22 International FLORA THEATRE FESTIVAL Olomouc 10 20 May 2018 Proti zdi / Against the Wall
FLORA THEATRE FESTIVAL 2018 The 22 Flora Theatre Festival took place in Olomouc from 10 to 20 May 2018. The international non-competition festival with the motto Against the Wall, featured 32 performances in the main programme over 11 days, altogether around 90 events. Olomouc welcomed theatre makers from 10 different countries. Festival activities included not only theatre productions but also concerts, discussions, workshops, seminars, installations or screenings; a two-day conference entitled Perspectives on Theatrology was part of the 22 festival as well as the book exhibition Book Me and the educational student programme FloraLab. Almost nine thousand spectators took part in the festival. The festival overture was varied in genre and consisted of a German film by Fatih Akin Gegen die Wand (Head-On), which inspired the leitmotiv of the 22 festival, the first performance of a new concert tour of the band Nylon Jail and a theatre project premiere of Opletal prepared by the director Michal Hába for the Divadlo na cucky theatre Olomouc. PROTI ZDI /AGAINST THE WALL The most important attribute of the Flora Theatre Festival is a clear dramaturgical outline. Under this year's motto Proti zdi / Against the Wall, the audience was confronted with extraordinary stories of nonconformist heroes whose daring as well as embarrassing mishaps and often recurring blows against the wall were depicted and commented on by prominent directors with a distinctive staging style. The Czech-Slovak drama programme section of the 22 festival was represented by distinctive theatre makers: David Jařab, Jan Mikulášek, Rastislav Ballek, Ivan Buraj, Jan Nebeský, Kamila 2
Polívková, Ondrej Spišák and Michal Hába, whose long-term direction and chosen themes communicated with the chosen leitmotif in various ways. They were very authorial, unorthodox adaptations of an original theme, visually innovative and often using playful hyperbole and harsh irony (drenched with black humour). The Personality of the 22 Flora Theatre Festival (and the face of the festival promo campaign) was Czech Actor of the Year Miloslav König. He performed 4 productions at the festival including The Thief's Journal by Masopust theatre company which was awarded a number of theatre awards. He managed to talk to the audience, perform his musical recital and pose in the town centre in front of his own stylized portrait during his several-day stay in Olomouc... 3
The most heated debates were provoked by the performance of a dynamic production of Jánošík by Rastislav Ballek. The most controversial Slovak production of the last decade was performed by Divadlo Andreja Bagara from Nitra. The Slovak scene was also represented by the drama section of the Slovak National Theatre they staged an adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone directed by Ondrej Spišák, a month after its premiere and were awarded with a long standing ovation at the sold-out Moravské divadlo hall. 4
The quartet of exceptional drama productions, performed to not-only-local audiences, was completed by two prominent Czech Scenes: Divadlo Na zábradlí Prague presented their new production Woodcutters directed by their main director Jan Mikulášek and Production of the Year Macbeth Too Much Blood directed by David Jařab 5
HaDivadlo, Brno captured the audience with a daring adaptation of Ibsen's Eyolf by the Artistic Director Ivan Buraj and an enthralling dramatization of the Petra Hůlová novel Macocha directed by Kamila Polívková. GEGEN DIE WAND The main programme section presented a Frankfurt based theatre Landungsbrücken for the first time in the Czech Republic, which brought an adaptation of Kassovitz's celebrated film La Haine (Hass, Hate). The director Linus Koenig, together with his ensemble, held a discussion with the spectators after its staging in Moravské divadlo theatre. 6
Volkstheater Vienna, a well-established European scene, presented their subtle adaptation of Müller's text Philoktet. Stefanie Reinsperger, the actress in the leading role currently part of the Berliner Ensemble turned into a charismatic DJ in the festival circus tent after the production... Rabih Mroué, Lebanese director, actor, dramatist and visual artist living in Berlin was the exclusive guest of the Flora Theatre Festival. He presented his lecture performance Sand in the Eyes, spent 3 days at the festival and also presented his work at a seminar at the Art Centre of Palacký University in Olomouc. 7
VISEGRAD PERFORMING ARTS A strong artistic statement, original reflections on the world around and a broad range of artistic approaches characterised the Visegrad section of the 22 Flora which in its sixth year offered an attractive collage of trends in the field of contemporary performing arts in Central Europe in 5 different venues. Adrienn Hód, currently the most respected Hungarian choreographer, prepared an emotional performance Solos at Dům u parku venue and then gave a dance workshop at Divadlo hudby. The audience in S-klub was mesmerized by the Canadian-Slovak duet of Clara Furey and Peter Jaško Untied Tales. 8
Apart from solo performances by Dominika Wiak from Poland and Milan Herich from Slovakia, the festival also featured the Hungarian dancer Rita Góbi with a robotic performance Volitant and Eliška Brtnická from the Czech Republic whose ethereally elegant performance Enola was creatively spiced up with cirque nouveau elements. The Czech-Slovak-Belgian co-production You Are Here created very close bonds while connecting the performers with the audience 9
the dance performance Soma provided the audience with a gallery-like experience. OFF PROGRAMME The festival organizers also aimed the off programme at kids and handicapped theatre makers... apart from dance workshops, they provided the active participants of the festival with workshops of Light Design and an entire array of thought-provoking discussions with visiting directors, choreographers, dancers, actors or dramaturgs theatre education enthusiasts were invited to a theatrology conference and a book exhibition. 10
The concert of Carlos Cipa & Occupanther from Munich provided a unique connection of electronics with acoustic instruments. Several tens of university students of theatre and art studies from DAMU Academy Prague, Faculty of Arts at Palacký University Olomouc, JAMU Academy Brno, and VŠMU Academy Bratislava were part of a programme entitled FloraLab, which included, apart from discussions with the participating artists, a number of workshops and seminars. The 22 Flora Theatre Festival was organized with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Olomouc region, the City of Olomouc, the Czech-German Fund for the Future, Palacký University, Moravské divadlo Olomouc and donors from the public sphere. Czech Television was the main media partner of the 22 festival. The festival was part of the important European cultural events under the label EFFE 2017 2018. 22 Flora Theatre Festival in numbers length in days 11 total number of events 86 productions in the main programme 32 foreign productions 15 venues 10 spectators around 9 000 festival staff 140 11
In Olomouc 13 August 2018 Petr Nerušil, Festival Director www.divadelniflora.cz neru@email.cz + 420 776 736 263 12