Theater der Welt says thanks
That’s it! Theater der Welt 2010 ended early on Sunday morning, after a splendid final party outside the Grillo-Theater. The last artists have left, technical equipment has been stowed, the venues tidied up. We had a long lie-in and now look back – a little wistfully – on 18 eventful days of festival. It was exciting, extremely hot and lots of fun! Wonderful how in theatres and festival centres languages and generations mixed, artists, summer academy students and theatre professionals, passers-by and our wonderful Ruhr audience met. To conclude we’d like to say thanks.
Thanks to all our partners and theatres for your great support and hospitality. Thanks to all helpers for your untiring commitment, from set-up through performances to strike-down. Thanks to all artists who showed us their world and surprised us again and again with their visions, ideas and unusual approaches. You thrilled and inspired us and were fantastic guests – on stage and celebrating in the festival centre afterwards.
The greatest thanks of all go to the audience here in the Ruhr area: You bowled us over with your curiosity and your thirst for adventure. Our artists were amazed by the warmth and the openness with which they were received. We know that our programme full of unheard of names, unfamiliar forms and difficult themes was not always easy to deal with, and we’re glad you accepted the challenge and embarked with us on this venture into the unknown. It was you who made Theater der Welt what it was: A wonderful celebration and an exciting journey round the world.
Theater der Welt moves on – where to, is still uncertain. What is certain is that it will return in 2013, in another German city, with a new festival direction and a new team.
We look forward to seeing you again – somewhere in this world!
Your team at Theater der Welt 2010
THEATER DER WELT 2010
The Ruhr is European Capital of Culture and to celebrate it has invited the whole world along by means of Theater der Welt. Nearly 400 international artists will take us on a journey around the globe from 30 June to 17 July in Mülheim an der Ruhr and Essen, providing new sensations, surprising encounters and unexpected events.
The series A Lovely View introduces you to the themes and artists of the festival in the months before the kick-off. Get into the mood for Theater der Welt with discussions and events such as Kröck’s Capital Criticism at Schauspiel Essen, Bal Moderne or the series of films in cinemas in Essen and Mülheim.
The programme director Frie Leysen presents an inter-disciplinary programme for the festival with 32 productions working on the interface between theatre, dance, opera, music, visual arts and performance. The inviting partners are Theater an der Ruhr, Schauspiel Essen and European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010.
The performances take place in classical theatre spaces as well as in industrial buildings on the land around the Zeche Zollverein, a one-time colliery, in inner-city Essen as well as in a manufacturer's villa in Mülheim. Some groups are developing their productions on site in Mülheim und Essen specifically for Theater der Welt, nearly half of the productions are premieres: in total ten world, six European and nine German premieres.
The Theater der Welt artists come from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and Oceania. They live in mega-cities, come from emerging nations, natural paradises and crisis regions. They work alone or in a collective as directors, choreographers, performers, dancers or musicians. Some are well-known greats, others are performing for the first time in Europe. They all have one thing in common, they share with us the time we live in.
In its twelfth edition, Theater der Welt believes in the individual personality of the artist and views the contemporaneous as the language that connects all cultures. This language functions by means of intellectual understanding as well as by experience, via image, atmosphere, sound, movement. It enables what is initially foreign to be encountered close up and it confronts us with the artists' point of view.
Theater der Welt is an invitation to change one's perspective. Theater der Welt 2010 invites you to join an expedition, to go around the world in eighteen days along the Ruhr.
