Lift Presents MACBETH: LEÏLA AND BEN – A BLOODY HISTORY, Now thru July 7

Following the disturbing taste of Syrian covert incarceration in 66 Minutes in Damascus and the Iraqi Theatre Company's Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad (opening at Riverside Studios tonight), LIFT 2012 brings the turbulent state of Tunisia, and the continuing ethnic violence in Romania and Hungary to the stage, and asks questions about the place of theatre in challenging notions of national cultural identity..

Renowned Tunisian theatre company APA turn the story of Macbeth into former dictator President Zine El Abadine Ben Ali who was overturned in the Arab Spring uprising. In 20/20, the ethnic conflict on the Romanian/Hungarian border of 1990 is an urgent reminder of how such divisions remain close to home. This is accompanied by Crossing Borders, a debate with members of the Wooster Group, Three Kingdoms dramaturge Eero Epner and 20/20 director Gianina Carbunariu, who discuss the increasing trend of theatre makers across Europe to forge collaborations that place people from different countries on to the same stage and traversing national boundaries.

For more information please visit www.liftfestival.com

Some details:

MACBETH: LEÏLA AND BEN – A BLOODY HISTORY (Tunisia)
Riverside Studios 4 – 7 July World Premiere
Tunisia has changed irreversibly since French-Tunisian theatre group Artistes Producteurs Associés staged their Hobbs Story: Instructions For Arab Love performance at LIFT 2010. For LIFT 2012 they look back to one of Western theatre’s most famous works for a new perspective on the events that played out on the streets of Tunis in 2011. Blending Shakespeare’s text with their trademark multimedia techniques and TV reportage, they portray deposed Tunisian dictator President Zine El Abadine Ben Ali and his wife Leïla as the Scottish king and queen, whose determination to keep their grip on power shows that Macbeth’s story of brutality, backstabbing and blind ambition remains disturbingly current. Part of the World Shakespeare Festival for the London 2012 Festival. #MacbethAPA

20/20 (Romania/Hungary)
Platform Theatre, Central St Martin's College 4 – 6 July UK Premiere
Shining a light on the universal issue of ethnic conflict and the divisions that existed between Romanians and Hungarians, 20/20 is a piece of documentary theatre about the dramatic and traumatic events of March 1990 in Tirgu-Mures, a bilingual city in Romania. News and information about the conflict was suppressed, and much of the detail now only exists in the memories of its protagonists. Yet Director Gianina Carbunariu passionately believes in the importance of excavating these memories as a shocking reminder of how quickly ethnic tensions so close by can once again rise up on The Edges of Europe. #2020play

Crossing Borders(LIFT talk)
Platform Theatre, Central St Martin's College 6 July at 5pm
Increasingly theatre makers across Europe are forging collaborations that place people from different countries onto the same stage, traversing national boundaries and challenging notions of national culturalidentity. From LIFT’s own Hungarian/Romanian collaboration 20/20 to the recent tri-national co-production of Three Kingdoms by the Lyric Hammersmith, Munich Kammerspiele and Estonia's Teater NO99 production these fluid projects are becoming increasingly attractive to theatre-makers across the continent. This session will present readings, performancelectures and discussions to explore the trends in active international collaboration. Tickets are free. To book please go to http://lift2012crossingborders.eventbrite.co.uk

The panel will be chaired by LIFT Artistic Director Mark Ball and will include

Gianina Carbunariu, the director of 20/20
Eero Epner, the dramaturge for Teater NO99, Estonia creative collaboration between Estonia and Germany and the UK

Cynthia Hedstrom, the producer for The Wooster Group who are producing Troilus and Cressida with the RSC as part of the World Shakespeare Festival www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk

Presented by LIFT with support from the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Hungarian Cultural Centre and the European Culture Programme

 

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