THEATRE AFTER THE CHANGE

Book launch

Presented by Thomas IRMER and Attila SZABÓ

Venue: Polish Institute

Budapest VI., Nagymező u. 15.

The two-volume collection of papers, issued by Creatív Média, is a singular attempt of uniting the effort of nearly forty researchers and practitioners from Central Europe to think about the social impact of theatre after collapse of the Iron Curtain. When and how did the Central European theatre start to be socially involved again and contribute actively to the social process of Coming to Term with the Past? How did the new global theatre tendencies spread in our region after the Regime Changes and how did the heritage of the past live on? What are the newly emerged topics? How did the position of plays and playwrights change? What are the similarities and differences in the theatre timelines and histories of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria? The set of volumes edited by Attila Szabó and Joanna Krakowska are based on the two international conferences organized by the Contemporary Drama Festival Budapest in 2008 and 2009. The papers are supplemented by an edited transcript of the roundtable discussions and a DVD with performance excerpts.

Lauched at Kolibri Pince  Budapest, VI. Andrássy út 77., 1 December, 4 PM. 

The Coward - A gyáva (105’)

+ topic related discussion as integral part of the performance

a Nézőművészeti Kft. production

Directed by Péter SCHERER

with English simultaneous interpretation

Venue: Kolibri Pince (Kolibri Cellar)

Budapest VI., Andrássy út 77.

Szkéné Színház (Szkéné Theatre)

Kaisers-TV Ungarn by Béla PINTÉR (110’)

INTERNATIONAL FIRST NIGHT PERFORMANCE

a Béla Pintér and Company production

Directed by Béla PINTÉR

with English subtitles

MU Színház (MU Theatre) - Szputnyik Műhely (Sputnik Shipping Company)

Whatshit (open workshop) – Hogyishívják (munkacím) by István TASNÁDI (PREVIEW) (90’)

a FÜGE production

Directed by Dániel KOVÁCS

with English simultaneous interpretation

OPENING

WHAT? Themes and History of Documentary Theatre. Statements

chair: Attila SZABÓ

09.10-09.30 Thomas IRMER (D): After a Decade of New Documentary Theatre – where do we go from here?

09.30-09.45 Andrea TOMPA (HU): Documentary as Oblivion (And a Little Bit of Memory): Nature Theater of Oklahoma

09.45-10.00 Péter P. MÜLLER (HU): Fact and Fiction, Document and Fantasy – Is There a Difference, and Does It Matter At All?

10.00-10.15 Joachim FIEBACH (D): Laying Bare Realities

coffee break

10.30-10.45                                       

Daria FEHÉROVA (SK): Natural and Artificial Ways of Remembering Slovak History

10.45-11.00                                       

Kornélia DERES (HU): Whose Story and Why? Documentary Theatre and Its Protagonists

11.00-11.20                                       

David SCHWARTZ (RO): I Declare, at My Own Risk … (case study)

coffee break

11.45-12.30 Debate

To what extent can documentary theatre be considered a new phenomenon, or has it always existed in a way, but called on a different name? How can we interpret the relationship between history and documentary drama?

12.30-13.30 Lunch

HOW? Dramaturgy and Theatre Tools of Documentary Theatre STATEMENTS               

chair: Katalin VECSEY (HU/USA)

13.30-13.45                                                   

Joanna BIERNACKA (PL): "Transfer!" by Jan Klata

13.45-14.00              

Petra ARDAI (HU/NL): Space Theatre Group and the Politics of the Personal

14.00-14.15

Olivier MOUGINOT (FR): A fiction Not Like the Others

14.15-14.30

Stuart YOUNG (NZ)-Hilary HALBA: Remodelling Reality: an Approach to Staging Verbatim Theatre.

14.30-14.45

Balázs VARGA (HU): The Naked Truth? Problems of Reality in Dogma 95 Cinema

coffee break

15.00-15.20

Jan ŠIMKO (SK): Heavy metal. Stories of workers of the Steal Factory in Košice (case study)

15.20-15.40

Jana SVOBODOVA (CZ) - Anna GRUSKOVÁ: 1989 - Window of Opportunity - Docudrama in Reverse Order (case Study)

15.40-16.00

Gianina CǍRBUNARIU (RO): Documents from the Romanian State Security Archives – Fiction and Reality (case study)

coffee break

16.15-17.00 Debate

Theatre aesthetics versus documentary theatre? A false contradiction? Thousand ways of staging documentary theatre

Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre) - Gobbi Hilda Színpad (Gobbi Hilda Stage)

Word for Word - Szóról szóra (90’)

a PanoDráma production

Concept and creative production by Anna LENGYEL

with English simultaneous interpretation

Trafó Kortárs Művészetek Háza (Trafó House of Contemporary Arts)

One Hour Eighteen (Minutes) - Egy óra tizennyolc (perc) (90’)

a Teatr.doc production

Directed by Mikhail UGAROV

in Russian, with Hungarian subtitles

with Post-show talk with the audience about the questions posed in the performance (with Sz. Bíró Zoltán, historian and Andrea Tompa, critic)

Stúdió K Színház (Studio K Theatre)

Sober's Silence - Józanok csendje by Géza CSÁTH-Kinga MEZEI-Kata GYARMATI (85’)

a Stúdió K Színház production

Directed by Kinga MEZEI

with English simultaneous interpretation

WHY? WHY NOT? Reception and Functions of Documentary Theatre STATEMENTS

chair: Andrea TOMPA

9.15-9.30 An Introduction of the Central European Cultural Institute

09.30-09.45

Catherine DECASTEL (FR): Can the Effects of Some Documentary Theatre Projects in Stimulating Certain Social Processes Be Visible?

09.45-10.00                                      

Natalia YAKUBOVA (HU/RUS): Document versus Postmemory: Controversies of Dealing with the Past in the Contemporary Central European Theatre

10.00-10.15

Iulia POPOVICI (RO): Mistrusting One Another: How Documentary Theatre Reads the Community

10.15-10.30

Ildikó LŐKÖS (HU): Staging Politics in Hungary

coffee break

10.45-11.00   

Annabel SOUTAR (CAN):

Documentary Theatre: Timing Is  Everything

11.00-11.20 Anna LENGYEL (HU):

Word for Word Project

11.20-11.40

Mikhail DURNENKOV and Ruslan MALIKOV (RU): Ignorance as a Research Method in Documentary Projects

coffee break

12.00-12.45 DEBATE                       

What are the obstacles in the reception of documentary performances?

The documentary drama competition which had been organized by the National Theatre Budapest.

presented by Róbert ALFÖLDI, the director of the National Theatre

Venue: National Theatre - Nemzeti Színház

Budapest IX., Bajor Gizi Park 1.

Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre) - Gobbi Hilda Színpad (Gobbi Hilda Stage)

Hungarian Feast - Magyar Ünnep by ZÁVADA Pál (175’)

a Nemzeti Színház production

Directed by Róbert ALFÖLDI

with English subtitles

Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre) – Nagyszínpad (Main Stage)

We Live Once or the Sea Disappears in Nothingness Thereafter - Egyszer élünk avagy a tenger azontúl tűnik semmiségbe by István MOHÁCSI, János MOHÁCSI and Márton KOVÁCS (220’)

a Nemzeti Színház production

Directed by János MOHÁCSI

with English simultaneous interpretation