The 7th International Festival of Performing Arts Crossings has no common thread, no curatorial signature, and no unified theme. It is not defined by genre, has no competitive program, and no accompanying program.
The festival program consists of performances selected based on a fairly simple principle: the criterion is quality. We would not present shows that we do not believe are worth your time. However, if you feel that we have made a mistake, feel free to let us know.
The festival will take place from 16 to 23 May, lasting eight days. Performances will not be scheduled every day, but on some days, there will be two. We invite you to reserve your evenings that week – we are sure you won’t regret it.
La Lettera (The Letter) is, for example, a legendary clown performance, while Oratoria is a small independent Bulgarian production. Cure (Girls) is a flirtation with engaged theatre from Rijeka, Maze is a shadow journey of life from Rome. Slovenska transverzala (Slovenian Mountain Trail) loves Slovenia, Hero 4.0 – Business as Usual sucks the blood out of theatre. What to do in a Puppet Emergency is a lecture that is also a performance. Umetnost je omara (Art is a Cupboard) opens the doors wide to poetry, and Harms je kriv! (Harms’ Fault!) doesn’t breathe with lungs, but with a bellows, and not just one.
The performances are fascinating, heartfelt, political, funny, witty, entertaining, insightful, and critical… but they are not preachy or moralizing. The pretension of political engagement in theatre really gets on our nerves.
But in order to avoid any misunderstandings, we would like to clarify a few things: We reject the legitimacy of any regime that deliberately kills children. We reject any form of violence based on or directed against gender, religion, beliefs, or ethnicity. We reject war as a means to achieve any goals.
Global warming, touristification, the speculative real estate market, psychopathic individualism, advertisements in public spaces, the glorification of individual identity over the collective, gentrification, homophobia… are all symptoms of the same disease. But no one can prescribe you a cure. And you cannot use it only for yourself. Regular exercise won’t solve the problems listed above, but it will keep us healthy. Perhaps theatre is exercise for the soul. It won’t save us from cardiovascular issues, but it might help us view the world with a slightly more open heart.