The theater festival “Baltic Transfer” starts in Warsaw with the participation of Latvian artists / Article

From 18 to 24 October, the Baltic Transfer Festival of New Baltic Forms takes place in Warsaw, Poland, organized by one of the leading Polish theaters TR Warszawa with partners – the Latvian New Theater Institute (LJTI), Vilnius Youth Theater and Free Lava ”from Tallinn. During the week, the festival offers several performances and interdisciplinary works from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, as well as meetings, talks and discussions with artists, concluding a two-year cooperation, LJTI representatives informed.

At the heart of the Baltic Transfer Festival is the idea of ​​a space where works of art are transferred from their original environment to other cultures, gaining a new context and meaning there. As explained by LJTI, the name of the festival is a reference to the concept of “cultural transfer” by the French historian Michel Espana: “In this process, a work of art is not“ simply ”displayed as both parties involved. “

In the festival program on October 20, a new version of Warsaw, which will be made in collaboration with Polish actors, will feature the play “Being a Nationalist” staged by playwright Matīss Gricmanis and director Walter Sīlis “Dirty Deal Theater”, as well as two works by Latvian theater artists “Vaba Lava”. ”At the Tallinn Theater – on October 21,“ TR Warszawa ”will present Elmars Senkovs’ performance“ Two Garages ”, and on October 22 – the work“ My Cousin ”by playwright Rasa Bugavičute-Poe and director Valters Sīlis. The performances will be followed by a meeting of the artists with the audience, but on October 20, a public discussion “Baltic Theater Today” will take place at the Zbigniew Raževska Theater Institute in Warsaw under the direction of Roman Pavlovsk, the curator of the festival.

Lithuanian artists Kamile Gudmonaite and Adoms Juška with performances from the repertoire of the Vilnius Youth Theater, as well as composer Arturs Bumšteins with a musical production created in collaboration with the Warsaw Recording Studio also take part in the festival. The parallel program includes a reading of a play by Estonian playwright Sireta Kempbel and a documentary “A Year Full of Drama” by film director Marta Pulk about the phenomenon of theater viewing in Estonia.

The festival in October is a continuation of the prologue, when Laura Stašāne and Jana Jacuka’s interdisciplinary work “Museum of Physical Evidence” visited Warsaw in July, focusing on domestic violence from the women’s point of view and reconstructed on the spot by the Polish team and local women. Such a shared festival format will be created in response to the changes introduced by the pandemic and travel restrictions.

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