Theatertreffen, a German theater festival, held its first event in China on Tuesday.
The National Center for Performing Arts (NCPA) and Shanghai Daning Theater will host three productions as part of the "Theatertreffen in China" program, which runs until July 9.
Theatertreffen was founded in 1964, and, along with France's Le Festival d'Avignon and Edinburgh's International Festival, it is one of the biggest in the world, held in May in Berlin every year.
"Common Ground," "John Gabriel Borkman," and "Waiting for Godot" were selected by Chinese and German juries to be brought to China. The organizer said that these productions reflected the diversity and modernity of German productions.
Three productions will be in German with Chinese subtitles.
"Common Ground," directed by Yael Ronen, discusses the war in former Yugoslavia. It explores the collision of different cultures, symbiosis and conflict, and deals with difficult social issues in a "common ground."
The story shows the characteristics of the era through personal experience, according to Thomas Oberender, director of the Berliner Festspiele Arts Center. It will be performed on June 21 and 22 in Beijing, and June 24 and 25 in Shanghai.
Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman," presented by a group from Schauspielhaus Hamburg, shows individualism and economic crisis in a new light. It will be brought onto Beijing stage on June 25 and 26, and Shanghai on June 29 and 30.
The modern classic "Waiting for Godot," directed by Ivan Panteleev, will close Theatertreffen in China on July 3 and 4 in Shanghai, and July 8 and 9 in Beijing.
"German drama usually focuses on contemporary events and social issues. Some classic plays nowadays will contain a heuristic value," Clemens Treter, director of Goethe-Institute China said. "There are nearly 300 municipal or provincial theaters in Germany, that's why drama has an important role in the cultural lives of the German people," he added.
In addition to performances, Theatertreffen in China will have talks, workshops or seminars.
Thomas Oberender has been engaged in cultural promotion work in Europe since 2000. As he had visited Shanghai previously, he felt very positively about actors and enthusiasts. Then, he brought the Berlin festival to China.
"Theatertreffen in China" is part of the second International drama season in NCPA. Jiang Tao, Vice-Director of the program department at NCPA hopes to create a Chinese-Western platform for drama exchange. "Drama could give rise to discussion of social issues," he said.
