Renaissance

Today we should learn to be closer again in spite of physical distance, to hear and to be heard. We need to come back to the beginning, where there is no fear. We must eventually become happy.

Shot in one take, on multiple cameras, this futuristic response to the Renaissance mixes new texts with a Shakespearean sonnet, and original music by renowned ‘ethno-chaos’ band DakhaBrakha - symbolising the aesthetics of canvas as weaving "the canvas of life".

The theatre community lost its foundation. Theatre as we knew it no longer exists. The stage is a mere dream – sometimes thrilling, often depressing. We need to change it. Go out. Find a new source and sense of creation…

Perspective recalls Filippo Brunelleschi’s experiment on perspective, which took place in Florence, in 1425, a few years after the horrors of the Black Death, and compares it to the possibilities of theatre nowadays, pointing out how the representation of an object allows us to see more than the object itself.

The Staatsschauspiel Dresden asked Instagram users to comment on the theme of “Renaissance”. 62 people participated and head dramaturg Jörg Bochow selected 47 terms for a brand-new text that was performed by their actresses and actors, in one take, within a few days of receiving the text. Selected words include: Justice; Humanism; Theatrical death; Rebirth; Michelangelo; Oxblood Red...

'Skin' explores the healing effect of theatre, and the idea that, in its fascinating territory we can experience parallel lives that are more fulfilled than the one that we actually have. Art is revealed as a source of justice, hope and faith in a better tomorrow. All this is especially important in period of crisis, such as the one we are currently going through.

A call-and-response combination of real interviews and clips of artistic work, which provide some answers as to what kind of renaissance is possible for theatre. The text about what we can think about whole difficult situation is written by the author Péter Esterházy. The text about death and loneliness is written by the director Roman Polák. And the text about what is lost without art is written by a member of our playwriting workshop, Martin Miler.

Théâtre de Liège has partnered with The Karyatides on the Renaissance project - a company whose performances are open to every age group. Based on literary classics, the Karyatides develop a theatre of figures, combining puppetry, object theatre and music. They play with the commonplace, the cliché, provoking quirkiness from which poetry flows.

When we talk about the Renaissance, which and whose Renaissance do we mean? Implicitly, we think about humans. But who says that our species is soaring to new heights? Perhaps we are merely the birthing agents of the resurrection of other forms of life.

Faced with a digital and virtual intoxication we emphasise the irreplaceable need for the Theatre and for Society: Restarting From the Human Being, as suggested in the renowned Italian Renaissance manifesto, Oratio de hominis dignitate, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Renaissance / rebirth is a process of transformation, which is not only natural, but also a necessary part of a human life. We asked established Slovak playwright and translator Peter Lomnicky to share his view on the topic.

A sweet, jarring and uplifting monologue about the story of a (re)birth – a story that straddles myth, love, and a journey into the beautiful unknown…

We follow a young girl, Leah, who was participating in one of the Teatru Malta projects - Trikki Trakki Youth Theatre Festival. After the festival is halted, she must go back to her new-normal life: going to zoom-school, and scrolling through social media. She gets very frustrated that she cannot interact with anyone anymore except for online. In a fantastical adventure, she re-discovers books and a secret library, learning about theatre and renaissance.

A natural and spontaneous short documentary with an actress during a time that stages are closed. Will all this creative energy be retained? Will it be able to give us rebirth?

We are currently facing a period of darkness. Our ecosystem has been disrupted; a virus, a simple virus, has driven the hubris of capital (and whoever worships it, albeit against their will) to its knees. A multitude of different issues has come to a head. What world is this when culture is not recognised as a remedy for the soul, just as medicine is for the body?