The director and his troupe return to France, where the work of this theater has been presented several times – in the OFF program of the prestigious Avignon festival, in the international festival “Mythos”, and now A. Areima‘s work is presented as part of the program of this year’s Lithuanian cultural season in France.
The project “Facing War – European Dialogues” initiated by the French Institute and organized in Rennes, the capital of Brittany, aims to create spaces for discussions that will allow a better understanding of the upheavals taking place in Europe and their context. Experts and professionals from academia, media and culture are invited to share their views: what common European history do we have, what narratives prevail in various European cities and how do they relate to the structure of Europe? What historical figures, most important events do we pay attention to when talking about Europe?
Photo by Laura Vansevičienė/ “For a better world”
Five stages of this festival have already taken place: in Prague as part of the European Summit, in Vilnius “Culture and imagination in the face of war”, in Warsaw “Research and the challenge of knowledge in the face of war”, in Amsterdam “Geopolitical Europe in the face of war” and in Sofia and Plovdiv.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matvijchuk, Dutch geopolitical expert Luuk van Middelaar, Ukrainian philosopher Konstantin Sigov, Director of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) Thomas Gomart, and Anna Colin-Lebedev, political science lecturer at the University of Nanterre, participated in the discussions. Almost 120 speakers and moderators from 25 countries took part in sharing their thoughts. The next event will be held on October 23 and 24. “Information and Media in the Face of War” in Helsinki.
The final stage of “Facing War – European Dialogues” is scheduled for November in Rene, coming to the end of an important and significant year for Europe: both internally (European Parliament elections, community development projects, nationalist backlash) and externally (security challenges related to the war in Ukraine, elections in the USA, the war between Israel and Hamas, instability in the Middle East). The “European Dialogues” held in Rene will provide an opportunity to assess the most sensitive issues facing European societies and states.
Photo by Laura Vansevičienė/ “For a better world”
AAT’s play explores topical issues in the context of today’s events. “For a Better World” is set in an endless war in the jungle. The causes of the war are not named, and the participants in the war do not know what they are fighting for: it is a dystopian stagnation in which air and clean water are increasingly scarce, and the characters experience a psychological and identity crisis. The main theme of the play is the crisis of human identity in the context of military conflicts and environmental problems.
Thomas Irmer, one of the most influential journalists of the Berlin daily “der Freitag”, singled out this performance as a brave and necessary step to speak and criticize the current ecological problems of Lithuania and the whole world, the horror of war. In recent years, the play was presented at the international alternative theater festival “FIAT” in Montenegro, at the independent Riga theater “Gertrudes Ielas Teātris” in Latvia, and at the international performing arts festival in Kaunas – “Contempo”.
The play “For a Better World” will be presented twice in France – on November 28 and 29. CCRNB (Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne) on the big stage. November 28 director A. Areima will organize a creative workshop “New Reality” for performing arts students (dancers, actors, directors) from the “European Production Center Théâtre National de Bretagne” and “EESAB Ecole européenne supérieure d’art de Bretagne in Rennes” art schools. The main partners of AAT in the program of the season of Lithuanian culture in France are “Saison Mythos” (director and producer of the “Mythos” festival Emilie Audren).
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