
A part from “new classics” in conventional theatre (performed mainly by Czech companies), another major program cycle of this year’s festival will focus on the presentation of the world’s major choreographers and dance companies. A total of eight performances reflecting trends in contemporary dance theatre will take place in the theatre hall and atrium of the University Art Centre (“Konvikt”). The festival programme will consist of dance productions Blame Me by the Korean choreographer Ji Eun Lee, Superimposing by the German choreographer and dancer Stefan Dreher, Still by Hungary’s Márta Ladjánszki, Lynn and Pas de deux sans toi by Charlotta Öfverholm from Sweden and a trio of performances Spleen (choreographed by Edan Gorlicki), Fragments of a Minor Shift (choreographed by Corneliu Ganea) and Behind the Clothes (choreographed by Fernando Martins) performed by the international dance company Random Collision from Groningen, the Netherlands.
“new“ theatre
Festival visitors at Konvikt may also look forward to a score of top performances by Czech alternative theatre ensembles in the circus tent inside the Konvikt courtyard: a performance by the dancer and choreographer Adéla Laštovková Stodolová and the directorial duo SKUTR (Joke Killers), Divadlo DNO with their trilogy of Shakespearean paraphrases Richard 3 – Romeo and Juliet – Hamlet 1 and the “classics” of Czech theatre improvisation – the Vosto5 Theatre with their fresh productions Theatr-o-mat and Stand’art Classics. And at the K3 theatre at Konvikt, the Slovak director and performer Ján Mikuš, awarded as Best Alternative Newcomer of the Year at Prague’s 2009 “next wave“ festival will perform his authorial project Werther, Werther.
premieres
The 14th FLORA THEATRE FESTIVAL invites you to several premieres. The festival will start on May 11 with the most recent production of Olomouc’s Divadlo Na Cucky – Cleansed by Sarah Kane (directed by Anna Petrželková) and the same company will present the theatre sketch Woyzeck_concept directed by Ján Mikuš. Right before moving on to Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the trio Adéla Stodolová & Martin Kukučka & Lukáš Trpišovský will present their project Joke Killers (coproduced by the Flora Theatre Festival, Prague’s La Fabrika theatre and the directorial duo SKUTR) on May 11 and 12. The festival co-organizer, Moravian Theatre Olomouc, will host a premiere of the staging of Pratchett’s Men at Arms (dir. Michal Zetel) on May 14. As an exclusive festival premiere, Stockholm’s dance company Compagnie Jus de la Vie will perform Pas de deux sans toi by this year’s prominent festival guest – dancer and choreographer Charlotta Öfverholm (May 14).
On the other hand, shortly after the last performance at its home theatre in Prague, Divadlo Na Vinohradech, the festival visitors will get one of the last chances to see the Czech Production of the Year according to the recent poll at Alfréd Radok Awards: the staging of Büchner’s Woyzeck directed by Daniel Špinar.
off programme
Apart from the performances mentioned above (plus, for instance, the creatively choreographed and musically excellent fire show by the Polish company Mamadoo), the extraordinarily rich festival programme will also include film screenings (with films by S. Kubrick, L. von Trier, J. Herz, A. Kurosawa, F. Vláčil, S. Peckinpah, A. Jodorowsky, A. Wajda, M. Winterbottom, C. Saura and many other renowned directors) and live concerts (e.g. performances by Czech bands Midi Lidi, OTK, Jelení loje, Kazety, the American quartet Apse, the Austrian electronic wizard Rupert Huber, Irish experimental artist Robotnik, among other bands and musicians).
The weekend programme (May 15–16) focuses on children who may look forward to half a dozen fairy tales performed by students of Prague’s DAMU academy or to staging of classic works of fiction: J. Verne’s The Begum’s Fortune (The Secret of Steel City) and Wild Bára by B. Němcová.