The Future of Europe

2018. 02. 27.

International Theatre Festival

Cooperation between Vígszínház, the Schauspiel Stuttgart and theatres from Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Romania and Ukraine.

From June 6 -10, 2018 at Schauspielhaus, Kammertheater and Nord

What happened to the dialogue that a united European community once wanted to initiate? The financial and the refugee crises of recent years have shown us the fragility of the European set of values. Common initiatives give place to the idea of nation states with defined territorial borders. The Schengen Agreement cracks. The “Regions of Europe” show their barb-wired faces along the so-called Balkan Route. Brexit is a done deal. AfD became the third strongest political party in Germany, illustrating how right-wing extremists turned from individual phenomena to a real political force all over Europe.

Europe? The German parliamentary election campaigns were dominated by other topics. Yet only two days after the German elections 2017 Emmanuel Macron urges for a united, sovereign and democratic Europe. Possibly a historical and definitely a well-chosen time – for instance, to call the Federal Republic to responsibility before the negotiations for new coalitions take place. How will it look like, the future of Europe?

The question, which role and place theater takes within and in defense of the open society, is more crucial than ever. Nowadays Europe shows more and more tendencies away from the achievements of open society, from the freedom of discussion and other basic values of democracy. As active participants of open society, the cultural institutions are urged to create space for discussion and to put the values and norms that shape – or, rather, should shape – our society in the center of their artistic activity. Schauspiel Stuttgart does it both through collaboration with local institutions and through cultural exchange with theaters from the whole of Europe. Some of these partnerships are brand new, whereas others have been established for years. The partner theaters of the Schauspiel Stuttgart are: the National Theater of Greece (Athens), the National Theater of Catalonia (TCN) (Barcelona), the Célestins Theater (Lyon), the Piccolo Teatro (Milan), National Theater of Northern Greece (Thessaloniki), the Kherson Music Drama Theater (Ukraine), the National Theater Radu Stanca (Sibiu) and the Vígszínház Theater (Budapest). From November 2017 till June 2018 the partners will be together for the festival The Future of Europe, which has its main aim in putting Europe as a center of open society, which needs to be defended.