The 6th International Festival of Monodrama Thespis
(2007 02 21 13:15)
This year the Festival is going to present exquisite pieces from Great Britain, Poland, Russia, Israel, Palestine, Switzerland, USA, Norway, Ukraine, Japan, Canada, and last but not least Germany. Their forms and contents vary, and the organisers hope to show the audience once again that diversity is the strength of the monodrama. There will be a comedy and a tragedy, modern and traditional pieces that are spoken, danced, sung or mimed. They will be highly explosive and global, or just most intimate and gentle.
The programme also includes a theatre workshop led by Alexander Stillmark, a lecture on political theater in Israel by Gad Kaynar, Professor of theatre and drama at the Tel-Aviv University, an open discussion with artists and theatre researches and a symposium for journalists and artists.
The tradition of monodrama dates back to the origins of the theatre, indeed it marks those beginnings; mythical bards and storytellers were the forerunners to the protagonists in monodrama, who have no antagonist facing them on the stage, but only the audience.
Like no other dramatic form, this solo art is suited to an examination of man’s inner world, demanding the utmost from every artist. For in a very special way, monodrama offers the possibility of experiment: for example by repeatedly crossing over the borders into other genres such as music, dance, fine art or film. In addition, one-man plays can be very flexible towards an inclusion of whatever is currently happening in the world.
The genre has been enjoying a growing popularity for several years: entire festivals are now devoted to this simple, minimalist art of dramatic events.
The International Festival of Monodrama THESPIS, established in Kiel under the auspices of the Prime Minister of the State of Schleswig-Holstein in 1999, was the first and is up until now the only international festival of monodrama in Germany. In the meantime, other European thespians (including people from Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania and Russia) have joined together to form a network serving exchange amongst themselves and the promotion of the art of monodrama. As well as performances, joint symposia and workshops also contribute to this aim. In the year 2002, an official forum for the international festival of solo plays was founded under the auspices of the International Theatre Institute of UNESCO (ITI): Jolanta Sutowicz, the initiator and director of the THESPIS Festival in Kiel, was elected secretary of the committee.
Read here about the past editions.
More info on the event's website.
Contact:
Jolanta Sutowicz
Osloring 41
D 24109 Kiel
tel./fax: