4-12.June 2016
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Contact: festival(at)jes-stuttgart.de, info(at)jes-stuttgart.de
together with nine children and youth theatres from Baden-Württemberg will be coming to Stuttgart and present and discuss their artistic work between the 4th and 12th of June 2016.
The selection process for the international guests had a different approach than in the years before, a more political one. That is because our world has changed and became another one in the last months. Well not changed completely. The world has changed mainly from a Center European perspective, because the destiny of the refugees coming from African countries and from the Middle East got closer to us, very close. It has changed because the terror that makes people flee their homes is hitting us as well. At least it has come closer to our consciousness.
Many of the groups refer to recent political and social circumstances and changes in our world. The world of adults but as well the world of children and youths, here like in other parts of the world. They are not necessarily telling concrete stories of refugees, poverty or war, but their performances are taking strong positions towards such topics or base upon them and try to response esthetically and in many moments surprisingly amusing.
Let`s take for example the Tiny Free, a young and up to now unknown free ensemble from Uganda, they tell in their HipHop-dancetheatre piece „ILL – Legitimate“ about the lives of many teenagers in Africa, they tell about child labour and child soldiers. The Backa-Teater, one of the biggest theatre for children and youths in Europa – whose artistic director Matthias Anderssen is one of Swedens most known director – asked young people all over Europe about „Acts of Goodness“. The result is an irritating collection of scenes about the topic of wanting to help und letting help. Three clowns from Sweden, Zimbabwe and India performed for months in refugee camps in Jordania and Libanon and developed their performance „Flugo!“ out of their experiences. The artistic director of the project is also one of the founders of the organization clowns without borders in Sweden.
And the Belgian theatre Bronks developed their performance „Wij/Zij“ about the different ways of remembering and perceiving based on a true story: the assault of North Caucasian terrorists on a school in Beslan in 2004.
We have once more a strong link to the Flemish theatre landscape: Besides the Bronks Theatre, we invited the Kopergietery from Gent with their equally political dancetheatre piece „Voetball on Stilettos“ and Studio Orka. The experts for Site-specific-theatre are conquering the JES stage this time with their show „Studio Orka spielt Der Star“ as the first german showing of it.
For the youngest spectators Dschungel Wien brings their dancetheatre with live music „Spiegelspiele“ and the Magnet Theatre from South Africa performs „Tree / Boom / Umthi“, that tells in an adorably simple way the change of seasons as the base of every life.
