While trotting the globe may seem like an activity reserved for the swankiest of jet-setters, the perks of international theater will once again be available to the UCLA audience ““ private jet not required.
UCLA Live’s seventh annual International Theatre Festival runs Oct. 1 through Dec. 21 and features six separate performance events from international theater companies.
Once again the festival promises audiences cultural enrichment, boasting a plethora of international talent from countries such as Ireland, Australia, Germany and Austria. Of the six performances showcased, five are making their debut in the United States, and four of those five are exclusive only to UCLA.
David Sefton, the executive artistic director of UCLA Live, selects the festival’s performances during his extensive travels around the globe.
“The motivation behind the festival is to showcase the best theater from around the world, and I choose only the highest quality performances I see,” he said.
Sponsored by Yahoo! this year, the festival has become an integral part of the UCLA Live yearly lineup and seeks to display the full spectrum of international theater, from traditional to experimental and somewhere in between.
“Performances in the festival are both cutting edge and traditional,” Sefton said. “The most important thing is that they are all examples of the best theater out there.”
Take for instance Barrie Kosky’s adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” which opens the festival on Oct. 1. Kosky, an Australian writer and director, reworks Poe’s classic short story through the incorporation of live music, performed by Koksy himself and Austrian soloist Martin Niedermair, into the live-stage performance. Kosky’s innovative musical approach works to enhance the story’s timeless themes of guilt and madness, while also preserving them.
Following “The Tell-Tale Heart” in mid-October are two performances by the Druid Theater Company of Ireland. Founded in Galway and currently led by artistic director Garry Hynes, Druid is now making its West Coast debut at UCLA. Druid will be performing two plays by the Irish playwright J.M. Synge, “Playboy of the Western World” and “The Shadow of the Glen.” The two one-act performances are raw comic representations of Irish peasant life in the 1900s that draw heavily on Irish tradition and humor though a poignant image of daily struggle and survival.
“Druid is an exceptional company,” said John Spokes, the director of development for UCLA Live, who places Druid’s performances on par with the Royal Shakespeare Company. “People who enjoyed “˜King Lear’ during last year’s festival can look forward to Druid. It is the same kind of high-quality, traditional theater.”
In a more theatrically experimental vein is “Myth,” a U.S. exclusive performance presented by the Moroccan-Flemish choreographer Sidi Larbi in association with Antwerp’s Toneelhuis theater group. “Myth” is characterized as an amalgamative production of art, dance and music, which draws on mythological and fictional sources such as “The Wizard of Oz.” Through its juxtaposition of gods and humans, “Myth” illustrates the relationship between the elevated divine and humanity below.
“The Blue Dragon,” presented by Québécois director, actor and storyteller Robert Lepage’s company Ex Machina makes its North American premiere at UCLA in mid-November. The performance offers audiences an artistic view of modern China through the interactions of three main characters, performed by Marie Michaud, dancer Tai Wei Foo and Robert Lepage himself in a rare stage appearance. “The Blue Dragon” presents the clashing binaries of East and West and ancient and modern tradition through a blend of theatrical storytelling and high-tech special effects.
“Ivanov” is described by John Spokes as “an extreme and absurd German play that caused the rerouting of the entire air conditioning system in the Freud Playhouse.” A rendition of Anton Chekhov’s play collaborated upon by Berlin’s Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Bulgarian director Dimiter Gotscheff, and Goethe-Institut Los Angeles theater, “Ivanov” is sure to grab audience attention with both its revolutionary subject matter and tricky smoke effects. Set in Russia during the turn of the century and presented on a stage without props, the play presents a striking view of a spiritually bereft modern society.
Rounding out the International Theatre Festival is Andrew Dawson’s “Quatre Mains” and “Space Panorama,” pieces performed solely through choreographed hand movement. Quatre Mains presents an abstract dance of the hands, while Space Panorama reenacts the Apollo 11 moon landing to Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony.
Although festival performances are individual, the promise of astounding talent and a penchant for the human experience appear to be commonalities. From the psychology of the human mind to the dexterity of the human hands, each performance offers a different cultural and theatrical perspective on humanity.
“The festival has no unifying theme, but the audience always identifies meaning for themselves. This is simply an amazing experience ““ there is no other way for people to see this range of shows in this format,” Spokes said.