A description
The idea of making international tours of the play The Bear came from Danute Vaigauskaite who is president of Lithuanian Amateur Theatre. We have had two meetings where we have discussed the project and planned its development; first in Norway in the summer of 2003 and then in Vilnius, Lithuania in march 2004. The five countries involved in the project are Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The aim of the Bear project is to create connections between five countries and unite them. The subtitle for the project is WE ARE DIFFERENT-WE ARE SIMILAR. Cultural and international exchange develops skills of understanding and communication that will help to make better and more humanistic theatre. We learn many new methods and skills from others. The point is that the play is the same in all countries and it is easy to approach different themes based on the same text.
Organising the mini-festival in each country is the key of the idea. Every country will host its own festival and all other groups will travel to the same destination. All festivals will have five different performances of The Bear in five different languages and different themes. Because the aim is to learn as much as possible, every country organises workshops based on different themes. Then all groups can focus on the theme of every meeting and do some preparation before the festival. For example in Stockholm we focus on direction, in Finland on creating a character, in Norway on the background of Chekhov and the play's history, in Lithuania stage design etc and in Latvia we'll do mixed performances (which means that we have performances with actors from all countries, one actor from Finland, one from Norway etc.)
Our goal is to get audiences for the festival from groups of students, group of immigrants (performances in their own languages), people who work for international companies and all other people interested in theatre and Anton Chekhov. We advertise to these groups by e-mail, by press and by TV-radio programs.
Lithuania: Shiauliai
Lietuvos Zinios contact person: Virgilija Staseviciute
Mob.tel. (370-659)37253
Latvia: Ryga
President of Latvian Amateur Theatre Association: Inguna Gremze
Mob.tel: +371 9127140
Finland: Ohkola
Ohkolan Nuorisoseura ry, contact person Minna Linna
Mob.tel +358 505611779
Sweden: Stockholm
Spegelteatern, Stockholm, Peter Bark
Norway: Sundelsora
Sundelsora Teater, Lars Hjeldnes
- Nov 29-Dec 2, 2004 - SWEDEN Stockholm Spegelteatern
- Feb 3-7 , 2005 - FINLAND Ohkola
- May 19-23, 2005 - LITHUANIA Shiauliai
- June 2005 - NORWAY Sundelsoro
- Sep 8-12 , 2005 - LATVIA Ryga