The Gdańsk
Shakespeare Theatre
Poland
The Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre was established in 2008 and the venue was opened in 2014. The theatre building recalls the heritage of the Fencing School, set up in Gdansk in the beginning of the 17th century and lasting for over 200 years, combined with the modern architecture of the 21st century.
The institution was founded in partnership between the local and regional authorities (Gdańsk City Council, Self-Government of the Pomeranian Voivodeship) and the NGO (Theatrum Gedanense Foundation).
GTS aims to present and disseminate performing arts productions, create artistic activities and promote emerging artists. We also foster creativity and audience development by extensive educational programmes combining lectures, meetings, workshops, interactive theatre and art activities.
Artistic programme is based on presentations of leading Polish theatres and outstanding artistic offer from European countries and beyond (week long festivals presenting culture of selected country) also Music Stage is being intensively developed.
GTS is a coorganiser of the Gdansk Shakespeare Festival – the winner of EFFE Award 2017-2018. The Festival is an international annual event initiated in 1997 which combines Mainstage performances’ presentations, ShakespeareOFF stage presenting young, emerging artists and the educational programme including workshops, meetings with theatre creators and lectures, thus providing an exchange platform for audiences and professionals in the field of culture.
The Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre is a leader of “Shaking the Walls” project developing the framework for cooperation between co-organisers, fostering an active exchange of creative ideas, communication and promotion, audience development and project management.
GTS will organize the activities taking place in Gdańsk, including ShakespeareOFF competition and presentations, main stage Shakespeare Festival presentations, partner’s meetings, summer activities focused on audience building, educational activities, and the final event including performing and visual art. We want to animate community groups by recruiting them as volunteers for cultural activities.
The Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre will actively cooperate with all project partners in terms of exchanging creative ideas and experience, artwork, communication and promotion, audience development and the project management. We are excited to work with our European partners to develop the strongest profile of collaborative work.
TeatrSzekspirowski.plCooltour
Cultural Centre
Czech Republic
Cooltour Cultural Centre, was established in October 2011 with the aim to support emerging young talents in the arts and to provide a space for new art forms and genres to develop, a platform that was non-existent at the time.
Cooltour devoted more than seven years of its existence to the analysis of the needs of its surrounding environment, and to the development of skills and knowledge, so as not to become merely a place for art, but to be mainly a place for culture. Culture represents much more than just the presentation of art. Culture is the evaluating factor of many of our doings and culture, is also a tool for change, motivation, self-realization, knowing, education and sustainable development. Culture fights gradual self-destruction, consumerism, alienation, hatred. Culture is an inseparable part of any modern society with an ambition to prosper.
Since its founding, Cooltour has become an important platform for the support of cultural projects. These projects are directed to encourage the individuals’ creative potentials, as well as those of communities. These projects are local and international and focused in different directions. Sometimes they focus on building relationships between the city and its inhabitants, sometimes at making naglected or empty city spaces alive again, or sometimes focusing on international cooperation in the arts or strengthening democratic values and principles. We consider these activities to be extremely important, because not only do they contribute to the city life, but equally help in developing personalities.
Cooltour is not defined by its building. Cooltour is an important tool to make a change, and Cooltour, above all, is the people.
As a partner to the project, Cooltour is contributing to all the project phases. We will be focusing on describing the local (national) interpretation of the topic of the “Wall” as a metaphor for the different barriers among the Czech society with the perspective of a larger scale understanding provided by other European project partners.
Through workshops and seminars we would like to stir public discussion and gather material for a two-part production (one performance and one installation) to show the public locally and internationally that it is not the physical walls that divide us, these are mainly the walls in our minds, prejudice and misinformed opinions that drive us against each other.
Cooltour will also participate in fostering young artists presentations in OFF Stage, this part of the project will be a collaboration between Gdańsk and Ostrava focused on an exchange of OFF theatre productions.
COOLtourova.cz
RaTaTam
Iceland
RaTaTam is a group of performance artist who make new work, mainly for stage. They base our work on investigations, interviews and research with a strong focus on the society we live in today.
The artists proclaim: “We make performances that defy, challenge and ask difficult questions but use sarcasm and humour. We uncover ourselves on stage through improvisation, comic, dance and music. Our performances cause chaos, are a food for thought and make possible new discoveries about society. Nothing is out of reach or too far out.”
SUSS! is a theatre piece based on interviews with perpetrators, victims and family members who have experienced domestic violence. The project started in January 2015 and is still running. Suss was funded by The Nordic Culture fund, Reykjavik City, Tjarnarbio Theatre & Bank of Iceland.
In the course of the project the SUSS! Production will be presented in Iceland in cooperation with social organisations and institutions focused on domestic violence. The result of this cooperation will be a presentations of the show to the selected audiences, the groups who are the focus group and would consider seeing the production about the subject of domestic violence profitable. The presentations will be accompanied with a seminar/meeting with experts before the each show and a talk with the audience after each performance.
The SUSS! Production will also be presented in Poland and Czech Republic in the course of the project.
facebook.com/RaTaTaamParrabbola
United Kingdom
Parrabbola is a collective of artists – the brainchild of Philip Parr and researcher, writer and actor Brian Abbott. It is a storyteller – producing community theatre and plays, festivals and events, incorporating music or dance – and develops creative talent in the UK and Europe.
Parrabbola has considerable experience in the development of community plays, and is considered one of the world leaders in this field. We have presented our work regularly at major international events – including the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam. They are one of the producing partners of the York International Shakespeare Festival which is one of the key European Shakespeare Festivals, and we are member of the European Shakespeare Festivals Network.
Parrabbola has been working with communities who are: celebrating and developing confidence and self-expression, whatever their age or background, sharing and commemorating a common heritage, building shared values and sense of place to create community identity and looking to develop their own expressive voice and talents. They have developed the community play version of Shakespeare, where performances are presented within public space, by community performers who may have no previous experience of theatre, and have brought that model to various festivals across Europe (Gdansk – Poland, Ostrava – Czech Rep, Craiova – Romania) where Parrabbola have been acclaimed for their capacity to engage communities and new audiences.
Parrabbola will collaborate with An Grianan to develop Shaking The Tale, a site specific production of Shakespeare’s The Winters Tale travelling between two European countries, Ireland and the UK (Northern Ireland). The focus is to expose the invisible wall that will spring up with the departure of the UK from the EU. This will be a Community Play, involving local community performers, with substantial element of audience development. As well we expect to engage audiences who are not regular theatre goers with little access to mainstream theatre performances.
Parrabbola will also develop a performance project which engages with all the project partners, viewing their productions in their own countries and combining elements of their work into a promenade community performance on the streets of Gdansk. This will serve to draw together the various ‘walls and barriers’ explored in each country, and to show how the plays of William Shakespeare have previously explored the same subjects.
parrabbola.co.uk
An
Grianán Theatre
Ireland
An Grianán Theatre is a 383 seat theatre, located in Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland.
An Grianán Theatre is an integral part of Donegal’s thriving cultural life and a flagship venue for the North West. As a centre of artistic excellence at the heart of the community, it gives local audiences and visitors the opportunity to enjoy the very best of local, national and international drama throughout the year, alongside dance, music, comedy and exhibitions. An Grianán also provides regular employment and training, and creates a wide range of exciting opportunities for young people, adults, disadvantaged and marginalized groups to take part in the arts and develop new skills.
The theatre endeavors to maximize its impact by touring shows around the County and across the border, and already over a million people have directly benefited from An Grianán’s programme and services since it opened in 1999.
The theatre maintains a busy programme of community and outreach events including regular drama classes for children, a youth theatre for young people as well as an exciting summer programme of performing arts for children and young people. An Grianán Theatre is also the official box office and a host venue for the annual Earagail Arts Festival, Donegal’s largest arts festival.
An Grianán Theatre is organising an event which is a part of the “Shaking the Wall” project called “Shaking the Tale”. It is an off-site, immersive production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, to be performed in counties Donegal and Derry, Ireland, in July 2019. The piece is a co-production between An Grianán Theatre and Parrabbola Theatre Company, UK, supported by the Earagail Arts Festival and Donegal County Council Arts Office. It will be directed by Philip Parr of Parrabbola, in a new adaptation by Guy Le Jeune, An Grianán. The cast will be drawn from the local communities of the north-west and the piece will be performed in Ballymacool Town Park, Letterkenny, and in Greencastle/Magilligan, using the Lough Foyle Ferry to take the cast and audience on ocean voyages between the kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia, travelling across the international border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
angrianan.com