Below you will find current press information regarding the 20th international figuren.theater.festival. Should you wish to receive additional information or register for our press distribution list, please contact the festival at presse[at]figurentheaterfestival.de and include your full name, company, postal address, as well as your telephone and fax number.
20th international figuren.theater.festival
Erlangen, Nuremberg, Fürth, Schwabach
Ma 19 to 28 2017
Press Information
Erlangen, Nuremberg, Fürth, Schwabach, March 31 2017
The Programme
Advance ticket sales: Saturday, April 22nd
The international figuren.theater.festival Erlangen, Nuremberg, Fürth, Schwabach – one of the largest and most import festivals in Europe for contemporary puppet, visual and object theatre, acts as the interface between dance, performance art and new media. This year marks the 20th edition of the festival. 70 companies from 21 countries will present their work in over 130 performances within the metropolitan region from May 19 to 28. Founded in 1979, the international figuren.theater.festival has taken it upon itself to question popular genre traditions and foster the artistic encounters of varying branches as well as differing perspectives and ingrained views. At the same time, the biennale holds tight to its origins in the classic puppet, visual and object theatre genre. Once again this year, over 20,000 visitors are expected in the numerous venues of the four festival cities.
The international figuren.theater.festival opens in Erlangen, Nuremberg and Fürth on May 19th with a bang: while Erlangen digs deep into the allegorical underworld of internationally renowned French theatre magician Philippe Quesne presenting “The night of the Moles”, young British performance artist Tim Spooner gets to the bottom of the laws of physics, the Austrian dance company Liquid Loft deals with the polyphony and multilingualism of urban life in “Foreign Tongues” in Nuremberg and multi-award winning dancer and choreographer Antje Pfundtner examines the fascination behind disappearances. Bright, brazen and occasionally brutal, the Puppentheater Magdeburg presents their stage adaptation of the Film “M – eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder” for the opening in Fürth, afterwards Israeli puppeteer Ariel Doron ponders the dimensions of true war using customary children’s toys.
Amongst the highlights of the programme: Compagnie 111 and director Aurélien Bory’s visually stunning homage to Japanese dancer Kaori Ito, who disappears amongst the 5000 strings hanging from the ceiling, the co-production “Forever” with the Needcompany, a sensual as well as fragile stage installation by Grace Ellen Barkey and Lot Lemm, the imagined reconstruction of the world ventriloquist convention in Kentucky by Gisèle Vienne and Puppentheater Halle, the master of “New Magic” Etienne Saglio, the founders of stage comics half past selber schuld in “Kafka in Wonderland” in which the concept of sex in the age of virtual reality plays a role, just as in Ulrike Quade’s “Maniacs” and in “Singularity” by O-Team. In honour of the Lutherjahr Bühne Cipolla enacts Heinrich Kleist’s story of the merchant Michael Kohlhaas, Meinhardt/Krauss/Feigl, pioneers of the digital figuren theatre, enable dancers to become the designers of their own space in their interactive video and sound system, the Trio Gottschalk – Mürle – Soehnle examine the rarities and peculiarities from an early cabinet of curiosities and emerging from a Chinese puppeteer dynasty Yeung Faï reflects upon the culture and identity of Taiwan in his latest piece.
Three masters of modern puppetry are also guests of the 20th edition of the festival: the theatre magician Jean-Pierre Larroche with miniatures from his Ateliers du Spectacle, Eric Bass and the Sandglass Theater which delicately deal with the topic of dementia and the Australian-Dutch hand puppet master Neville Tranter whose Stuffed Puppet not only captures themes of illness and aging in their production “Mathilde” but who also presents the world premiere of his newest work “Babylon” at the festival. Loneliness and ageing with dignity are also of intrigue to young artists: the Flöz students of the Spanish Kulunka Teatro know how to move the audience to tears without words in their piece “Solitudes”.
Avant-garde theatre experiments will be offered by video artists Berlin who examine Chernobyl in the piece “Zvizdal”, Belgian performers Miet Warlop and Pieter Ampe, New Zealand artist Kate McIntosh who charmingly prompts the audience to take the performance into their own hands as well as Lebanese theatre producer Rabih Mroué who will be our guest with one of his non-academic-lectures. Returning festival guests are the iconoclasts of the Russian group Akhe presenting “Between Two”, a four-part series about the beauty of life and the magnitude of death in which they nearly single-handedly take over an entire performance venue. Rimini Protokoll will revive their 2015 produced audio walk “Remote Erlangen” and from TJP Strasbourg, one of the most important production centers for contemporary puppet theatre various productions and coproductions will be featured.
A small showcase will be dedicated to Nestroy award-winner Nikolaus Habjan, the shooting star of the Austrian theatre scene: Collaborating with company Next Liberty from Graz, he stages his version of “Faust”. In “Schlag sie tot” based on the eponymous chanson by song writer Georg Kreisler, he will be on stage himself as well as in the shocking production of Schuberttheater Wien “F. Zawrel – erbbiologisch und sozial minderwertig” – which, as a result of its grand success two years ago, will grace the stages yet again. Moreover, the German-speaking realm will be well represented by Figurentheater Wilde & Vogel, Christoph Bochdansky, Theater Waidspeicher, Ensemble Materialtheater, United Puppets, Kaufmann und Co., Antje Töpfer, Theater junge generation Dresden, Thalias Kompagnons, Salz+Pfeffer Theater, Kuckucksheim Theater and many others.
With 25 performances, the children’s theatre once again plays an important role. The supporting programme will offer a wide array of events including performative installations, street theatre, public activities, a film programme, as well as the second festival edition of the popular Puppetry Slam. In cooperation with the Institute for Theatre and Media Studies of the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Young Forum International offers students the chance to present their own works and to delve deep into contemporary puppet and object theatre. The program will be accompanied by workshops, discussion sessions such as the “double-Diskurs” and artist talks.
Advance ticket sales begin on Saturday, April 22nd online under www.figurentheaterfestival.de at ticket offices across the greater Erlangen, Nuremberg, Fürth, Schwabach area as well as all Reservix-ticket offices across Germany. Program flyers are available at all ticket offices and numerous establishments in the region. The comprehensive program booklet will be out mid-April and available free of charge at all ticket offices. With the purchase of the Festival Card for 9.90 € a 20% discount on the ticket price is available for most performances.
Effective: March 31 2017
Subject to change!
Organisers
City of Erlangen – Cultural Office – Department of Festivals and Programmes
City of Nürnberg – KunstKulturQuartier – Culture and Theatre Department
City of Fürth – Cultural Office
City of Schwabach – Cultural Office
Information
City of Erlangen – Cultural Office
Department of Festivals and Programmes
Gebbertstraße 1, 91052 Erlangen – Germany
Phone: +49 (0)9131 86-1408, Fax: +49 (0)9131 86-1411
E-Mail: info@figurentheaterfestival.de
Website: www.figurentheaterfestival.de
- Press Release 10/3/2017 – Event Notice – 20th international figuren.theater.festival
Size: 77 KB - download file - Press Release 31/3/2017 – Programme – 20th international figuren.theater.festival
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