“Autumn is the International Theater Season” is an exciting exploration of the effective linkage between diversified works and local communities and audiences. The festival, which brings together 7 plays from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and New Zealand, aims to change the relationship between the stage and the audience.
One of the highlights of the festival is the Berlinale’s “Brecht’s Ghosts”, which is a puppet show for adults that tells the history of theater in a unique and innovative way. Director Suther Weischer is committed to revolutionizing puppet theater, and her work challenges the traditional relationship between the stage and the audience. “Brecht’s Ghosts” is not only a memory of the Berlin Theater Company’s “best days”, but also an urgent inquiry into the changing landscape of the stage and how it presents the changing “image of the world” to the audience.
The festival also features works like the mime “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting”, the modern dance “Unexpected Farewell”, and the dance theater “Juliet and Romeo”, which all aim to create a field of public discussion that everyone can intervene in and participate in. These works challenge the traditional forms of stage and performance language and are responses to issues relevant to ordinary people in life.
“Unexpected Farewell”, in particular, stands out as a work with a strong sense of locality. Produced by local artist Jin Xing and based at Dinghai Bridge in Yangpu, the new dance work aims to evoke the power deep in the body, which belongs to the dancers and the audience. By changing the distance between dance and the audience, the work allows everyone to think about how individuals form a community and how the strong accept the weak.
“Autumn is the International Theater Season” is an exploration of how high-quality performances can challenge the relationship between spectators and performers. The festival aims to make the audience realize that they are part of the art and can actively intervene in both the art and in reality.
The festival has successfully opened up discussions about theater and performance, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of performing arts. As the festival continues, it will be exciting to see how these works continue to challenge the traditional relationship between the stage and the audience, and inspire new ways of thinking about art and its impact on society.