Latvian artists at the digital theatre festival POSTWEST
From June 24 till June 26 the transcultural theatre festival POSTWEST, organized by Volksbühne theatre in Berlin, will present online new works by theatre makers from Eastern Europe. Among them are 3 pieces by Latvian artists: “Looks Like You’re Going To Die” by Kate Krolle and Valters Sīlis (produced by New Theatre Institute of Latvia and Dirty Deal Teatro), “Tanya’s Birthday. Berlin” by Mārtiņš Eihe and Arnita Jaunsubrēna (produced by Ģertrūdes ielas teātris) and “Cannon Fodder” by Russian director Dmitriy Volkostrelov with Latvian performers (produced by Ģertrūdes ielas teātris and Katlz)
Originally planned to take place over a period of one week in May 2020, the transcultural theatre festival POSTWEST will now use the virtual space to share ideas across borders during the three days in June. The original twelve productions are replaced by digital contributions: online live performances, videos on demand, audio performances, meetings with the festival artists, webinars on international collaboration, talk with Baltic theatre makers and a DJ set by legendary Latvian dj Jānis Krauklis.
All festival events online are free of charge and are available from 11:00 (Berlin time) 24 June till 26 June, except for the live events where starting time is indicated in the schedule.
Participating theatres and organisations: TR Warszawa (Warsaw), Prague City Theatres (Prague), DAKH (Kiev), Qendra Multimedia & National Theatre of Kosovo (Prishtina), STEREO AKT (Budapest), Teatrul Tineretului (Bucarest), Jaunimo teatras (Vilnius), Vaba Lava (Tallinn), Ģertrūdes ielas teātris (Riga), KatlZ (Riga), New Theatre Institute of Latvia (Riga), Volksbühne (Berlin).
Check the full POSTWEST programme
About Latvian productions at POSTWEST festival:
Looks Like You’re Going To Die
audio walk
By and with Kate Krolle and Valters Sīlis
Sound design: Arvīds Saulītis
45 min, in English
Available from 11:00 June 24 till June 26
Looks Like You’re Going To Die which premiered on stage in Riga, will be presented as an audio walk for POSTWEST audience. Leaving behind their usual roles of theatre director and visual artist, Valters Sīlis and Kate Krolle have met on equal footing and created an intimate encounter that reflects on the complexity and beauty of everyday living and the fragility of creation. Devised as a 45 minute audio track in English, it should be listened alone while taking a walk. Guided by the voices and stories of Kate and Valters, Looks Like You’re Going To Die will take you on a wandering through the mind, memories, and different European cities.
The creation is supported by Baltic Culture Fund, which also supports the discussion of young Baltic theatre makers to be live streamed on 25 June at 18.00 (Berlin time) with participation of Valters Sīlis (LV), Jarmo Reha (EE), Egle Švedkauskaite (LT) and moderated by Julija Reklaite (LT).
Tanya’s Birthday. Berlin
live streamed performance
By Mārtiņš Eihe, Arnita Jaunsubrēna and Degna Martens
With Mārtiņš Eihe, Charlotte Garraway, Arnita Jaunsubrēna, Daniel Nerlich, Juta Vanaga
In English with Russian, Latvian and German parts
25 June at 16:00 and 20:00 Berlin time
A point of convergence in European history—the year 1989, or more specifically, the period between the Baltic Way and the fall of the Berlin Wall—serves as the point of departure for the production. Set as a real birthday party, Tanya’s Birthday. Berlin invites spectators to assume the roles of friends and family. As the performers address the guests and begin telling stories, they gradually reveal the many ambiguous and multifaceted life stories that have shaped their extended family.
Cannon Fodder
Performance documentary
Director Dmitriy Volkostrelov (Moscow)
With: Anta Aizupe, Jana Jacuka, Inese Pudža
30 min, in Latvian, Russian and English with German and English subtitles
Available from 11:00 June 24 till June 26
Cannon Fodder after the play by Pavel Pryazhko reflects on multiculturalism and globalised world where any of us can become “cannon fodder’. The production is still in development and will be presented at the festival as a 30 min documentary on the process of creation of the piece.
About POSTWEST festival
Inititally devised as a week long theatre festival, POSTWEST focused on bringing together artists from ten countries and premiere twelve new productions on Volksbühne stage. With its dramatic history between East and West, the Volksbühne was the perfect venue for this gathering of invited theatre makers from Eastern Europe.
Now, POSTWEST has thus outgrown its original iteration as a stage event and is responding to the new reality. The Coronavirus crisis has allowed us to observe how many countries are turning in on themselves once more, and information about the situation in other countries seems like mere statistics. Against this background, reflecting on historical categories and the possibilities of their dissolution becomes more important than ever. East or West? Post-West, post-East, post-EastWest? Does a shared cultural heritage lead to a similar historical awareness? With such a wide variety of countries and identities, is it even possible to think about and shape the future together? What do a strong civil society, solidarity, values relevant to the future, and democratic systems look like to us? How can we, as theatre makers—even during a global lockdown and without any public gatherings—continue to establish networks and long-term transcultural initiatives in order to respond artistically to these current social debates?
POSTWEST festival is funded by Volksbühne Berlin and the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
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