For this year's anniversary event, Belgrade's International Theatre Festival, or Bitef, has prepared a synthesis of theatre tendencies that have characterized Bitef's programme over its 40-year history.
| From September 15-30, the Belgrade public will have the opportunity to see performances from around the world based on traditional ritual dance (Chalonarang, Shadows), new productions of classics (Double Inconsistency, Seagull, Don Juan), engaged drama of the 20th and the 21st centuries (A Story About Ronald, the Clown from McDonald's, Sizwe Bansi is Dead), choreographed performances (The Language of Walls, Ballet for Life, bODY_rEMIX/gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS), mixed media performances (Big in Bombay, It Only Looks I'm Dead, The Circus History, The Last Landscape) and open theatre (A Barren Land), which Dutch company Dakkar will perform on Ada Huja. The playwrights of this year's selections number among the greatest living theatre artists, like Peter Brook and Moris Bejar as well as some of the most interesting creators in contemporary theatre, like Rodrigo Garcia or Arpad Schilling. |
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We spoke with Jovan Ćirilov, Bitef's artistic director and selector, not to mention founder (along with Mira Trailović), about this much appreciated theatre festival.
To what extent has the 40th anniversary of the Festival influenced this year's selections at Bitef?
– We've taken this into consideration, naturally. Among other things, we have endeavoured to bring plays from around the world. This year's Bitef is not Euro-centric, though the greatest number of performances comes from Europe because this is the region to which we belong and productions here are rich. Bitef 06 opens with a Canadian play. South America is represented by two directors: Constanza Macras with a German performance Big in Bombay that bears a strong signature of Argentine imagination; and Rodrigo Garcia who lives in Spain and reaps successes from festivals worldwide. He is coming with a shocking and trendy performance because it is anti-global and shows this clearly with its name McDonald's. We have two plays from Asia; one comes from Siberia, and is a very subtle play, emotional in a Russian way; the other is from Bali. It is important that Chalonarang, a ritual dance drama from Bali, makes it here, but there some doubts due to financial reasons. This was the key performance through which Arteau drew his theory of non-verbal, ritual theater. Africa is presented by the drama Sizwe Bansi Is Dead by South-African playwright Athol Fugard, in which actors from Mali and Congo perform and which is directed by Peter Brook. The play speaks about the social problems of Africa but is also permeated with a special humor.
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How would you describe new theatre tendencies now that the barrier between drama and dance has been brought down, and since modernistic expression has survived postmodern revision? Is it a new emotion that Marie Chouinard, K. Macras, J. Nadj, Schilling bring to the 40th Bitef, as you wrote in one of your texts?
– It is not possible to make art without emotions, especially in theatre, where we have live actors. Emotion is perhaps the most important element of theatre, because our perception of the world is emotional rather than rational. Without emotions there is no art, especially dance, inter-dance, non-verbal and verbal theatre art. As concerns breaking barriers, this is true. Unfortunately our theatre reviewers have not yet noticed this, although Bitef has been trying all these years to enlighten them of this fact.
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If you had to create this year's Festival by choosing from performances over the last forty years, which titles would have topped such a list?
– Interesting. That would have made a virtual Bitef. I have to improvise, but it would certainly have to include one Living Theater, then Grotowski, La Fura dels Baus, Bob Wilson, Martaler, probably an early Lubimov, then a new Vasilev with a play that will probably come to the next Bitef, Pina Bausch, Stein and, naturally, Peter Brook.
At this year's Bitef we will see productions by Peter Brook and Moris Bejar, probably the greatest living director and the greatest choreographer. When did you first meet Brook?
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– Long ago when he came to Belgrade for the first time, to Bitef. We were strolling through Kalemegdan and I remember him saying that the sacred duty of every artist was not to repeat himself. He was constantly looking for something new.
What is new in Brooke's production that we will see in Belgrade?
– His new social engagement connected with Africa. He is under the great influence of theists, even the mystic Gurdyev. Personally I think that Brooke is a greater thinker than Gurdyev, but if this helps him or if such influences help European civilization to be less aggressive, then it is good. I think that Buddhism can hardly be grafted on European culture, but if it helps someone, please go ahead.
Has it been difficult to select among domestic productions?
– This is always critical, because our performances can hardly compete with performances from around the whole world. The competition is too great. This year, Sonja Vukičević is making a performance especially for Bitef, in the production of Bitef Theatre…
Did you include performances from the former Yugoslavia because they really deserve to be shown at Bitef or because you think that Bitef should survey what is happening in this area?
– Both actually. I think that we live in concentric circles and that we should know what is happening in our surroundings. The Sterijino Pozorje achieves this in great measure. This year's Bitef includes plays from Slovenia, Macedonia, the Slovensko Mladinsko Gledališče comes with the play One and Another in the direction of Ivica Buljan, and the NU Drama Theater from Skoplje with Moliere's Don Juan directed by Aleksandar Popovski.
Bitef has a rich complementary programme, and it is really a pity that so many shows run parallel, making it impossible to see everything.
– I'll tell you why that is. The auxiliary programs are done under the influence of a younger generation that works in the festival organisation. They are very ambitious and have a great appetite. They organise creative workshops, a round table, the Bitef film programme… This year, as an integral part of Bitef, we will have a special program – a showcase within which our domestic plays intended for foreign guests will be shown. Thus directors of important European festivals will see performances from our productions. There will be representatives from the Avignon Festival, the Russian Festival Golden Mask, the Baltic Festival that plans an ex-Yugoslav festival, and the strictest world selector and reviewer – Ms. Zimmerman. She, among other things, doesn't allow anyone to pay her travel costs, hotel accommodation or daily expenses. She goes to extremes to remain independent. This is her principle.
This year you've invited director Anja Suša to be a co-selector?
– I have. Anja participated in the selection process and decided on three plays. In the future she will participate equally in the selection. Whoever proposes better performances will bring more performances to Bitef that will suit his or her taste. This is how Mira Trailović and I used to work. However, we presented it as our joint selection; we didn't mention who had selected which performances. Anja indicated this year which performances she selected. I have nothing against this principle. She is a cultured person who knows very much what she wants. We go in the same direction, although we don't always think the same way about some things, which is also good.
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