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Waiting for  La Trilogie des contes immoraux (pour Europe) ©Mehmet Kerem Özel, April 7th 2024, Théâtre du Nord - Lille The stage floor is covered in thick cardboard, which has various cracks on its surface. It resembles the ready-made cut-and-fold paper houses for kids, but on a much larger scale.  A punk woman with distinctive hair, make-up, and clothing is sitting on the floor, leaning against the back wall of the stage. After the announcement and dimming of the theatre lights, she confidently walks around the cardboard, as if exploring the floor. She then retrieves a spear from a tall container behind the stage and uses it to remove and discard pieces of the cardboard. Her movements are deliberate and controlled. The show is about this woman constructing a structure using thick and heavy cardboard on the floor with the cut-fold-paste logic I mentioned. As an audience member, after a certain point, you can't help but identify with her. You'll feel joy when she overcomes...

What is the essence of performance in your opinion? The essence of dance and art, in my opinion, lies in their remarkable ability to unite people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Regardless of the challenges that may arise, art and dance persist, consistently propelling society forward. It’s striking to observe how even in times of adversity, such as natural disasters, floods, and fires, the world can be filled with turmoil, yet artists continue to create and inspire. This enduring spirit of artistic expression has transcended generations. A poignant example of this is how, during World War II from 1940 to 1945, Walt Disney released beloved films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Dumbo , and Bambi in Europe. This unwavering passion and dedication to our craft deeply moves me. To me, the essence of dance is encapsulated within this resilience and unwavering love for what we do.  Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How? Absolutely, I firmly believe in the t...

What is the essence of good play/playwriting in your opinion? Good playwriting is ways of exploring different truths about the world. To find a truth and hold on to it, no matter which form or style. Do you believe in the transformative power of art? How? I do believe art has the ability to change people. And we are, for better or worse, the world. If I did not believe in this, I would find a different job.  When you are working on a text, what sources inspire you? Do dreams play a role in your works?   Although my academic background is very much inspired by both absurdism and surrealism, dreams are not that important to me. I always try to read a lot in periods of intensive writing. Often playwrights, but also other authors. From the assembled mass of inspiration and own thoughts, I often get these images stuck in my head. Images that won’t leave me. It could be the picture of someone sitting in an ice cream truck with blood on their hands, or perhaps someone slipping down i...

The New Text Festival, organized by GalataPerform, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and which is Turkey's first and only playwriting festival, took place this year for the twelfth time between 24th November and 4th December 2023, focusing on the theme of "Real". At the festival, which creates an area where Turkish writers and directors meet with artists from abroad within the scope of Theater Beyond Borders, we continue from where we left off by publishing our conversations with international playwrights whose plays have been translated into Turkish and staged readings. Our next guest Marie Bjørn.  Marie Bjørn, who is interested in both theatre, film and prose writing, graduated from the Danish National Faculty of Performing Arts as a playwright in 2019 and from the alternative film school Super16 in Copenhagen as a screenwriter in 2022. Bjørn was nominated for the Reumert Playwright of the Year and Special Mention awards in 2020 for his first play, Apocal...

The New Text Festival, organized by GalataPerform, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and which is Turkey's first and only playwriting festival, took place this year for the twelfth time between 24th November and 4th December 2023, focusing on the theme of "Real". At the festival, which creates an area where Turkish writers and directors meet with artists from abroad within the scope of Theater Beyond Borders, we continue from where we left off by publishing our conversations with international playwrights whose plays have been translated into Turkish and staged readings. Our next guest is  Malin Axelsson. Playwright, writer and director Malin Axelsson was born in Stockholm in 1975. The plays of the author, who graduated from the Swedish University Film, Radio, Television and Theater Department in 2002, have been translated into German, French, Italian, Romanian and Norwegian. She has been working as Artistic Director at Riksteatern Youth Theater since 2021....

The New Text Festival, organized by GalataPerform, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and which is Turkey's first and only playwriting festival, took place this year for the twelfth time between 24th November and 4th December 2023, focusing on the theme of "Real". At the festival, which creates an area where Turkish writers and directors meet with artists from abroad within the scope of Theater Beyond Borders, we continue from where we left off by publishing our conversations with international playwrights whose plays have been translated into Turkish and staged readings. Our next guest is Tue Biering.  Over the last 25 years, Tue Biering has initiated and directed a wide variety of projects, including new dramatic works, classics, operas and interactive performances. He has won many awards, most recently the Crown Prince Couple's Cultural Award. Biering looks at our concepts of the world and shows different aspects of the stories that surround us that w...