"In today's world we are deprived of reference points, we have lost the directions and signs, we are wandering blindly, plunge into chaos, there is no hierarchical morality. This is just a world without God" Krystyna Meissner explains the slogan of this year's Dialogue Festival.
Krystyna Meissner invited 11 performances, which are arranged into a joint narrative. "I'm interested with human relationships, and actually their decay in this world without God. This is the message of the performances that we will see," explains the director of the Dialog Wroclaw Festival. - Krystian Lupa and Ivo van Hove show the destructive power of the wanton cruelty of these relations. Susanne Kennedy focuses on the dehumanization of interpersonal relationships, and Arpad Schilling examines the lack of empathy and interest in the fate of another human being" lists Krystyna Meissner.
Seven countries, three continents
Arriving to Wroclaw are performances from seven countries. We'll see two performances by Ivo van Hove: "Cries and Whispers" and "After the Test/Persona". "A superbly played, shocking performance about the loneliness of dying" says Krystyna Meissner. On the other hand, "After the Test/Persona" is in fact two plays based on texts by Ingmar Bergman. They both seek to explore the role of art in human life, the thin line between imagination and reality, between disease and normality.
Ivo van Hove will hold free workshops for young directors in Wroclaw. Registration will be held via the official website of the Dialogue Wroclaw Festival.
The festival will feature three performances from Poland. "Wycinka" ("Felling") by Krystian Lupa, realized in the Polish Theatre in Wroclaw, "Dziady" ("Forefathers' Eve") by Radoslaw Rychcik from Poznan, who transferred Mickiewicz's text to the world of American popular culture and "Francuzi" ("The French") by Krzysztof Warlikowski, inspired by Marcel Proust's novel "In Search of Lost Time."
Roman Paska from New York will show his performance "Echo in Camera." "This is a story about the search for a double. Roman Pasko's puppets are amazing, almost human, like a man from whom life escapes during the performance" says Krystyna Meissner.
Coming from New Zealand is Lemi Ponifasio with the show "I AM." "This is a big production, for which the starting point is the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, as seen by the inhabitants of the islands in the Pacific.
Hungary will be represented by Arpad Schilling's play "Loser." "Schilling created an autobiographical show, in which he attacks himself and the theatre as well as the elites in power. It does so in a harsh and uncompromising way. He spares no one," says Meissner.
From Spain come two performances. "Ashes" by Chevy Muraday is theatre communicated with body, touch, physicality. We'll see two relationships - between mother and son and a homosexual couple. "Po_wracanie" ("Re_Turn") by Eduardo Guerrero is a flamenco performance. The director and dancer tells a story only with movement and music.
The show, in which the director using masks dehumanizes the actors is "Warum. Why did Mr. R. go mad?" by Susanne Kennedy. "In this performance, we find references to Reiner Werner Fassbinder. The main character, Mr. Raab is so mediocre, that he destroys his family because of this. He does it in retaliation for being a nobody" says Krystyna Meisser.
At the conference, presenting the festival performances Krystyna Meissner announced that the 8th edition of Dialogue Wroclaw is the last under her leadership. In two years she will manage it together with Tomasz Kireńczuk, the current spokesman for the festival, and he will take it over from her in the following edition.
8th Dialog Wroclaw Festival will take place from 17 to 24 October 2015.
