baz@rt / Europe Learning - Frankfurt meets Krakow - 1

baz@rt / Europe Learning - Frankfurt meets Krakow

[ Institution ]

schauspielfrankfurt, Frankfurt on the Main

Sensual, playful, and analytic—such are the facets of the programme at schauspielfrankfurt. Every season the programme is placed under a particular theme. Plays from antiquity to the present are being performed on the large stage of schauspielfrankfurt and the small stage of schmidtstrasse12, a factory hall in the Gallus quarter. The audience has the choice: Euripides or Sartre, Goethe or Jelinek, Shakespeare or Houellebeq. Thus a bridge is built between the traditional repertoire of a city theatre and the possibilities of new theatre forms. Alongside the classics, works by young and contemporary authors are being put on stage—which is also a way of approaching and winning new audiences. With a blend of original productions, coproductions, and performances by outside ensembles, and also with its own international guest performances, schauspielfrankfurt indicates exciting directions in the theatre scene.
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Stary Teatr, Kraków

The Stary Teatr (Old Theatre) was founded in 1781 and is one of Poland’s oldest and most renowned stages. Since 1799 it has been located at the junction of Jagiellońska Street and Szczepański Square in Kraków. It was mainly Polish classics and German dramas that were performed here before the Second World War, but after 1945 a contemporary repertoire was imposed on the theatre from above, a repertoire to be staged in accordance with the artistic means of Socialist Realism that the government had declared binding.
From the middle of the 1950s the Stary Teatr was independent again. Associated with it were, among others, Konrad Swinarski, Jerzy Jarocki, Józej Szajna, Bogdan Hussakowski, Andrzej Wajda, and Tadeusz Kantor. In the 1970s the Stary Teatr gained international acclaim: it was invited three times to the festival “World Trade Season” in London and gave guest performances in Zurich und Berlin. New stage directors emerged, among them Maciej Prus, Jerzy Grzegorzewski, Krystian Lupa, and Kazimierz Kutz. The distinctive feature of the Stary Teatr was not only the integrated, harmonious ensemble, but also the circle of stage designers and musicians involved in the performances. In 1985 the Stary Teatr’s museum opened: it documents the history of its operation. In 1991 the theatre was awarded the status of a national theatre. Since 1992, in its “Goście Starego Teatru” (Guests of the Old Theatre) series, it has hosted encounters with world-renowned artists, among them Peter Brook, Roberto Ciulli, Czesław Miłosz, Luca Ronconi, Giorgio Strehler, Robert Wilson, Georges Lavaudant, and Luk Parceval. In 1994 the Stary Teatr was accepted into the prestigious Union of European Theatres. Since the 1990s stage directors at the Stary Teatr have included Grzegorz Jarzyna, Krzysztof Warlikowski, and Paweł Miśkiewicz. Until 1996 the theatre instituted four additional venues for contemporary productions.
Since 2002 Mikołaj Grabowski has been artistic director of the Stary Teatr. In 2004 the festival “baz@rt”, initiated by the Stary Teatr, took place for the first time and was devoted to French-language theatre. In its second season, in 2005, the festival focussed on German-language theatre.
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Venues
Kraków: Stary Teatr / Frankfurt on the Main: schauspielfrankfurt (schmidtstrasse12)
Dates
Kraków: “baz@rt” festival, 4-8 Nov. 05
Frankfurt/Main: festival "Europe Learning - Frankfurt meets Krakow", 9-11 Dec. 05
Participating Institutions
Stary Teatr, Kraków
schauspielfrankfurt, Frankfurt/Main