RETRO/PER/SPEKTYWY

CHOREA. Theatre Festival. Łódź 2010

august 13 – 21

RETRO/PER/SPEKTYWY: CHOREA – Theatre Festival Łódź 2010 is designed as a space for confrontation of the innovative theater research, a platform for the workshop meetings and a point of discussions concerning the changes in the 21st century’s theater.

August 13-21, 2010, in postindustrial spaces of Lodz, the spectators will be allowed to see the review of the most important Chorea’s performances and the newest creations/achievements of the invited groups.

5 years of the Theater Chorea existence is a perfect moment for the first RETRO/PER/SPECTIVE of its artistic, research and educational activity and the presentation of two premiers: GROTOWSKI- próba odwrotu directed by Tomasz Rodowicz and Antyk/Trans/Formation in modern ethno-jazz interpretation.

The first edition of the Festival will be held within the framework of the two theatrical tryptich showing the tension that is created on the clash of the tradition and contemporarlity

1. Sophocles – Euripides – Aristophanes (Antigone, dir. Dorota Porowska,  The Songs of Euripides, dir. Tomasz Rodowicz,  After the birds, dir. Jim Ennis, Jessica Cohen, Tomasz Rodowicz)
2. Herbert – Grotowski – Wyspiański (Playing Mr Cogito, dir. Tomasz Rodowicz, GROTOWSKI – próba odwrotu dir .Tomasz Rodowicz, premiere Odpoczywanie, dir. Paweł Passini)

In the frames of the Festival there will be also shown the performances of cooperating and fellow theaters. Our guests will be: neTTheater, Studium Teatralne form Warsaw, KANA Theater form Szczecin and Trupa Czango.

Creating RETRO/PER/SPECTIVES we are establishing new, periodical, cultural event, which next editions, expanded by the presence of eminent, international theatre groups. It will break, every second year, the anachronistic division between the theater of word, movement and music, thus regaining its undividable triple unity – CHOREA – the vital foundation of the theater.

In the perspective of our Festival CHOREA is not a specific name, but a description of the idea opening new spaces for the contemporary theater and determining new challenges for the actor – a storyteller, dancer, singer, as well as for the director, who should be a dramatist, choreographer and composer at the same moment.

We aim for RETRO/PER/SPEKTYWY: CHOREA Festiwal Teatralny Łódź 2010 to become a permanent point of reference on the theatrical map of Poland and to contribute as an important element of Lodz’s application for the title of European Capital of Culture 2016.

Tomasz Rodowicz
The Artistic Director

“International Meeting on Ancient Drama”  in Delphi
9 July 2009

“Songs of Euripides” is the second stage of Chorea’s work on Euripides’ “The Bacchae”. The first was “Bakkus” produced in 2006 together with Welsh company Earthfall Dance. In “Bakkus” the main issue was unwelcome, suffering and ruthless man-god, looking for revenge in the contemporary world. In “Songs of Euripides” the main theme is women – the bacchae. In collective ecstasy they reach towards that, which is most intimate and hidden in human being but in religious and devotional ecstasy it may become threatening and lead to crime – 2500 years ago just as well as today. The performance is reading the play through gesture, song and dance reaching towards nowadays. It is looking for new language to communicate meanings with the world – contemporary chorea – the unity of music, gesture and the word. The text in ancient Greek clashes with brilliant Polish translation by Jerzy Łanowski, today’s music is confronted with the Bacchic accord of antiquity.

In 2008 the team of Chorea plans to begin working on the third part of the trilogy, which explores contemporary issues in Euripides texts.