THEATRE PROJECT
BECKETT (ETC.) INTERNATIONAL

     The German director Karin Baier, invited to Cologne in 1997 twelve actors from nine countries to take part in the unique experiment of playing in the space of one evening Shakespeare's Tempest in their own native languages. As was the case with A Midsummer Night's Dream, Baier's first multilingual Shakespeare project which toured several cities after opening the 1996 Berliner Theatertreffen, Cologne audiences embraced the idea and filled the house during all performances of the several-week long run at Schauspielhaus. Such a reaction is a clear sign that the idea of European Theater which not long ago would have been deemed utopian is becoming a reality not only from the point of view of theatre artists but also for audiences. Language was not neglected and played as important a role as in traditional productions. The lack of direct comprehension of the spoken text was compensated by the audience's assumed familiarity with the Shakespeare play. Therefore, though it cannot yet match the universality of musical performance, theatre art proves that it can transcend linguistic limits.

     Our goal is similar to the one set up by Karin Baier. We want to prove not only the fruitfulness of direct co-operation among performing artists from different countries, the need of which various international festivals have demonstrated in recent decades, but also that public interest in such undertakings is growing. But there is a marked shift of accent. Unlike the Baier project, we would like to explore the contemporary repertoire, not shunning the works considered difficult and intellectually demanding. The multilingual character of the project does not necessarily involve the use of many languages within one play, but rather implies showing works in various languages in the space of one evening. And in economical terms, since our productions are small and do not require huge technical support, they are far less costly, something which has to do with the fact that the participating theatres are not integrated in the classical municipal and state theatre structure.

     Works of such modern classics as Samuel Beckett, Robert Pinget, Thomas Bernhard and Heiner Müller are as much common cultural property of Europe as those of Shakespeare are the heritage of European culture. We are not denying the existence of cultural differences of various countries, nor do we aim at some unity of a future European theatre where a utopian theatrical Euro-language will be invented. If we postulate to join the forces of theatre artists from various countries working towards a common goal, it is with the belief that it will result in enhancing the existing variety rather than imposing some unified standard. We would like to draw from the experiences of national and regional traditions and at the same time deepen common interest in the work of 20th century stage innovators. We believe that the avant-garde tradition as pursued in various countries can be continued and explored internationally in concerted undertakings like this one, and that such a mixture may give it again the much needed impetus. We want to prove that serious theatre, in spite of competition from electronic media and pressures from commercial theatre, will find its audiences, and that serious theatre's chances to assert itself are greater in joint projects.

     On a more general level, we believe that the stage is the place where people, both on the stage and in the audience, are brought together in the spirit of mutual understanding across national, ethnic, social, or religious boundaries, in the spirit of tolerance and in the service of social values.

     The credo of our stage work can be summarized as: "small means, intense work, rigorous discipline, and striving for absolute precision", which is a quotation from Peter Brook's succinct characterisation of the work of Merce Cunningham, Jerzy Grotowski and Samuel Beckett, the three stage innovators who serve us as a model.

     Since staging Samuel Beckett's work has brought us together and was the starting point of our project we would like to honour this in its title. Beckett's name stands as a symbol not only for a most intense creative urge and striving for unparalleled purity of form, but also of personal modesty and moral integrity. He is a European artist par excellence. Born in Ireland, brought up in the tradition of the English language, he chose France as his domicile and French as the first language of his personages, directed his plays in German, translated Spanish poetry and to his dying day quoted Dante in original. Initially considered a grave-digger of traditional theatre, he seems inconceivable without the foundation of the vast European intellectual and artisic tradition from Homer and pre-socratic thinkers to Joyce and existentialism.

     Beckett (etc) International is a project of a group of international performers, directors, musicians and stage designers to produce in several European cities a series of stagings of plays belonging to the contemporary repertoire (at first by Beckett, Pinget, Bernhard, Müller), with the aim of presenting them in various constellations to audiences at home and abroad, notably at the participating theatres. Specifically, the first production of the series, entitled Theatre of the Interior 2: Beckett/Pinget, was inspired by the experience gained during the staging of four plays by Samuel Beckett (Come and Go, Not I, Play, Quad, the four presented under the title Theatre of the Interior 1) at Cracow's Atelier Theatre, a co-production with Berlin's Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (and partly financed by a grant from the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation), with a Polish cast and directors/stage designers from Germany and France.

     Given the open character of the project other theatres from different European countries may join us soon.