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| R.E.A.D festival’s ideologist and initiator, David Kozma is also the artistic director of the European Theatre Collective. |
OFFERING a range of new European drama reading, Reading EuropeAn Drama Festival (aka R.E.A.D.) is on offer from 6 to 8 October in Helsinki. Bringing together international theatre professionals who are currently living and working in Finland, fresh texts from Germany, Hungary, France, England, Norway, Russia, Italy and Estonia are on offer for audiences.
The programme includes Estonian Piret Jaaks’ To See Pink Elephants, a play which reflects on the contemporary times we live in. Meanwhile, Italian Ana Candida de Carvalho Carneiro’s Babel and the Russian Valentin Krasnogorovin’s Pelicans of the Wilderness can also be found during the three days.
New English drama arrives in the shape of Dennis Kelly’s The Ritual Slaughter of the Gorge Mastromas, after enjoying its premiere at London’s Royal Court Theatre last year. Master of Nordic humour Fredrik Brattberg is set to introduce his new dark comedy The Returning, and the relationship between art and viewer is discussed in German Katharina Schmitt’s SAM. Next door, from France, Jean-Luc Lagarce’s modern classic Just the end of the world is on offer, along with delving into existential matters of a small community in Hungarian Háy János’ Géza Boy.
International scene locally
In tune with the European Theatre Collective’s long-term goal to shine a spotlight on international artists living in Finland, the septet of drama reading directors is made up of multicultural directors working here. These include Lija Fischer, David Kozma, Aleksi Barrière, Aleksis Meaney, Alexey Vasilchenko, Luis Raposo da Cruz and Davide Giovanzana.
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Reading EuropeAn Drama |
Furthermore, an open discussion about Nordic Drama in Finland is taking place during the festival on 7 October. Speakers during the panel discussion are the director of TINFO Hanna Helavuori, the director of the National Theatre Mika Myllyaho, dramaturg of the Swedish Theatre Linnea Stara and Norwegian professor Knut Ove Arntzen. R.E.A.D festival’s ideologist and initiator David Kozma is acting as moderator of the discussion, another feather in his cap alongside being the artistic director of the European Theatre Collective.
James O’Sullivan
IMage: Octavian Balea
