NEWS  
 
   
Seminar for young critics in Varna - Invitation
Meeting in Caen (France)
Sweden: Call for papers
OBE for Michael Billington
In Memoriam: Andrzej Zurowski (1944-2013)
In Memoriam: Joaquim Benite (1943-2012)
The IATC Award at the MESS Festival
The IATC Award in Bucharest
Seminar for young critics in Sibiu - Report
Seminar for young critics in Maribor - Report
In Memoriam: Prof. Dr. Ivo Osolsobě
The Third Asian Forum
Petition about Kabir kala Manch
Call for sponsorship for the IATC web journal
Seminar for young critics in Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012, Slovenia, October 16-21st, 2012 - Invitation
IATC Jury in Novi Sad
The Actor is Dead, Long Live the Actor! - Papers
Craiova symposium
IATC young critics’ seminar, Warsaw, March 26-30, 2012 - Report
Seminar for young critics in Sibiu, Romania, 28 May-2 June 2012 - Invitation
Why a congress, why in Warsaw?
Symposium in Novi Sad (Serbia) - The Actor is Dead, Long Live the Actor! - Invitation
In Memoriam: Váçlav Havel (1936-2011)
Seminar for young critics in Warsaw, Poland, March, 2012 - Invitation
Young critics' seminar, Riga, Latvia, November 19-23, 2011 - Report
IATC Jury in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The National Theatre in Lisbon – Teatro Nacional D. Maria II CALLS OFF 2012 SEASON
Violence in Paris for Castellucci
Situation in Hungary: "Theater with a sword"
IATC's letter in support of Robert Sturua
In Memoriam Dragan Klaić
Young critics’ seminar, Riga, Latvia
The Bureau meets in Gävle
IATC Jury in Novi Sad, Serbia
TO THEATRE WORKERS WORLDWIDE
Message from the president of IATC Japan
Europe Prize in St Petersburg
Meeting in Paris
Book on Howard Barker
International Strindberg Conference
IATC Jury in Tehran
An open letter on the oppression of international artists
Young critics' seminar, St Petersburg, Russia, April 12-17, 2011
IATC Asian Forum in Tokyo
IATC in Caen (France)
A letter of M. Yun-Cheol Kim about the media law in Hungary
Minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee, Maribor, October 2010
13th International Triennial Exhibition 'Theatre in Photographic Art'
IATC in Slovenia
Press Release XIV Europe Theatre Prize
Programme Maribor Conference
Minutes of the 24th General Assembly, Yerevan (Armenia)
Minutes of the meeting of the Executive Commitee I-II,Yerevan, Armenia, June 2010
In Memoriam Ian Hill
Call for papers - Maribor conference
In Memoriam Paulo Eduardo Carvalho
Code of practice
Publication from the New Critics Seminar in Cordoba, Argentina
Registration Form for the 25th Congress in Armenia [Word.doc] [ PDF ]
2010 Thalia Prize is awarded to Richard Schechner
NEWS - ARCHIVE ( 2004 - 2009 )
 
 
Symposiums
  Meeting in Caen (France)
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Monday,
4 March 2013
 


An encounter of international critics took place in Caen, France, from 2 to 8 February, 2013.

For more information, please see the French section of this web site > > >
 
 
Symposiums
  Sweden: Call for papers
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Wednesday,
20 February 2013
 

Thanks to Margareta Sörenson, vice-president of the IATC, a conference will take place on May 23rd in the afternoon, from 3-5 PM (or 5:30 for a discussion) in Jönköping, Sweden, in the framework of the Swedish Biennial of Performing Arts (21-26 May, 2013). The conference will be in English; if someone would like to present a paper in French we will translate and read it, but for discussions and questions it would be English.

Anyone interested to participate should write to Ann Mari Engel, Secretary General of Teaterunionen: < annmari @ teaterunionen.se >.

For more information about the Biennial, please follow this link: http://scenkonstbiennalen.se/

THE PERFORMING ARTS: the concepts, the practices, the critics

After twenty years, the Swedish Theatre Biennial has changed its name to the Swedish Biennial of Performing Arts. Festivals around the world have made this same change over the last one or two decades.

In the whole sweep of the theatre’s history, the spoken word has been at the fore for only a brief, even parenthetical period. It is only since the 1870s that the Western stage has been dominated by “language plays”—first in the works of Ibsen and Strindberg, for example, and later in O’Neill and Pinter, then in Jon Fosse and Lars Norén. In contrast, the classical theatre was always a mix of music, dance and drama, from Shakespeare and Molière in the West to the great works of Asia. Today, we can trace the impulse to combine the performing arts—the impulse towards “total theatre”—through the gesamtkunstwerk and the modernist movement to Mnouchkine’s theatrical creations of the 1980s, which left “talking theatre” far behind.

Why has the Biennial changed its name? What does the change reflect? A fundamental change in the arts? Renewed approaches to working with the stage in different spaces? What does it mean for the theatre in general? To what extent is this change global, and is it a challenge to the critics, so often language-centered?

The International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) brings together thousands of critics worldwide. During the upcoming Biennial, meetings will be held by both the Executive Committee of the organisation and the Editorial Board of Critical Stages, WebJournal of IATC. Members of both bodies will participate in the conference on the performing arts. We also invite anyone else interested in participating to propose a paper, sending us your title and a short synopsis before March 31st.

The conference is organized by the International Association of Theatre Critics in collaboration with the Swedish Association of Theatre Critics.

 
 
Awards
  OBE for Michael Billington
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Friday,
25 January 2013
 

In her traditional New Year Honours list, HM Queen Elizabeth II conferred the OBE (Order of the British Empire) on Michael Billington, long-serving drama critic for the Guardian newspaper in London and a member of the Critics’ Circle, the UK section of IATC. Such an honour is a rare one for theatre critics and well deserved by one who started writing newspaper reviews in 1965 and has been doing so ever since, Michael is also author of a number of books, most recently State of the Nation, a study of the relationship between British theatre and politics from 1945 to the present.

Ian Herbert, Honorary President of the IATC

 
 
In Memoriam
  In Memoriam: Andrzej Zurowski (1944-2013)
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Thursday,
10 January 2013
 

Andrzej Zurowski passed away

January 5, 2013 in the evening, after a long serious illness, died professor Andrzej Zurowski, lecturing at the Theatre Department (part of the Polish Studies Institute) at the Pomeranian University in Słupsk, Poland, a prominent Polish essayist and theatre critic, scholar of Shakespeare, a longtime chairman of the Theatre Critics Club, our reliable friend.


He left a number of important books, including the monumental series on the presence of Shakespeare's works in the Polish theatre and Czytając Szekspira [Reading Shakespeare] the book of brilliant sketches about Shakespeare, the other next to the sketches of Jan Kott so deep and comprehensive story of the works of the greatest playwright of all Europe, which is written in Polish. In recent years, he studied the achievements of Helena Modjeska, which resulted in the new books and findings in the American archives. He has had about one thousand publications on theatre history and on Polish and international contemporary theatre. Ten of his twenty three published books were devoted to Shakespeare.

Andrzej Zurowski spent many years creating an environment for theatre critics in Poland and in the world, for several tenure he served as the President of the Polish section of AICT / IATC, as well as international vice-president of the Association from 1981 - he became its honorary vice-president in 2003 and honorary president of the Polish Club Theatre Critics in 2001. The last time was in this role during the Congress AICT / IATC in Warsaw in March last year when, as a senior critic, he opened the world's largest meeting of theatre critics. He personally organized the Congresses in Poland in 1992 (Warsaw) and 1998 (Gdansk).

Board of the Club of Theatre Critics
Polish Section of AICT / IATC


In memoriam
Andrzej Zurowski


We are of the same generation, born in the same year... 2013 was supposed to be our year to have a private party together. I was expecting the publication of a book about him, being prepared for him by Anna Cetera in Warsaw, hoping that the illness would wait, that she would allow him some respite, that she would perhaps forget him. She did not, and did not accord him the additional time that would have done him so much good! I know that when the end is expected, every day—not only every month, let alone every year—is important. Today... we, his friends, go on but, just as in war, some fall, others weaken, but all hope for another day. Like Andrzej! But he did not get one! Let us hope  that this book devoted to him will henceforth be published, knowing how much he would have liked to hold it in his hands!

Andrzej has been actively present in the life of the International Association of Theatre Critics, and our IATC benefitted from his feeling for a duty well carried out,  as well as from his joie de vivre. These were both indistinguishable and excessive. He was never a man of half-measures! All that he undertook—meetings, two congresses, especially the one in Gdansk—bore the hallmark of his personality. He was in no way indifferent, in no way a neutral person protecting himself. He was always present, diving deep into work or pleasure.

Reading his book on Shakespeare in the Romanian version, I recognized his freedom, his sense of humour, and equally his capacity for bringing culture closer to the human, to life, to unintimidating perception. This is a book which the younger generations will always be happy to consult! I did not have access to his critical activity for linguistic reasons, but, when we shared our opinions, his were always clear, trenchant, neat. Without being rigid. He knew what he liked and what he did not like. And was never ready for a compromise! This explains the courage he often showed by leaving a room and, tall as he was, his departure never went unnoticed: the meaning of his exit was an uncompromising value judgment!

He managed to follow his path throughout the long night of the Polish state of siege, saving his integrity without, however, going along with the activists in his city of Gdansk. I saw him as a Brechtian character on a quest for survival, similar to Shen-Te in The Good Woman of Szechwan: How is it possible to live when everything prevents you from living? Many were those confronted, in the East, with this painful quartering. Andrzej confronted it and found his answer... at the heart of history, at the center of those fights.

Zurowski loved Shakespeare and the theatre, life and the stage, indistinct from one another, everywhere in the world. He did not separate them, he immersed himself in them with full and present confidence, every passing day! We were often together during meetings, and, with an indiscreet eye, I spied on his open notebook when I was bored! I was always puzzled to see Andrzej relentlessly crossing out all that was already accomplished, every day that had passed: he made a tabula rasa of the past by blackening it to the point that it became unreadable, indecipherable. He kept blank only the pages for the time to come, as if he never wished to return to his actual experience, only to move forward, free, towards some horizon of actions, passions, future dramas. As for me, ”captive lover” of the past, I envied him… but at the same time, this rage for oblivion worried me.

We were born in the same year and we became honorary representatives of IATC at the same time—a sign when the time comes to move to the margins—and today, I write these lines about him with the sadness inherent in any ending of a life. But he knew how to live!

Georges Banu, Honorary President of the IATC
(Trans. Michel Vaïs; ed. Lissa Tyler Renaud)

 
 
In Memoriam
  In Memoriam: Joaquim Benite (1943-2012)
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Friday,
4 January 2013
 

IATC is saddened to learn of the recent death of Joaquim Benite - director of both the Almada International Theatre Festival (the biggest theatre festival in Portugal) and the Almada Municipal Theatre - following a long illness. He was a great man of theatre who believed in achieving the biggest and broadest possible audience for serious, high quality drama. With Festival de Almada, he built a programme of such international renown that it attracted many of the great names in world theatre, from Peter Stein to Charlotte Rampling, the Berliner Ensemble to Compañia Jaime Lorca.


Joaquim began his public career as a journalist in the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, writing for newspapers such as República and O Século; indeed, he was, for a time, the very perceptive and socially engaged theatre critic of the newspaper Diário de Lisboa. After the Portuguese Revolution of April 1974, he was the editor of the cultural section of the newspaper O diário.

Joaquim was a strong believer in serious discussion on theatre and culture. A number of IATC colleagues were privileged to be involved in the excellent seminars which he organised as part of Festival de Almada.

A committed man of the political left, Joaquim castigated the Portuguese politicians who, in his opinion, saw the current economic crisis as an opportunity to pick the pocket of the arts. He was justly proud of what his theatre and his Festival were able to achieve in such difficult times. His final production, Timon of Athens by Shakespeare, was presented a few days after his death, when the Almada Municipal Theatre was named Teatro Joaquim Benite in his honour.

Joaquim's death is a great loss to theatre in Portugal and throughout the world.
 
 
Festivals
  The IATC Award at the MESS Festival
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Friday,
30 November 2012
 
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 28 September-7 October, 2012

The award of international criticism was given, by majority, to Hard to be a God, written by Kornél Mundruczó and Ivette Bíró, directed by Kornél Mundruczó, performed by Proton Cinema Budapest (Hungary), for its originality and freshness, daring stage execution, delicate and highly successful interplay between the cinematic and the theatrical and its imaginative handling of the acting space. A special mention was given, unanimously, to Villa (“not Discurso”), written and directed by Guillermo Calderón of Teatro Playa (Chile), for its deeply humanist, moving and original reading of an inhuman situation which finds cruel echoes in Sarajevo.

Finally, in its press release, the jury said what it found encouraging, daring and unique in the MESS is that it takes risks, in the sense that it provides a platform to companies conducting theatrical researches and experiment as well as to lesser known artists to show their work. This policy is supported by the MESS theatre goers who are open for such researches, giving impressive support to their festival.

Photo: The IATC jury of the 52nd MESS international theatre Festival of Sarajevo at work. From left to right: Jelena Gajevic-Perisic, (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Savas Patsalidis (Greece) and Michel Vaïs (Canada), president.
 
 
Festivals
  The IATC Award in Bucharest
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Wednesday,
14 November 2012
 
National Theatre Festival of Romania - Bucharest, 26th October - 4th November, 2012

For the first time in its twenty-two years of existence, the National Theatre Festival of Romania became one of the European theatrical events that can boast a great feature: an Award offered by the International Association of Theatre Critics. The IATC Jury consisted of three critics: Yun-Cheol Kim (President of IATC), Raymond Bertin (Editor of Jeu) and Octavian Saiu (Vice-President of the Romanian Section of IATC). They decided to focus on the future of theatre and thus to encourage the most promising young participants in the festival. The verdict was a double surprise, as the jury members agreed to offer not one, but two Critics’ Awards, titled “Young Hope”, to:

- House, a production of the Coliseum Arts Center in Chişinău, Republic of Moldova, featuring Snejana Puică, Mihaela Strâmbeanu, Ina Surdu, Irina Vacarciuc, script and director: Luminiţa Ţîcu

And respectively to

- Ioana Manciu for the roles Dvori and The Prosecutor in Games in the Backyard by Edna Mazya, a production of ACT Theater, directed by Bobi Pricop.

Offered at the end of a theatrical marathon that lasted for ten days, these two awards signified more than IATC’s recognition of promising talent. They meant hope, in a time and place were hope is, perhaps like anytime and anywhere, much needed.




Photo: From left to right: Octavian Saiu, Yun-Cheol Kim and Raymond Bertin.
 
 
In Memoriam
  In Memoriam: Prof. Dr. Ivo Osolsobě (1928-2012)
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Tuesday,
16 October 2012
 

Prof. Dr. Ivo Osolsobě passed Away On 27 September 2012, at the age of 84

Prof. Osolsobě was a musical theatre dramaturg, translating and at times directing American musicals, a semiotician, and a theatre arts scholar. A professor at the Janáček Academy of the Performing Arts in Brno, he was a good friend of IATC and contributed both wit and wisdom to several of the Association’s meetings.

A service to bid final farewell to Prof. Osolsobě was held on Thursday, 4 October 2012 at the Church of St Augustine in Brno.

 
 
Varia
  The Third Asian Forum
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Friday,
28 September 2012
 
Beijing, China , 22-23 September 2012

The Third Asian Forum (22-23 September 2012) was held in Beijing, China, hosted by the IATC China Section with the support of the Department of Dramatic Literature, National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.

This was the second time for IATC China to host the Asian Forum. With the theme “Traditional Theatre: Inheritance and Innovation,” the Forum brought together theatre people from mainland China, Taiwan, Honk Kong, Korea, Thailand, and Japan. The predominance of Chinese participants in the five paper-reading sessions meant that the emphasis naturally fell on Chinese operas, but wide-ranging viewpoints were presented: literary, historical, musical, political, practical, creative, etc. One of the many interesting points that were introduced in the Forum was that minor theatre traditions, often run by local amateurs, can be harmed by the state’s centralized policy of promoting regional arts into a broader culture market. Contributors from outside China helped put the Forum into a wider perspective with the discussion of Japanese noh plays, the question of cultural ownership, and a proposal for more effective cultural promotion policy.

Manabu Noda, IATC Japan

 
 
Varia
  Petition about Kabir kala Manch
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Friday,
14 September 2012
 

The following request was sent to us by the head of the Indian section of the IATC, Ms Deepa Punjani.

IATC members are invited to sign this petition about Kabir kala Manch.

http://www.change.org/petitions/release-kabir-kala-manch-members

Here are two pieces about the group; and why two members are in prison.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub010912LOST.asp

http://www.theatreforum.in/m/e-rang/

 
 
Festivals
  IATC Jury in Novi Sad
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Thursday,
19 July 2012
 

Workers Die Singing, awarded performance

For the second time Sterijino Pozorje Festival 2012 in Novi Sad, now in its 57th edition, gathered IATC International Critics' jury. The jury made up of Akiko Tachiki from Japan, Una Bauer from Croatia and Ivan Medenica from Serbia unanimously decided to award the performance Radnici umiru pevajući (Workers Die Singing), directed by Anđelka Nikolić, in the production of Heartefact Fund and Bitef Theatre Belgrade.

Herewith find a short notice about the awarded performance done by Akiko Tachiki.

Artistically reflecting the reality as a living text, theatre can examine the essential aspect of life sharing thoughts with others, namely spectators. “Workers Die Singing” amusingly questions the present condition of the world, analyzing the contradiction and disparity in the society. In this “Brechtian” musical theatre which sometimes looks naive, behind its simplicity there is a well calculated theatricality to convey the message. Socialistic gestures and lip-singing paradoxically caricature the situation of working class as an ironical metaphor, focusing on the loss of their voice desperately unheard under the “supposed to be” democratic system. Utilizing the musical elements in a unique way, they are successful to offer their theatre as a forum for an alternative thought at this critical time of transition and restructuring for the world. ( Akiko Tachiki )

 
 
Symposiums
  The Actor is Dead, Long Live the Actor! - Papers
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Thursday,
14 June 2012
 

The traditional International Symposium of Theatre Critics and Theatre Scholars: "The Actor is Dead, Long Live the Actor!" was held on May 26th and 27th 2012 in Novi Sad (Serbia), within the scope of The 57th Sterijino Pozorje, Festival of National Drama and Theatre, in collaboration with International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC).

The Symposium papers are on the following link >>>


 
 
Symposiums
  Craiova symposium
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Wednesday,
23 May 2012
 

A doctorate honoris causa was given to Maria Shevtsova.

Several members of the IATC, most of whom presented a paper, again took part in the Craiova Shakespeare symposium-festival, in Romania, which takes place every two years under the directorship of Emil Boroghina. Among those were honorary presidents Georges Banu and Ian Herbert, the present president Yun-Cheol Kim, the secretary general Michel Vaïs, the president of the Romanian section of IATC – and member  of the executive committee – Alice Georgescu, and the honorary president of the Romanian section Ludmila Patlanjoglu. Also present were some members of the editorial board of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, such as Manabu Noda, Octavian Saiu and Maria Shevtsova. During the event, Ms Shevtsova received a doctorate honoris causa from the University of Craiova. Congratulations!


 

The three co-chairpersons of the symposium, Alice Georgescu, Ludmila Patlanjoglu and Georges Banu.

A breath of fresh air: Manabu Noda, Maria Shevtsova, Michel Vaïs and Yun-Cheol Kim.
 
 
Symposiums
  Symposium in Novi Sad (Serbia) - The Actor is Dead, Long Live the Actor! May 25-28, 2012 - Invitation
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Friday,
23 December 2011
 

The traditional International Symposium of Theatre Critics and Theatre Scholars will be held on May 26th and 27th 2012 in Novi Sad (Serbia), within the scope of The 57th Sterijino Pozorje, Festival of National Drama and Theatre, in collaboration with International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC)

Chairman: Dr Ivan Medenica (Belgrade),
Adjunct General Secretary of the IATC


Theme : The Actor is Dead, Long Live the Actor!


We are kindly inviting interested colleagues to send a resume of their work (up to 500 words) in English, French or Serbian to the following addresses: ivan.medenica@gmail.com and dusana.todorovic@pozorje.org.rs until March 1st, 2012. We would appreciate if the complete texts (up to 5000 words) in English, French or Serbian were sent until May 1st, 2012. The papers will not be read during the Symposium, they will be available to the participants in advance on the web site of Sterijino Pozorje (www.pozorje.org.rs) instead, as well in the Symposium material. Authors are expected only to present the main theses and conclusions of their papers in 15 minutes, so there is enough time left for a discussion. Participants will have at their disposal technical equipment and support of Power Point and DVD presentations.

The Symposium will be held in English, French and Serbian, with simultaneous translation.

The organizer will take care of the expenses for accommodation and tickets to all the performances at the Festival, as well as the transport from and to the airport between Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Festival programme will be available on the web site of Sterijino Pozorje after the announcement of the selection (second part of March 2012). Participants from Europe will be provided with accommodation for up to three nights (arrival on May 25th, departure on May 28th), and participants from outside Europe for up to five nights.
 
Documents
  Symposium Invitation (PDF)
 
 
 
In Memoriam
  In Memoriam: Váçlav Havel (1936-2011)
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Tuesday,
20 December 2011
 

Vaclav Havel with the Excom of IATC

We have lost one of the greatest heroes of today’s unheroic world. As a dissident playwright, Váçlav Havel wrote so many memorable plays — such as The Garden Party (1963), The Memorandum (1965), Leaving (2007) — which made clear to us that theatre can still have political, social and philosophical impact, even in this individualistic, postmodern era. His life-long fights for democracy, freedom and human rights have been both fierce and non-violent, and had such fine results that he remains, and will remain, a great hope for the good and just world. With his integrity and courage, he has shown the world that moral authority is still possible. This makes our sorrow even deeper and more unbearable.

IATC has a special memory of Váçlav Havel, whom our executive committee members met in Pilsen when we had a meeting there in September of 2009. During the intermission of his play Leaving, Havel warmly greeted all of us in a room adjacent to the lobby of the theatre, and shared some twenty or so memorable moments with us over a glass of white wine. In this brief encounter, all of us could feel his quiet authority and big heart, as well as his passion for the theatre. When I challenged him with a critical question — how did he like this new version of the play? — he answered with that sweet smile: “I don’t comment on the productions of my plays.” As you may know, his play Leaving contains metaphysical and critical comments from the author himself, making the play even more enjoyable, and I might have expected a more critical response from him than the one he gave. This little episode reveals his wisdom and generosity.

Váçlav Havel’s conviction that "truth and love must prevail over lies and hate" will be remembered each time we encounter the reverse: corrupt politics, greed in commerce, and degraded humanity. His work for the causes of democracy, freedom, and human rights, to which he devoted his life, will never be forgotten. He will be remembered for ages to come as embodying the project of human perfectibility. His works will continue to remind us that theatre is a social art that can indeed make us more conscious, and in turn, make our society better, more just, and more loving.

I am left with a huge sense of loss and, from the bottom of my heart, I share this sorrow with my colleagues at IATC and with the Czech people both within and without the theatre. May he rest in peace.

Yun-Cheol Kim
President, International Association of Theatre Critics
 
 
Festivals
  IATC Jury in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Thursday,
1 December 2011
 

The first IATC International Critics' jury for the MESS Festival in Sarajevo, now in its 51st edition, comprised Randy Gener from the USA, Ian Herbert from Britain and Bojan Munin from Croatia.

Unlike the main MESS jury, which included IATC's Fernando de Ita from Mexico and had to distribute more than a dozen awards, the critics were asked only to give one prize, to a production or personality that especially attracted their attention.


It did not seem necessary to give further awards to some of the festival's already mch-garlanded visitors, such as Alain Platel's Ballets C de B, or Stefan Kaegi with Rimini Protokoll, both of whom brought productions that were very well received by the Sarajevo audience. Instead the critics chose a production of more local significance but universally appealing in the quality of its performance, Selma Sphaic's Hypermnesia. Here was a Bosnian director working in Belgrade with graduating theatre students from several ex-Yugoslav republics to deliver a vibrant picture of what it was like to grow up in the difficult conditions brought on by the splitting of the old Yugoslavia. Using personal reminiscence tempered by clever dramatic technique, they constructed a well-made and moving piece of theatre under the guidance of a promising young director.

Ian Herbert
Documents
  Report by Randy Gener
 
  Sarajevo Festival website > > >
 
 
 
Varia
  The National Theatre in Lisbon – Teatro Nacional D. Maria II CALLS OFF 2012 SEASON
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Tuesday,
22 November 2011
 

The austerity measures announced by the Government and the cuts decided by the 2012 Budget, that has just been approved, in the case of the TNDMII, do amount to an added value of 36%, to become even worse by the rise in VAT (23%). In our opinion, this financial downgrading, much bigger than the ones announced in relation to the other National Theatres, is based on gross miscalculation.  It does ignore three years of well-balanced management, and regular occupation rates over 90%, thus irrevocably compromising the present artistic program of the TNDMII, its management model and the whole of the program designed for 2012.

Both the artistic direction and the management board tried to increase the supervising entity’s awareness of this situation, warning against the inevitable consequences such measures would bring about, and made themselves available, at all times, to discuss some agreed upon solution that would ensure some future for the TNDMII, a future with a minimum of dignity, quality and the sense of public service that is demanded of it, and is laid down in its chart and mission.


Up to this day, the Secretary of State for Culture has proved powerless to find a solution in connection with the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, a solution that would reflect a political will to support and sustain the activity of the main theatre in the country.

Given this background, it becomes impossible to design a plan of activities for 2012 that might be both realistic and feasible, and so, we are forced to publicly acknowledge our incapacity to honour the commitments already agreed with producers, directors and actors, and even with our audiences, to whom we forcibly have a close and trusting relationship, as a result of the work we have been developing along the last few years.

Projects like Buchner’s «Danton’s death», in co-production with both Artistas Unidos and Guimarães  European Capital of Culture, directed by Jorge Silva Melo, and William Shakespeare’s «Lear» with Eunice Muñoz on the leading role become almost impossible to materialize.

The Artistic Director and the Management Board of TNDMII deeply regret this situation, but they do feel it to be essential that everyone becomes aware of the implications of the measures just announced, which put the continuity of a corner stone of the Portuguese cultural scene at risk!

Diogo Infante, Artistic Director of TNDM II
 
 
Varia
  Violence in Paris for Castellucci
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Monday,
31 October 2011
 

Violent acts to prevent a show in Paris.
The manager and the staff of "Théâtre de la Ville" do not give in to threats.

This text, in French, is in the French party of this Website > > >

The present text appeared for the first time on the site of Philippe Duvignal  www.theatredublog.unblog.fr

 
 
Varia
  Situation in Hungary: "Theater with a sword"
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Friday,
28 October 2011
 
Based on a decision by the mayor of Budapest, one of the repertory theaters in Hungary’s capital got a new artistic director in October 2011. His proposal was immediately (and illegally) published on the internet (by law there is no obligation to publish either the proposed, or the winning projects.) Before now, a proposal like this could never have been written, let alone accepted. More a political pamphlet than a professional proposal, the application adopts the language and ideology of the extreme right. The appointment of this new artistic director has caused probably the biggest scandal in the cultural field in the last two decades.

The theater in question, currently called the Új Színház (New Theater) will be renamed the Hinterland Theater because, according to the proposal, what is new is not necessarily good, especially “in the degenerate sick liberal hegemony”.
Known for his “commitment to the Hungarian nation”, as he states in his letter of intention, György Dörner, an actor and the new artistic director, and his intendant, István Csurka, a playwright and founder of the extreme right party MIÉP (Party of Hungarian Truth and Life), propose to  have a theater of “real national values,” “real Hungarian spirit,” and exclusively Hungarian drama. Since Budapest, argues Dörner, has no National Theater, this theater will take over that role. (Budapest actually has a National Theater, with a strong artistic program, which has been under siege since the elections in April 2010. In the past few months, the disputes around the National have calmed down. The statement that there is no National Theater in Budapest refers to the fact that, according to certain ideologues, the National does not serve as a national institution.) In the present economic climate, the proposal states, a place of true Hungarian spirit and feeling of national unity, are a form of survival.

An analysis of the new artistic director’s proposal, reveals the centrality of the word ‘war’ as a metaphor, along with its synonyms, fight, struggle, battle and fighters. One of the battles will be held against “the liberal, entertaining, money making theaters of Budapest”, which he compares to brothels. Because the new “Hinterland Theater will represent the Hungarian nation suffering under social-liberal domination,” collaborators of the theater are referred to as fighters and warriors. War is declared against the “egotistical, over-confident theater clan which has ruled for 80-100 years”, his intendant, Istvan Csurka, stated in his own newspaper after their victory. The time reference is a veiled anti-Semitic comment, since a high percentage of theaters in Budapest were owned and managed by Jewish Hungarians before the second world war. Everything has been oppressed, states the intendant, which is not ruled by “them”, i.e. the clan.

You can check your coat and sword in the cloakroom – adds the new intendant- because it is difficult to park in “Dohány street with its institutions.” This is yet another unmasked anti-Semitic comment- the “institutions” being Dohány street‘s famous synagogue. So, the intendant argues, you have to prepare yourself in a different manner and bring a sword with you (i.e. to protect yourself in that area.) This passage refers to the fact that the theater building is next to the former ghetto of Budapest, which is considered the Jewish district.

The intendant declares: “[After opening the theater] I will rely first of all on a national-Christian audience, the support of my combatants, and on their renewed appetite for a fight.” The national-Christian audience is understood in Dörner’s proposal to be “those Hungarians who believe in nation”.

The name Hinterland Theater refers to the unifying of the Hungarian nation both in the country and across the borders. Hinterland Theater promises not only to be a national theater, but also to integrate Hungarians around the world.

The theater proposes to produce Hungarian drama of the past and present (together with classical world drama), particularly Hungarian drama which discusses the tragic fate of the Hungarian nation. The intendant also states that György Spiró, a contemporary Hungarian playwright, will not be presented in his theater, because “as a writer” he did not prove to be Hungarian. I.e. his writing and sentiments are too Jewish.

The Hinterland Theater will not be a place for directors to experiment and interpret plays, but instead to ‘truthfully’ represent the texts. It will also be a place for young Hungarian writers who espouse certain traditions and values.

After the decision was made, intendant Csurka added: “Now, through the mayor’s decision, we feel both the sympathy and understanding of the whole government, and that this is only the first little step.”

In the appointment process of an artistic director, the final decision is taken by the owner of the theater, i.e. the local government and the ministry. A board of professionals read the proposals and make a recommendation concerning the decision. Politicians can, of course, make a different decision, an event which has happened often in Hungary over the last two decades. This time the professional board proposed a different person – the actual director of the theater. The mayor of Budapest did not feel it necessary to explain why he ignored the recommendation of the theater community and appointed somebody else . The real reason for appointing such an artistic director with such a proposal is indeed incomprehensible. (Something is being hidden here, stated Tamás Ascher, director, and member of the professional board. In a discussion with the former artistic director, István Márta (quoted in a radio program), the mayor said that he liked the idea of a theater with Hungarian drama. So Márta asked him: why then didn’t they write a call for such a theater?)

Now it looks like the proposal did not even meet the legal requirements for the applications: Some important directors and theaters who were named in the proposal as future collaborators - such as the Euro Theater in Bonn - declared after the result was announced that the artistic director has not even been in contact with them; one of the potential collaborators mentioned – the Hungarian Theater in Canada – closed down 20 years ago. Additionally, the proposal outlines only a 2 year program (instead of the required five.) A legal examination could be started. The mayor did not back down – but he has made on concession: the theatre will be not renamed.

Since the elections in April 2010 there is a lot of tension in cultural field, including the attacks upon the National Theater and independent companies’ budget cut. But such an ideology could not move into an institution in Budapest – but now here we are.

Andrea Tompa
 
 
Varia
  IATC's letter in support of Robert Sturua
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Tuesday,
4 October 2011
 
STATEMENT ON ROBERT STURUA
SEPTEMBER 30, 2011, TBILISI

Following our meeting with Robert Sturua at the Rustaveli National Theatre in Tbilisi, on September 29, we, the executive committee of the International Association of Theatre Critics, would like to make the following statement:
As lovers of the theatre and supporters of freedom of expression, we have been deeply disturbed by the removal of Mr Sturua from his post by the Georgian government. Like so many people around the world, we feared that the government had used certain statements attributed to Mr Sturua as a pretext to punish a critical voice from within the artistic community.

Needless to say, however, as internationalists, we were also concerned about the xenophobic remarks which had been attributed to Mr Sturua. At our meeting with him yesterday, Mr Sturua was very honest about what he said back in May of this year, and about his motivations. He expressed his regret for the particular phrasing which he used and was at pains to distance himself from anti-Armenian or any other xenophobic beliefs; indeed, he put strong emphasis upon the important contribution which Armenians have made to Georgian culture over many centuries.

We welcome these statements by Mr Sturua, which we believe are entirely genuine. Indeed, as is widely accepted, prior to this episode, there has been nothing in Mr Sturua’s theatrical work or in his public life which might suggest any xenophobia on his part.

Having met with Mr Sturua, it is obvious to us that this matter could have been resolved between the Georgian government and Mr Sturua without the director of Georgia’s National Theatre being removed from his position.

Robert Sturua is a theatre director of high international standing. We hope that, even at this late stage, the Georgian government will recognise its error in removing him from the Rustaveli Theatre, and, in the spirit of freedom of expression and artistic excellence, invite him to take the position of artistic director once again.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATRE CRITICS
 
 
In Memoriam
  Dragan Klaić (1950-2011)
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Thursday,
8 September 2011
 
Dragan Klaić (b. 1950), distinguished theatre critic, scholar, lecturer at several European universities and former director of the Holland Theatre Institute, passed away on the 25th of August, 2011, in Amsterdam.
In his extremely dynamic and far-reaching career, Klaić was active in a range of different fields: from dramaturgical work in contemporary theatre to theatre criticism, scientific research and pedagogical work, and further, to the management of cultural institutions and European cultural policy. He was the author of several books and several hundred articles on theatre and cultural policy; he initiated and led numerous significant international research projects; he spearheaded and chaired many international conferences. One of the last international conferences he created and moderated was in 2009 in Novi Sad (International theatre festivals and audience development) which was organised by a collaboration between the Sterijino pozorje Festival and the IATC.

Dr. Klaić was born in Sarajevo (the former Yugoslavia), graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Dramaturgy department) in Belgrade and received his Ph.D. from the Yale School of Drama in 1977. From 1978 to 1991, he taught History of World Drama and Theatre at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where he was one of the most prominent professors due to his exceptionally wide and profound knowledge, and was well-known for his pedagogic enthusiasm and inventiveness. He was one of the most influential Yugoslav theatre critics of the 1980s (writing for the foremost Belgrade daily, Politika), where he organised and moderated the round table discussions at Belgrade’s Bitef festival, and collaborated with some of the most important Yugoslav theatre directors of that time.

When the war began in the former Yugoslavia, Klaić moved to Amsterdam to become director of the Holland Theatre Institute. Under his charge, the Institute was transformed and became a modern and dynamic cultural institution oriented towards European collaboration and international projects in general. From that period on, he taught in universities in Amsterdam, Belgrade, Budapest, Istanbul, etc; he also taught numerous seminars and workshops throughout the world.

Klaić was strongly devoted to projects of intercultural collaboration, to development of cultural policies and to the protection of nonmaterial cultural memories. Klaić was president of EFAH (The European Forum of Arts and Heritage) and ENICPA (The European Network of Information Centers for the Performing Arts) and a member of the boards of important European cultural and educational associations: ECF, IETM and Erasmus, among many others. He was an honorary member of the Felix Meritis Foundation. Klaić initiated and oversaw a broad and pivotal research project on European art festivals: European Festivals Research Project (ERFP).

Besides the books Klaić published before 1991 in Yugoslavia in Serbo-Croatian (anthologies of modern drama, work on German playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz, for example), Klaić published many books in English as well as in other languages; he spoke several languages fluently: Serbo-Croat, Hungarian, English, French, Dutch. Sample English titles are: The Plot of The Future: Utopia and Dystopia in Modern Drama, Shifting Gears/Changer de vitesse, Mobility of Imagination: A Companion Guide to International Cultural Cooperation. His last book, Resetting the Stage: Public Theatre Between the Market and Democracy will be published in Bristol in 2012.
 
 
Seminars
  Young critics’ seminar, Riga, Latvia
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Friday,
12 August 2011
  Young critics’ seminar, Riga, Latvia, November 18-24, 2011

The International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) is pleased to announce a young critics’ seminar to be held in conjunction with the Baltic Drama Festival in the Latvian capital, Riga, November 18-24, 2011 (details of the festival programme follow below this invitation). Our hosts invite us to hold one seminar group, working in the English language. The seminar will be open to a maximum of 10 participants. Applications are invited from English-speaking professional theatre critics who are aged between 18 and 35 years of age; please attach to your application a brief (one page) CV, two or three examples of your writing as a professional critic and a letter of recommendation from your national section of IATC.

Successful applicants will be responsible for both the cost of travel to and from Riga and the cost of any visa required for entry to Latvia. However, the Baltic Theatre Festival generously offers participants free hotel accommodation, meals and tickets for performances.

The seminar will be led by Mark Brown, an experienced theatre critic from Scotland.

Applications are requested by September 10, 2011 to be sent by email to IATC Adjunct Director of Seminars, Mark Brown: markbrown.teatro@gmail.com. Successful applicants will be contacted as soon as possible in order that participants can make arrangements for travel and, where applicable, visas.


Documents
  Invitation Letter
 
 
 
Varia
  The Bureau meets in Gävle
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Thuesday,
21 June 2011
  The name of this Swedish city is pronounced “Jaaavrrra”. This is where a theatre biennial event took place, which includes a few international shows. This is also where, thanks to IATC vice-president Margareta Sörenson, the Bureau met from 10 to 15 May, 2011, to discuss some major issues which it had been impossible to deal with at the executive meeting in St Petersburg, on the preceding month.

On 13 May, the Bureau, consisting of the president, the secretary general with his adjunct, and the two vice-presidents (only the treasurer was absent), has taken decisions about the Thalia Award, which will be given during the 26th World Congress in Warsaw, Poland, in April 2012. The members throughout the world are invited to submit candidacies before 15 September, 2011.

During this meeting, we have also finalized the organization of the Fall meeting of the executive committee in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 28 September to 3 October. Since Irina Gogoberidzé was present in Gävle, the following working programme has been decided:

1. A round table discussion on Georgian theatre (towards the end of our sojourn);
2. A discussion with Georgian critics on the theme: “From ethics to practice: the code of the IATC.”

This event should be the prelude to the creation of a national section of the IATC in Georgia.

The president and the vice-president on the site of the biennial, and other IATC people in the Strindberg Intimate Theatre in Stockholm.
 
 
Festivals
  IATC Jury in Novi Sad, Serbia
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Thursday,
16 June 2011
  For the first time in the history of Sterijino Pozorje Festival, the 56th edition of this annual Serbian theatre festival which puts the accent on original drama and has in the times of Yugoslavia presented the central theatre assembly of all its federal constituent parts, exchanged the award of the round table of critics by introducing the jury of IATC/AICT.

From left to right: Jury member Primož Jesenko (Slovenia), Secretary General Dušana Todorović (Serbia), Jury member Judit Csaki (Hungary), Actor from the awarded performance (Cowardice) Srđan Sekulić (Serbia), President of the Jury Darinka Nikolić (Serbia).

The jury made up of Darinka Nikolić (Serbia), Judit Csaki (Hungary) and Primož Jesenko (Slovenia) evaluated 8 theatre pieces and unanimously decided to award the performance Kukavičluk (Cowardice), directed by the Croatian director Oliver Frljić, in the production of the National Theatre Subotica.

In its concluding word, the jury stressed the uncompromising and constructively provocative position of the performance to the neuralgic points of the contemporary Serbian society.

In this way, theatre establishes a paradigmatic relation with society, staying consistently experimental in its doing and prolonging the thread of numerous role models from the theatre history.

Almost to prove that, the audience on the first day of the festival was shielded by a cordon of policemen from manipulated teenage extremists who tried to protest in front of the theatre and even burnt some flags.

The opening day of the festival, 26 May 2011, namely coincided with the arrest of Ratko Mladić, the most notorious Haag fugitive.


Site
  www.pozorje.org.rs    
 
 
Varia
  TO THEATRE WORKERS WORLDWIDE:
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Wednesday,
4 May 2011
 

DUE TO EXTREMELY HARSH AUSTERITY MEASURES, THE PRESENT GREEK GOVERNMENT, THE FINANCE MINISTER AND THE MINISTER OF CULTURE HAVE DECIDED TO CLOSE THE GREEK THEATRE MUSEUM WHICH HOUSES NOT ONLY THE HISTORY OF THE GREEK THEATRE, BUT IRREPLACEABLE AND UNIQUE HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS - THEATRE PROGRAMS, ARTIFACTS, COSTUMES, PICTURES, TEXTS, ETC. THE THEATRE COMMUNITY IN GREECE AND WORLD-WIDE MUST NOT PERMIT THIS. IF YOU AGREE, PLEASE SHOW YOUR PERSONAL SUPPORT BY SIGNING THE PETITION ON THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE. IT APPEARS FIRST IN GREEK AND THEN IN ENGLISH.
THANK YOU.

Petition
  http://theatremuseum.blogspot.com/
 
 
 
Varia
  Message from the president of IATC Japan
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Wednesday,
4 May 2011
 

(...) In the face of such catastrophic disaster, what can we do as people committed to theatre? What is the role of theatre critics ?  These questions keep coming back to me everyday, and I keep thinking as if in a maze without an exit ...

Documents
  Letter
 
 
 
Awards
  Europe Prize in St Petersburg
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Wednesday,
27 April 2011
  Many members of the IATC were among the some five hundred persons invited for the events of the Europe Prize for theatre, which took place this year in St Petersburg, Russia, from April 12th to 17th, 2011, in partnership with the Baltic House Theatre. The XIVth Europe Prize was awarded this year to Peter Stein, founder of the Schaubühne in Berlin, and the XIIth prize for New Theatrical Realities went to Viliam  Dočolomanský (Slovakia/Czech Rep.), Katie Mitchell (United Kingdom), Andrey Moguchiy (Russia), Kristian Smeds (Finland), the Teatro Meridional (Portugal) and the Vesturport Theatre (Iceland). Finally, a special prize was given to Jurij Petrovic Ljubimov. We were able to see shows by all the laureates, and to take part in discussions with them or about their work. The official press release of the Europe Prize can be found at: www.premio-europa.org

As usual, the IATC took the opportunity of this important event to organize a meeting of its executive committee. All members were present except the US delegate, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, who unfortunately was unable to get his visa on time. There was also a meeting of some ten members of the editorial board of IATC’s bi-lingual web journal, Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, during which themes for the upcoming issues were discussed along with other philosophical and practical matters related to the journal. A seminar for young critics was also held.

 
 
Varia
  Meeting in Paris
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Saturday,
9 April 2011
  On March 11, 2011, on the initiative of the ITI (International Theatre Institute), a meeting was held in Paris, at UNESCO, which brought together eleven international theatre organizations. As was stressed by ITI's Secretary General, Tobias Biancone, it was the first time in 50 years that such a meeting was held. This was therefore an important event.

After the usual presentations by the inviting and organizing bodies, the morning session was spent with each association's introducing itself. Among them, of course, was the IATC, represented by its President, Yun-Cheol Kim, and its Vice-President, Jean-Pierre Han. These presentations were necessary, because we must admit that we did not, and still do not, know each other very well. Although ASSITEJ, UNIMA or the ETC (European Theatre Convention) may be familiar to some, since some IATC members belong to them, as well, other organizations such as the WDA (World Dance Alliance), IDEA (International Drama Theatre and Education Association) or the FIA (international Federation of Actors) are less known.

More than twenty persons participated. Divided into three groups, we worked all afternoon on three specific issues: statutes concerning the artist, the situation and the relations between theatre and society, and the relations between art and education. Each group then presented a brief summary of its work and of the exchanges which followed.

In conclusion, of course more meetings of this kind were planned; some contacts were made between different organizations in order to achieve joint ventures. This working day can thus be considered a foundation for further cooperative projects.

Jean-Pierre Han, Vice-President of IATC

 
 
Publications
  Book on Howard Barker
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Friday,
25 March 2011
 
Our colleague Mark Brown has edited a collection of interviews with the great, contemporary English dramatist Howard Barker, which has now been printed and is set for publication in early April:
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=4741/
.

He hopes that some critics will be able to review the book - without mercy or malice, of course - in journals, magazines or newspapers.

If anyone wants a review copy, please send an email to Jelena Stanovnik at Intellect Books:
jelena@intellectbooks.com. The publisher prefers to deal with review requests directly.


 
 
Symposiums
  XVIIIth International Strindberg Conference
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Tuesday,
1 March 2011
  Call for papers

August Strindberg died in 1912 at the age of 63. Since his death Swedish and international scholarship has made the perspectives on his time and his work considerably broader and deeper. How do we look upon his works today: his plays, his poetry, his prose, his aesthetical essays on theatre, his social and political criticism, his texts on science and his own paintings? How do we understand the society in which he lived? Strindberg's Sweden was a country characterized by rapid industrial development and thorough cultural changes. How do we understand Strindberg's relationship to this new society?

Every literary current has had its own interests and its own view of Strindberg both as a private person and as a writer. In what way has the conception of Strindberg and the use of his ideas changed through the years? From a working class hero to an avantgarde icon, from a psychological enigma to a corpus of texts?

In cooperation with the Strindberg Society Stockholm University invites all interested scholars, critics and theatre-workers to the XVIIIth International Strindberg Conference between May 31st and June 3rd 2012 on the theme of The Strindberg Legacy.

Submission of abstracts to  roland.lysell@littvet.su.se before October 1st 2011

 
 
Festivals
  IATC Jury in Tehran
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Saturday,
26 February 2011
  This is the second year that the IATC has accepted the kind invitation of its Iranian section to form a jury for the Fadjr International Theatre Festival in Tehran. For this 29th Festival, the two Vice-Presidents, Margareta Sörenson and Jean-Pierre Han, along with the Secretary General, Michel Vaïs, and two Iranian critics, Iradj Zohari and Ashkan Ghafar Adli, evaluated 24 shows–all in Farsi–some of which were excellent, and gave six awards at the closing ceremony held on February 20th, 2011. Here in the first photo, they are in their final discussion (in French), in the office of Katayoun Hosseinzadeh Salmasi, Iran's delegate on the Executive Committee of the IATC and Executive Manager of International Affairs for the Fadjr Festival. From left to right: Ashkan, Margareta (hidden), Jean-Pierre, Michel and Iradj. Second photo: the jury with Mehdi Nasiri, our guide and also a theatre critic.

 
 
Varia
  An open letter on the oppression of international artists
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Saturday,
22 January 2011
 

In the wake of governmental repression of theater artists in Hungary and, more recently, in Belarus, the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC) adds its voice to the global chorus calling for greater freedom on the pages of publications and on the
stages of oppressed theatre companies (...)

Documents
  Letter
 
 
 
Symposiums
  IATC Asian Forum in Tokyo
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Monday,
27 December 2010
  The Asian member countries of IATC held their second forum in Tokyo, Japan in late November 2010. The practice of Asian national sections coming together regionally was begun in Seoul, Korea in 2006 at the 50th anniversary congress of IATC.
The theme of the symposium was “International Collaboration and the Role of Criticism.” Accordingly, lectures were given on the topic of theatre and dance productions which combine countries, cultures, subcultures and languages between China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
This provided plenty of fuel for interesting discussions on whether and how one culture can understand her neighbour, and how biased this understanding may be depending on who finances the co-operation project.
European visitors to the Forum gave talks on Asian guest performances in the West and global interpretations of Shakespeare.
The Forum was organized by IATC Japan in co-operation with the Japan Foundation and Festival/Tokyo and with support from the Collaborative Research Centre for Theatre and Film Arts. The hosts spared no trouble in guiding their guests both through the labyrinth of Tokyo streets and through high quality Japanese theatre performances in the evenings. A fair amount of local listeners showed a keen interest toward the Forum during its four days despite having to pay an admission fee to the lectures.


Discussion about a Korean-Japanese family play Yakiniku Dragon. From right and last name first, IATC president Kim Yun-Cheol, professor Kim Hyung-Ki (Korea), playwright Chong Wishing and Nishido Kohjin (president of IATC Japan). (Photo Masaki Hiroyuki)
From left, critic Tachiko Akiko (Japan), producer Tang Fu Kuen (Singapore),
playwright Sakate Yoji (Japan).
(Photo Masaki Hiroyuki)
 
 
Symposiums
  IATC in Caen (France)
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Thursday,
23 December 2010
  Some ten IATC members accepted the kind invitation of Jean Lambert-wild, Director of the Comédie de Caen --Centre dramatique national de Normandie (France)-- and of Jean-Pierre Han, Vice President of IATC, to take part in a two-day symposium on "The state of the theatre and the state of criticism," from December 13 to 17, 2010.

  The participants --from Finland, Canada, Slovenia, China, the U.S. and Korea-- were given the opportunity to compare the situations in the theatre and theatre criticism of their respective countries (does one reflect the other?) with that which prevails in France. The Director of the Centre dramatique national participated actively and enthusiastically in our discussions; we also saw a show he both directed and acted in, "The Death of Adam," a production that was offered at the Festival d'Avignon in 2010.

Our stay allowed us to visit some major tourist attractions, such as the Caen Memorial ("Peace Historical City"), the Women's Abbey and the Men's Abbey (where William the Conquerer lies), and above all, to visit IMEC, Institut Mémoires des écritures contemporaines (Institute for the Memory of Contemporary Writings). This centre keeps thousands of manuscripts and archives which have belonged to writers, artists and associations, including some documents which belonged to Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Marguerite Duras, Yannis Kokkos and Antoine Vitez. Ms Chantal Meyer-Plantureux, Professor of Performing Arts at Caen University and researcher for CRHQ-CNRS, gave us fascinating insight into the one hundred years of archives of the Syndicat français de la critique dramatique et musicale (1877-1977). The dynamism and continuity of the French critics' association gives us a better understanding of the context in which IATC was founded, in France, in 1956. This motivates us to bring together the archives of our international association, in order to avoid their disappearing, as nearly happened with the French archives.
Michel Vaïs, Secretary general of l'AICT

From left to right: Jean Lambert-wild, Jean-Pierre Han, Yun-Cheol Kim, Matti Linnavuori, Zhang Qingyan, Primoz Jesenko, Brigitte Purkhardt, Michel Vaïs, Sidonie Han, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins and JulieYork Coppens.
 
 
Varia
  A letter of M. Yun-Cheol Kim about the media law in Hungary
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Monday,
6 December 2010
 

(...) Theatre has always been reflecting human societies and one of its essential functions is to criticize social complacency to better recognize and understand the world and the humanity. IATC deplores strongly any governmental attempts to control the arts, culture and media, whose critical performance has become even more important in this 21st century of globalized culture. (...)

Documents
  Letter
 
      Related documents
 
 
 
Varia
  13th International Triennial Exhibition 'Theatre in Photographic Art'
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Friday,
19 November 2010
 

The Rules for 13th International Triennial Exhibition 'Theatre in Photographic Art' organized by Sterijino Pozorje Festival in Novi Sad (Serbia) May/June 2011. The Exhibition is held under the patronage of FIAP (International Federation of Photographic Arts) ...

Documents
  Rules & Entry Form
 
 
 
Symposiums
  IATC in Slovenia
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Tuesday,
26 October 2010
 

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 was celebrating its 45th edition. Delegates watched 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”, at which many rich papers were given and an energetic debate was held.

The festival kindly hosted the meeting of IATC excom 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 organisation and hospitality.

The thank you speech of the IATC president. On the right, Alja Predan,
artistic director of the Maribor Festival. (Photo: Katayoun Salmasi)
Participants of the symposium on Intercriticism. (Photo: Katayoun Salmasi)
 
 
Awards
  Press Release XIV Europe Theatre Prize
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Friday,
15 October 2010
 

The events of the XIV edition of Europe Theatre Prize and of  the XII Europe Prize New Theatrical Realities, will take place in Russia, in St. Petersburg from 13th  to 17th April 2011. The Prize events will take place under the support and patronage of the Russian Government with its Ministry of Culture and the Government of the City of St. Petersburg. Furthermore, the “Fund Baltic International Festival Center” commits itself to host, finance and organize the events of Europe Theatre Prize in St. Petersburg ...

Documents
  Press Release
 
 
 
Symposiums
  Programme - Maribor conference
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Monday,
11 October 2010
 

Inter-criticism- International conference, organized by the Maribor Theatre Festival and Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia (Društvo gledaliških kritikov in teatrologov Slovenije, the National Section of AICT/IATC) - Maribor, 21-22.10.2010

Documents
  Programme
 
 
 
In Memoriam
  Ian Hill
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Tuesday,
10 August 2010
 
Ian Hill, a longstanding friend of IATC and for many years its Irish representative on ExCom, has died suddenly at the age of 73. Ian trained in dentistry at Queen's University, Belfast , where he got a taste for journalism, becoming editor of student magazine The Gown. He went on to work for the Belfast Telegraph before turning freelance, where he built up a reputation for being one of Northern Ireland 's leading arts writers and critics. As well as writing about the arts - theatre was his great love, and he also reviewed exhibitions - he was a presenter of arts programmes on Radio Ulster. In recent years he contributed an arts gossip column to the Belfasst Telegraph as ‘Man About Town’, while continuing to review, for the British Theatre Guide among others.
He contributed a major essay on Arts Administration to Stepping Stones, the Arts in Ulster, 1971-2001 (Blackstaff Press, 2001), the third volume in the Arts in Ulster series, covering the development of Arts Council policy and practice.
He was also a travel writer and spent ten years working for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. He wrote or contributed to many books about Northern Ireland and also on his other love, fishing.
He was the theatre reviewer for the Belfast Telegraph for many years. His reviews showed a wide and deep knowledge and love of Irish theatre and he was always able to place the productions he reviewed in context. He was not afraid to be totally honest, so that praise from Ian was praise indeed and criticism was always constructive.
He died at home on Friday 16th July. He leaves a wife, Helen, and two daughters, to whom the Association extends its deepest sympathies.
Ian Herbert
Honorary President of IATC
 
 
Symposiums
  Call for papers - Maribor conference
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Tuesday,
13 July 2010
 

Dear Colleagues, you are kindly invited to contribute your paper to the international conference entitled Intercriticism
Organized by the Maribor Theatre Festival and Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia (Društvo gledaliških kritikov in teatrologov Slovenije, the National Section of AICT/IATC).
The conference will take place in Maribor, Slovenia, October 20 – 24, 2010, in Anton Trstenjak Hall, Slomškov trg 15. It will include six formal sessions on 21 and 22 October. Each speaker will have twenty minutes to present his/her contribution.


Documents
  Call for papers
 
 
 
In Memoriam
  Paulo Eduardo Carvalho
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Friday,
28 May 2010
 
  It is with an immense sorrow that we have to announce the tragic death of our colleague and member of the executive committee of IATC representing Portugal, Paulo Eduardo Carvalho.
Dr Carvalho was also director of the seminars for new critics of IATC. Pleased read the obituary below, and pass the word to all who may have known him. On behalf of the IATC, we express our deepest condolences to his family, to his numerous friends and to his colleagues.





Paulo Eduardo Carvalho
(7th July 1964 – 20th May 2010)

Born in Oporto on 7th July 1964, Paulo Eduardo Carvalho graduated from the Faculty of Letters, University of Oporto, in 1984, with a degree in Modern Languages and Literature (Portuguese and English Studies); taking the Translation Course in Modern Languages and Literature at the same university, in 1990. He then went on to complete a Master’s degree in English Studies at the Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon, in 1993, with A História no Território da Imaginação: A Irlanda de Brian Friel e Field Day [History in the Territory of the Imagination: The Ireland of Brian Friel and Field Day]. 2007 saw Paulo receive his PhD in English Studies from the Faculty of Letters, University of Oporto, for Identidades Reescritas: Figurações da Irlanda no Teatro Português [Rewritten Identities: Representations of Ireland in Portuguese Theatre]. This study, remarkable for its documental, theoretical and critical consistency, was subsequently published by Edições Afrontamento in 2009.
In addition to taking intensive courses abroad (most frequently in England, Ireland and Italy), Paulo was an outstanding presence in a host of international events organised by the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC-AICT), the English Society for the Study of English (ESSE) and the International Federation for Theatre Research (FIRT-IFTR). He also presented papers at Trinity College (1999), the Dublin Theatre Festival (2003), a number of IATC-AICT congresses, and at various European universities to which he was invited.
He was responsible for cultural activities in various major institutions in Oporto, such as Teatro Nacional São João and Rivoli Teatro Municipal; in addition to collaborating with the Serralves Foundation, ESMAE (the School of Music and Performing Arts) and the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation, among others.
A keynote speaker at numerous conferences and colloquiums (in Portugal and abroad), Paulo always brought tremendous energy and enthusiasm to debates on the theatre, literature, cinema, music and the fine arts, working with various institutions in the organisation of colloquiums, publications, courses and exhibitions, among countless other activities.
He was a tireless member of the Institute for Comparative Literature Margarida Losa at the University of Oporto; the Centre for Theatre Studies at the University of Lisbon and the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Oporto; making a vital contribution to colloquiums, seminars, conferences, exhibitions and various publications.
He joined the Board of the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics in 2004, representing it on the IATC-AICT Executive Committee, and was currently the International Association’s Director of Seminars for New Critics.
In 2004, Paulo co-founded the magazine Sinais de Cena (produced by the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics together with the University of Lisbon Centre for Theatre Studies), immediately joining the Editorial Board and regularly contributing articles, reviews and translations. He was also part of the team involved in producing the Cadernos de Literatura Comparada at the Institute for Comparative Literature Margarida Losa at the University of Oporto.
In the theatre, he was a founder member of the Oporto company, Assédio, did dramaturgical work with various directors and translated over forty plays by such diverse authors as Brian Friel, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Martin Crimp, Martin McDonagh, Marina Carr, Athol Fugard, Caryl Churchill, Wallace Shawn, Frank McGuinness and Thomas Kilroy, among others.
A man of vast learning, blessed with boundless energy and a rare artistic sensibility, Paulo Eduardo Carvalho was a major figure in both Portuguese theatre and Portuguese theatre studies. He established a remarkable level of academic rigor in dealing with the theatre, which was reflected by what he wrote in the field of the essay and critical analysis, clearly shown in his book on the Portuguese director, Ricardo Pais, Ricardo Pais: Actos e Variedades [Ricardo Pais: Acts and Variety] (Oporto: Campo das Letras, 2006).
He lived generously and lovingly, always available to anyone needing his advice and priceless help.
Paulo left us on 20th May. During a warm afternoon, he was tragically taken by the sea; and all who knew him are left with a huge, immeasurable sense of loss.

 
 
Awards
  2010 Thalia Prize
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Friday,
29 January 2010
 

Richard Schechner (photo: Sophie Proust)
  2010 Thalia Prize is awarded to Richard Schechner


The International Association of Theatre Critics’ Thalia Prize to American Critic-Scholar Richard Schechner

The International Association of Theatre Critics – an association of theatre critics, theatre journalists and theatre scholars in over 50 countries – is pleased to announce that the winner of its highest honour, the Thalia Award, will be American critic-scholar Richard Schechner for 2010.

“The Thalia is awarded by IATC every two years,” said IATC President Kim Yun-Cheol of Korea, “to a scholar, theatre critic or theatre practitioner whose writings have significantly influenced critical thinking about the art of theatre.  Previous winners have included Eric Bentley (US, 2006) and Jean-Pierre Sarrazac (France, 2008). We are delighted to add such an eminent man of theatre as Prof. Schechner to the list of Thalia laureates.”

The prize includes a specially designed theatrical memento contributed by the Romanian national IATC centre and the Craiova “William Shakespeare” Foundation, and full expenses to attend the award ceremonies which in 2010 will be in Yerevan, Armenia June 16 to 20. Previous awards have been presented at IATC Congresses in Seoul, Korea and Sofia, Bulgaria.

President Kim pointed out that Schechner, based at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, has been the editor of one of the world's leading theatre journals, TDR (The Drama Review) for some 30 years. He first edited TDR from 1962 to 1969 and then returned to it again in 1986, still editing the quarterly journal today.

“During that time, he has turned it from a rather specialised academic journal into the world's leading journal on the avant-garde and later helped it to evolve into the premiere journal of Performance Studies, a field he virtually invented. TDR promoted very early on the work of most of the major avant-garde artists of the late 20th century from Brook and Grotowski, to Barba, Boal and Suzuki. Through its work in Performance Studies, the journal has significantly changed the way theatre is seen world-wide. As well, Prof. Schechner has been a tireless theorist of theatre in Asia and Africa. Indeed, an Asian version of TDR is now coming out in Shanghai.

He is also the author of a variety of books which have significantly affected perceptions of theatre on the stage, and the theatrical in our lives,” said Kim.

Among Schechner’s major books are Public Domain (1968), Environmental Theatre (1973), The End of Humanism (1981), Between Theatre and Anthropology (1985),  By Means of Performance: Intercultural Studies (1990), The Future of Ritual (1993), and Performance Theory (2003). His books have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, Parsi, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Hungarian and Serbo-Croat.

“One other aspect of his lifelong work as a scholar-critic-editor has been his constant willingness to test his theories as a working director, “ said Kim. “He has done this on stages in New York through his Performance Group (which produced such landmark shows as Dionysus in '69), through the Wooster Group, through the East Coast Artists company which he ran from 1992 to 2009 and in the many individual productions he has staged in China, India, South Africa, Poland and Taipei among other countries. He is truly an international figure and a most worthy winner of this award. We are delighted that he has chosen to accept the Thalia Award for 2010.”

For additional information contact  KIM Yun-Cheol, IATC President -- yunckim911 @ yahoo.com or Michel Vaïs, IATC Secretary-General – vais @ ca.inter.net
 
Copyright..IATC - International Association of Theatre Critics / AICT - Association internationale des critiques de théâtre..2013