Passages at the heart of the European creation

Passages, festival (biennial) of the Theatres from the East of Europe and beyond is celebrating its 11th edition this year in Nancy and in the Lorraine Region from the 14th to the 23rd of May.

Passages is a festival of shows and meetings, which is looking at the East and, where, for about ten days in Nancy and in Lorraine, some artists mainly from Eastern Europe are meeting up to present their work and exchange their point of view about the world’s situation. By giving priority to the theatrical creation, the Passages Festival has become an exemplary event of artistic reference and discovery in Europe.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, while the Blakans and Chechnya were counting the number of deaths, the former Eastern countries were turning towards Europe and Russia was changing, a town on the East side of France was turning itself towards the East. In that context, Nancy was welcoming some theatre companies from over there which were meeting for the very first time at the Passages Festival. Thirteen years later, the objectives of the Passages Festival are more than ever relevant today. The 2009 edition shall be, as usual, made of discoveries and loyalties...

Passages, will welcome artists from Bulgaria, Russia, Byelorussia, Hungary, Lithuania, Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Romania, Iran, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Chechnya and Afghanistan.

Thus, in 2009, Passages presents – among others - shows from directors faithful to the festival, such as Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev from Sofia, or Nikolaï Kolyada from Russia, who has never been played in France yet. The festival will give the opportunity to discover / rediscover young artists: Bela Pinter from Hungary, Nikolaï Khalezine from Byelorussia, Gintaras Varnas from Lithuania and Amit Drori from Israel. Passages makes Hungarian music heard, and others from Central Asia, etc. It will also invite artists, essayists and historians to participate into political cabarets in order to talk about the sensitive current affairs that some Eastern countries sometimes have to face.