NEWS

The 27th edition of the multi-genre Flora Theatre Festival culminated yesterday with the original production Happy Birthday by Iranian theatre and film director Sahar Rezaei and the first Czech guest appearance of the Nationaltheater Mannheim drama ensemble.

photo Lukáš Horky and Michal Hančovský

The festival epilogue was provided by the charismatic members of the Mannheim ensemble directed by the Czech director Kamila Polívková. The production of Ewe Benbenek's metaphorical text Juices – co-created by set designer Antonín Šilar and dramaturge of NT Mannheim and Flora Dominika Široká – had its world premiere at the end of last season.

Together with other female personalities of contemporary Central European theatre, all three authors took part in the accompanying activities of Flora, realized in cooperation with the Centre for Experimental Theatre Brno. The seminars were attended, for example, by Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin's Intendant Shermin Langhoff, Radar Ost Festival's Program Director Birgit Lengers, Theater Dortmund's Artistic Director Julia Wissert, Schauspielhaus Zürich's Creative Producer Katinka Deecke, along with Czech directors and dramaturgs Miřenka Čechová, Lucie Ferenzová, Sodja Zupanc Lotker, Lenka Havlíková and Viktorie Knotková. During the talks and discussions, they focused on the issue of women in managerial positions in cultural institutions and the interplay and intermingling of Eastern European and German-language theatre production.

Extraordinary experiences, urgent topics

The international main programme of the 27th Flora on twelve days invited audiences to drama, dance, opera, musical, fusion of break-dance and architecture, theatre concert and stand-up, the accompanying programme offered several musical productions, workshops, exhibition and above all a lot of discussions. The festival was opened on Friday, 10 May, by the Schauspielhaus Bochum ensemble with the production The New Life by the German director Christopher Rüping. The evening was also attended by the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic, Martin Baxa, who took over the patronage of the 27th Flora.

A standing ovation was also given a week later to the performance of the Czech Theatre of the Year and director Dušan D. Pařízek, which officially closed this year's Flora. An adaptation of Remarque's novel All Quiet On The Western Front, combined into a theatrical diptych with Natalya Vorozhbyt's production of Green Corridors, is Theatre X10's urgent statement on Russian aggression in Ukraine. The same theme resonated with painful authenticity in both productions by Polish choreographer Maciej Kuźmiński – in the choral performance by Ukrainian dancers Every Minute Motherland and in the intimate confession of Daria Koval, one of the stars of this year's Flora.

„All the productions were, as last year, very popular with the audience. The festival reached seven thousand visitors. All the performers who came to Olomouc this year from eleven countries praised the warm atmosphere of the festival,“ commented its spokesperson Daniela Hekelová.

The next festival edition will start in Olomouc on Friday 9 May 2025 and will have the motto Equality.