Under the umbrella of the European Theatre Convention (ETC) six nation-wide renowned ETC partner theatres spent a year-and-a-half planning this unique, collaborative, artistic Theatre Orient Express project that left Istanbul on May 14 th 2009 and headed towards the west.
Under the direction of Project Manager Christian Holtzhauer from Schauspiel Stuttgart Theatre in Germany, which also was responsible for the artistic concept, the theatres embarked on a journey that lead them far away from any knowledge, routine or expertise which they could normally rely on when mounting theater productions for their own venues and their local audiences. They worried that the project was going to become more of a railway tour than a theater production. Until the very start of the journey it was not known what exactly the different stations and venues would look like, how different audiences would react to performances in languages they cannot understand, and what would happen during the journey from one performance locale to the next.
Train stations in countries throughout Europe were filled with theatre and cultural activities. Six new plays, one from each participating ETC partner theatre, were commissioned for the project and were performed on the train. The theatre project examines European identity, expectations of and past experience with the European unification process, and issues like escape, expulsion, mobility and settling down.
The aim of the Orient Express project is to let the train be a moving theatre lab for young artists, a place of theatrical exploration of ‘otherness’ and identity along the route from Istanbul through South-Eastern Europe to Germany, from east to west.
The train stopped at the stations of each participating theatre’s city and one of the train cars was be transformed into a full functioning theatre stage. The theatre car was constructed as a collaboration project between the Turkish State Theaters and the Turkish State Railway Company.
How to deal with the unexpected and to anticipate the unknown was therefore the most important lesson each of the partners had to learn.
Participating theatre included; Turkish State Theatres, Ankara (Turkey); Teatrul National ‘Marin Sorescu’ Craiova (Romania); Zagreb Youth Theatre (Croatia;) Serbian National Theatre Novi Sad (Serbia); Slovenian National Theatre Nova Gorica (Slovenia); State Theatre Stuttgart (Germany) and with the participation of Theater Freiburg (Germany), a project developed under the patronage of the European Theatre Convention.
Each ETC partner theatre selected its artistic team. Those included some of Europe’s most critically acclaimed authors of contemporary drama such as Matei Visniec (Romania), Tena Štivicic (Croatia) and Soeren Voima (Germany).
The plays were performed in the country of its origin and then followed the train to the next country to be performed there. Because of this chain system, and since the Turkish production followed the train all the way was performed in all the different countries, there were always actors from three different countries present on the train.
The plays included; Ex-Press by Sirin Aktemur, directed by Mustafa and Övül Avkiran from Turkey. Occident Express by Matéi Visniec, directed by Alexandru Boureanu of Romania. As If by Branko Dimitrijevi, directed by Predrag Štrbac of Serbia. Seven Days in Zagreb by Tena Štivicic, directed by Tijana Zinajic of Croatia. Titanic Orchestra by Christo Bojcev, directed by Matjaz Latin of Slovania and 80 Days and 80 Nights by Soeren Voima, directed by Christian Tschirner of Germany.
From Broadway to Vegas
SEVEN DAYS IN ZAGREB (CROATIA)
Zageb Youth Theatre
Tena Štivicic
in the Croatian language with German subtitles
Natasha is in her mid-thirties, professionally successful, she lives alone and wants a dog - preferably from the animal shelter. Ana, works in the same animal shelter, for animal welfare according to European standards. She wants to be ready when they enter Europe. Tanja is pregnant and married to Daniel, a management consultant. They would like a home birth. Mustafa, president of the newly founded association Neighbors Against Change (NAC), believes in tradition and values as the basis for a happy and contented life.
All five spend a moment in each other's lives......................
The Zagreb Youth Theater (ZKM) is currently the most exciting and most successful theater in Croatia and their productions can be seen all over Europe.
Director : Tijana Zinajic Equipment : Jasna Vastl
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