Jana Svobodová, Wen Hui and coll. / Archa Theatre / Living Dance Studio
Archa Theatre’s production of Ordinary People is part of the main program of this year’s Avignon Festival. This production, directed by Jana Svobodová and Chinese choreographer Wen Hui, combines the principles of documentary theatre and dance. It is built on the intersections of real stories of people living in the Czech Republic and China with important milestones in the history of both countries.
At a press conference announcing the program of this year’s Avignon Festival, Olivier Py said that “it expresses the strong political will to give a voice to those who have not been heard.”
The presentation of Ordinary People in Avignon is a great victory for Czech theatre. At the same time, it confirms that documentary theatre as understood by the creators of the project is part of the flow of contemporary theatre development. The festival’s programmers clearly believe that our performance will resonate with audiences, as it is scheduled to be shown seven times in the week of July 16 to 23.
The production was created by Jana Svobodová, Wen Hui, Jan Burian, Jaroslav Hrdlička, Vladimír Tůma, Yiai Yao, Philipp Schenker, Wen Luyuan, Pavel Kotlík and Li Xinmin. Czech audiences will have the opportunity to see it again at Archa on November 15 and 16.
The Avignon Festival annually presents the most exciting productions of world theatre. The dramaturgical concept of this year’s festival focused on performances that respond boldly and uncompromisingly to the transformation of the world. “The theatre must open its doors to express its political conscience,” festival director Olivier Py said in his introduction to the festival.
Among the artists presenting their productions in Avignon this July are Akram Khan, Rimini Protokoll (Stefan Kaegi), Congolese choreographer and director Faustin Liyenkula, Pascal Rambert, Russian director Kyril Srebrenikov (held in Moscow under house arrest) and others. For almost two decades a Czech production has not been selected for the festival’s main program.
https://www.festival-avignon.com/en/shows/2019/ordinary-people
