The Legend of Europa

Cre-Actors: working on the ebook The crack Cre-Actors team of 8 drawn from across the 4 partner countries met over 2 days in Stockholm; just as the temperature of the water began to divide the Northern Europeans from their Southern cousins when it came to swimming in one of the glorious lakes which lie 20 minutes from the centre of Sweden’s capital. We came together to mull over plans for the e-book which will serve as the key resource emerging from our Cre-Actors project. This will be a lively, visual, aural and narrative journey for all those interested in how to work collaboratively, interculturally to make theatre across languages, cultures, different organisational shapes and national contexts. As well as the e-book we were also delighted to learn about our Swedish hosts Riksteatern, from Dritëro Kasapi (Artistic Director) and Pratik Virhani (Co-ordinator of International relations). Founded in 1933, Riksteatern is the national touring company covering theatre, dance, ballet, youn...

Done!   The third stage of our meetings and work sessions is accomplished! It took place in Dublin, or rather in Tallaght, from July 25 to 29. During this scorching period, the Irish freshness was very soothing. And the joyful atmosphere, with no other concern than that of research and discovery carried out among friends, of the quest for theatre… such a volatile art! We brought together around twenty participants, around the three companies (Border Crossings, Teatro dell'Argine, Théâtre du Soleil) and The Fence dramaturgs. And the newcomers also reflected the face of the Ireland of the future: We had with us, in addition to the usual teams, Irish actors or dancers from Argentina, Brazil,  from Moldova... or from Kerry! What richness, these different experiences!  We knew it, but it was confirmed once again: there is no unity without diversity! As Michael Walling had announced, the question of language very quickly became central to the work: How do you convey a stor...

Tallaght is a suburb of Dublin, to the South of the city.  A bit like the areas of Bologna where Teatro dell’Argine and Cantieri Meticci operate, this is a culturally rich but cash poor, multicultural and multilingual space, an ideal location for the Irish leg of the CRE-ACTORS project. In a generation or so, much of Ireland will probably look like Tallaght. This year alone, with the government’s positive response to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine, there has been a significant demographic shift in the country.  As elsewhere in Europe, theatre and culture need to encompass this increasing diversity. It’s quite daunting to lead the last of the three CRE-ACTORS training workshops. So much has already been achieved under the remarkable leadership of the Théâtre du Soleil and Teatro dell’Argine teams. There would be no point in pretending we’re starting from nothing again. So, rather than simple “sharing our methods”, we are going to attempt to build on what has been learnt s...

Blog post responding to Bologna training On the first morning of our wonderful, inspiring week in Bologna, we were all asked to say what theatre meant for us. Ida Strizzi, from our host organisation Teatro dell’Argine, responded that theatre for her was “giving people another point of view”. For the rest of the week, and since, I’ve been using this idea as a way of thinking through and developing what we are trying to achieve in the CRE-ACTORS project and beyond.  On one level, Ida’s idea can be literal. On the second day, we were working with the challenge that our stage was limited to the top of a white stool, with everything around it considered invisible. In one glorious moment, Xevi Ribas walked his fingers across the stool as a man moving towards a tree, and the stool then rose up and was held behind his face so that we could see him bite into the apple he had picked. It was like a wide shot cutting to a close-up, but achieved with the simplest of theatrical means (which are,...