AESTHETICS OF SOLIDARITY

What can be new forms of interactivity and participation in theatre and how the connection of arts & politics can reach out into neighbourhood, town and society? The KURINGA Forum Theatre Festival proposes an aesthetic debate on possibilities of using theatre to promote coalition and solidarity in times of right wing populism and toxic masculinities.

The Festival presents the current aesthetic research process through an opening play with a KURINGA international cast and offers seminars of theory and praxis of the method and theatrical laboratories where all plays are discussed, and concrete proposals are developed. KURINGA plays seek to advance in the metaphorical representation that surpasses an individualist-realist approach and reinforce the contextual perspective, underlining both the thematic complexity and the simplicity of the play.

The program includes public Forum Theatre presentations by theatre groups from all over Europe and other countries, where multipliers from KURINGA Theatre of the Oppressed Qualification Programme develop their practice. The Forum Theatre plays approach the concept of solidarity based on social experiences and concrete political struggles of each of the groups and invite the audience to discuss and rehearse social transformation through theatrical interaction. The Festival also proposes the radicalization of the breakdown of the barrier between stage and audience through collective interventions, stimulating spectators to come together and experience strategies searching for overcoming the oppression represented on stage considering the thematic complexity and not only the behaviours of the characters and each spectator their real social position in life.

The Festival is a platform to connect local community groups with international Forum Theatre productions and also spaces of aesthetic research.