The 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival 2024

The 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival is set to take place from October 17 to October 27, 2024, with the [...]

The 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival is set to take place from October 17 to October 27, 2024, with the theme ‘Unyielding’. This spirit, like a torch, and belief, as firm as a rock, gathers the diverse theatrical cultures of the world and incubates the creative dreams of young talents. With a history of 1300 years, Wuzhen serves as the stage for the festival, inviting global theatre enthusiasts and dreamers of life to experience a carnival of the soul in the beautiful town of Wuzhen.

This year’s special performance list and exciting highlights include seven major sections: ‘Brilliant International’, ‘Theatre Elegance’, ‘Global Reach’, ‘Emerging Lights’, ‘Dance Theatre’, ‘Academy Observation’, and ‘Nothing is Impossible’. The 11-day theatrical feast is about to commence, with 24 outstanding works from 11 countries, presenting 86 exciting performances in 11 theatres in Wuzhen. Among the 24 works are 13 cutting-edge productions from overseas countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Denmark, and Belgium, as well as 11 top Chinese works, encompassing world-renowned troupes, masterpieces, classic reimaginings, avant-garde theatre, physical dance theatre, and academy observations. A charity performance is also included as a special focus.

Five highlights of this year’s special performances are as follows:
– International theatre masters gather in Wuzhen, with renowned troupes painting a new image of global theatre.
– Krzysztof Warlikowski, a famous European director of drama and opera, brings ‘Let’s Go’ to Wuzhen with the New Theatre in Warsaw, addressing the essence of human existence and exploring the meaning of life amidst the tension between comedy and the theme of death.
– Vazdyl Mudway, one of the most important contemporary French-speaking directors and playwrights, collaborates with the Corin National Theatre to bring ‘By the Sea’, listening to the anxieties of the younger generation facing love, sorrow, fear, and death.
– The Japanese national treasure of theatre, Tadashi Suzuki, returns with the Suzuki Manjiro Troupe, presenting ‘Dionysus’; interpreting the Greek tragedy of Euripides in a manner full of Eastern charm.
– World-class theatre master Eugenio Barba leads the Odin Theatre, incorporating Shakespearean characters in ‘Hamlet’s Cloud’, allowing them to experience and witness the tragedy of Hamlet.
– One of the most influential theatre artists of the 20th century, Thomas Richards, brings ‘The Inanna Project’ with the Theatre Without Borders, and the Sumerian mythological figure Inanna, symbolizing femininity, strength, spirituality, and tenacity, descends to the world.
– The renowned Chinese playwright Stan Lai, along with the Upper Theatre, presents ‘Jiang/Yun/Between’, depicting a missed era with delicate and rich strokes.
– One of the best puppet actors in the world today, Nicolas Habian, collaborates with Vienna-based writer Paulus Hogeter, bringing the Berlin Deutsches Theatre, one of the most important German-language theatres, to life through the puppet monodrama ‘Karl Böhm’, vividly recreating a conductor who has been the subject of much attention and controversy.

Dialogue with famous playwrights across time and space, and pay tribute to the classic works of the times by bravely leading the trend! This is a dialogue between famous masters and a collision across eras. The classic absurd drama ‘Waiting for Godot’ has a cross-temporal encounter with Meng Jinghui, a Chinese theater director with great avant-garde and personal characteristics. The huge tension between the absurdity of drama and the reality of life is about to leap onto the stage. The pure Brechtian parable play ‘Peterman and the Arsonist’, under the restaging of Susanne Schimmelpfennig, incorporates rap and renews stage language. It closely follows the pulse of the times in social politics and cultural aesthetics and once again sounds the alarm bell from half a century ago.

Li Jianjun, an important practitioner of contemporary Chinese theater art, challenges Bertolt Brecht’s play ‘The Threepenny Opera’ and reproduces a ‘dissimilated’ story about eternal betrayal and creates an anti-mythological myth. New and emerging forces gather for the theater festival and bravely ask questions about the propositions of the times! This is the cohesion of new and emerging forces in theater. Wang Chong, the initiator of the new wave theater, presents his innovative masterpiece ‘Lying Flat 2.0’. The script created by artificial intelligence interacts wonderfully with the ‘lying flat’ way of watching plays, opening up a unique artistic experience. Hu Xuanyi and He Qi, theater creators who emerged from the youth competition, return again with ‘Summer Sounds: Seagull’. They reconstruct Chekhov’s famous work ‘The Seagull’ from a female perspective and point out the eternal topic swinging between reality and ideal. Outstanding young director Xiao Jing, together with the Institute of Daily Poetry, brings the work ‘Flying to the Moon’.New forces at home and abroad gather in Wuzhen, and the freely surging theater festival is about to begin.

Boldly crossing boundaries to create infinite possibilities, role reversals to write a new chapter in drama! Here, there are artistic adventures created by diverse transformations.

Yu Rongjun, a national first-class scriptwriter, visits Wuzhen with his first self-written and directed work ‘The Unspeakable’, bringing more possibilities to the stage, seeking the essence of life, and discussing the invisible way; Li Luka, who has deeply participated in drama creation as a music designer and actor, brings ‘The Animals That Can Be Called Human’ for the first time as a director, relying on a comprehensive artistic perception, using visual stage language, and continuously exploring the psychological predicaments of humans and the spirit of enterprising exploration. Director Ma Yan collaborates with the Le Yi Theatre Troupe to bring the first pan-disability open-style inclusive drama in China – the charity performance ‘Reversing the Future’, where identities are reversed, strengths and weaknesses are flipped, the future and the present are inverted, and science fiction and reality are intertwined. Drama eliminates the barriers to expression, and on the stage, one can witness the infinite possibilities of sincere expression.

In-depth interpretation of the featured plays of the 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival: First, the brilliant international play ‘Let’s Go’, adapted from the original work by Hanoch Levin, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski at the New Theatre in Warsaw, Poland. Krzysztof Warlikowski, one of the most famous directors of drama and opera in Europe, brings his work ‘Let’s Go’ to the festival. This contemporary avant-garde drama about life and death, self and belonging will make a grand entrance as the opening play of this session! As the founder and artistic director of the New Theatre in Warsaw, Warlikowski has created a new way of performing Shakespeare’s plays, and his works include a subversive interpretation of Greek tragedies, and he is also known for adapting works by modern writers. ‘Let’s Go’ is adapted from Hanoch Levin’s classic work ‘The Traveler’, which was shown in the ‘Good Plays from Around the World’ section of the 8th Wuzhen Theatre Festival in 2021. In Levin’s script, people find the true face and scale of the great migration around the world, reflecting all the anxieties and movements happening on a macro scale. In this ‘comedy with eight funerals’, there is no clear identity, only travelers who pass by and stay briefly, discussing serious life meanings in the tension between comedy and the theme of death. This is a profound exploration of identity and displacement, a work that directly hits the essence of human existence. Polish drama critic and artist Marcelina Obaczka commented on ‘Let’s Go’, saying, ‘Warlikowski did not create a narrative with heavy meaning, but created a small and narrow story of life that seems to have actions.

‘Bianca Thomas, who is active in the field of visual art, has collaborated with ChatGPT to write the script of ‘Artificial Intelligence and Abel’. Through extremely interesting performances, it reflects on major propositions of technological ethics.

‘Werther: Adapted from a novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’ is jointly created by director Sebastian Kaiser and the art master troupe of Nanjing University. It moves Werther from Goethe’s pen to modern Nanjing and peeks at the troubles of teenagers again.

The student work ‘Epilogue/The Witch’s Hammer/Alarm’ from ArtEZ University of the Arts interweaves the keen insights of young people with extraordinarily creative stage language and focuses on sharp issues such as existence, patriarchal oppression and feminism, fully showing the spirit of new and emerging forces in theater.

‘It subverts the linear narrative in Lu Min’s novel of the same name, shows the portraits of contemporary urban people and outlines the distant ‘utopia’ in everyone’s heart.

‘Medea’ by Fluid Space Theater collects associative fragments of the ancient Greek myth of Medea and intervenes media devices in the performance to reflect on the transformation of old and new orders.

‘The Show’ by famous French choreographer Jérôme Bel subverts the definition of dance, lets go of the extreme pursuit of dance skills and leads the audience to enjoy the pure happiness of dance.

‘A Dancer’s Day’ co-choreographed by Eugenio Barba, Lorenzo Gleijeses and Julia Varley presents the premiere anxiety and extreme dedication to the profession of dancers through stereotyped and repetitive body movements.

‘All Is Dust’ by independent dancer Søren Wernerichter integrates dance, comedy, narrative and drama and humorously resolves the taboo red line when people talk about death.

‘Fingertip Affection’ by Belgium’s Tout Petit Théâtre dances with flying fingertips in the long river of history and composes a chronological epicThe 11th Krakow Divine Comedy Theatre Festival recognized a play with several awards, including Best Set Design and Best Music Design.

This year, ‘Let’s Go’ will make its offline debut in China at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival. Among the performances is ‘Littoral’ by the National Theatre of Coline, France, written and directed by Wajdi Mouawad. Mouawad, a prominent contemporary French theatre director and playwright, has brought this work to the stage, earning it the prestigious Molière Award for Best Script, which he declined in protest against the unfair treatment of young playwrights. Mouawad’s art projects focus on themes of writing and creation, diversity, youth, and region. ‘Littoral’ narrates the story of a troubled young man seeking a quiet place to bury his father after his death. Created in 1997, the play explores existential issues faced by Mouawad and his peers in their thirties. Two decades later, the new generation still grapples with love, sadness, fear, and death, with an unprecedented era exacerbating these anxieties. The director and young actors have collaborated to adapt ‘Littoral’ for a new generation, making it the closing play of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival and marking its first staging in China.

‘Karl Böhm’ is another highlight, brought to the Wuzhen Theatre Festival by the Deutsches Theater Berlin, Germany. Playwright Paulus Hochgatterer and Director Nikolaus Habjan present a work nominated for the Austrian Theatre Award in 2018. Karl Böhm, a renowned conducting master of the 20th century, led a life of profound duality: a great artist who compromised for career advancement, becoming a beneficiary and a controversial figure of a specific historical period. Habjan, a musical theatre director and acclaimed puppet show actor, combines stage art, storytelling, and inspiring texts to convey the character’s contradictions and probe one of Europe’s darkest historical chapters. The Viennese writer Paulus Hochgatterer penned the play’s text for Habjan and his puppets. Habjan’s one-man puppet show ‘F. Zawel – Heredity and Social Inferiority’ earned him the highest Austrian theatre honor. ‘Karl Böhm’ premiered in Graz, Austria, in 2018 and has since become a permanent repertoire of the Deutsches Theater Berlin, with over 60 performances across Graz, Berlin, Vienna, and other locations.

‘Petermann and the Arsonists’ is a parable play adapted from Swiss playwright Max Frisch’s 1958同名作品, directed by Susanne Schmieder in collaboration with the historic Heidelberg Theatre in Germany. The play revolves around arsonists igniting rooftops while townspeople sleep, with Gottlieb Petermann offering shelter to two ‘peddlers’ despite warnings, leading to tragedy. Frisch, known as one of the ‘twin stars’ of contemporary Swiss German literature, is internationally recognized for his exploration of social constraints, language power, and the dichotomy between personal and national identity. Schmieder, who has adapted novels multiple times and won the Nestroy Theatre Award for her adaptation of Anna Karenina in 2015, has re-envisioned the classic play, transforming interludes from choir to rap, capturing the ‘spirit of the times.’ The Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung praised Schmieder’s work for being ‘Close to the pulse of the times, not only in socio-political aspects but also in cultural and aesthetic ones.’

Lastly, ‘Theatrical Elegance: Dionysus’ is an adaptation of Euripides’ original, directed by the Japanese SCOT Theatre Troupe: Tadashi Suzuki. After a five-year hiatus, the influential Asian theatre master and Japanese national treasure, Tadashi Suzuki, returns to Wuzhen with his masterpiece. Suzuki presents an adaptation of the ancient Greek myth, Dionysus, rich in Eastern connotations. The story follows Dionysus, the god of wine, who plots to eliminate Pentheus, who blocks his preaching, with Pentheus’s mother, Agave, unknowingly participating. The actors’ intense physicality, precision, and control bring the solemnity and sanctity of this ancient Greek tragedy to new heights.Tadashi Suzuki is a renowned director, critic, thinker, and theorist in the contemporary theatre world, celebrated for his innovative interpretations of classic works and his elegant, musically rich performances. He is particularly adept at addressing contemporary cross-cultural issues and has presented postmodern adaptations of dramatic classics by authors such as Tsuruya Namboku, Euripides, Shakespeare, and Chekhov, with notable works including “Electra,” “The Trojan Women,” “Dionysus,” and “King Lear.”

Suzuki has developed a unique actor training method that blends Noh drama, Kabuki, and Western realism. His play “Spring in the North Country” was showcased at the 6th Wuzhen Theatre Festival as a special invitee, garnering enthusiastic responses and critical acclaim.

Eugenio Barba, playwright/director of Odin Teatret in Denmark, is a significant figure in 20th-century theatre history. His work has influenced the international stage for over half a century, spanning performance art creation, theoretical reflection, education, and the preservation of historical memory. Barba founded Odin Teatret in 1964, a troupe recognized for its poetic genre and profound philosophical significance. This year, Odin Teatret celebrates its 60th anniversary with tours and activities across Mexico, Italy, Norway, Romania, Denmark, Greece, Brazil, and the Wuzhen Theatre Festival.

“The Clouds of Hamlet” is a work by Barba and Odin Teatret, set for its Asian premiere in Wuzhen. It tells the story of King Hamlet of Denmark, poisoned by his brother Claudius and mistress Gertrude. The narrative intertwines with the tragic love between Prince Hamlet and Ophelia, with the ghost of Hamlet’s father urging his son to avenge his death. Barba incorporates Shakespeare as a character, mourning his father and son and bearing witness to the unfolding tragedy.

“A Dancer’s Day,” co-produced by Gitis Art Theatre (Italy) and Odin Teatret (Denmark), is written and directed by Eugenio Barba, Lorenzo Gleijeses, and Julia Varley. Marking Barba’s first collaboration outside Odin Teatret without his usual actors, the play has received international acclaim. Centered around the world of Franz Kafka, it weaves together three narrative threads: Kafka’s own biography, the story of Gregor Samsa from “The Metamorphosis,” and a fictional dancer named Kafka.

The play follows a dancer caught in the compulsive repetition of his performance as the premiere draws near, sharing the stage with a sweeping robot. The dancer’s lack of security and perfectionism drive him to endless rehearsals both on and off the stage.

At the 2024 Eleventh Wuzhen Theatre Festival, Stan Lai, a famous Chinese playwright and the initiator and permanent chairman of the festival, will present his 40th play, “Between River and Cloud,” starring Chang Chen and Xiao Ai, known as the “queen of the theater.Stan Lai, acclaimed by the BBC as ‘the top Chinese playwright today’ and by Asiaweek as ‘the leader of Asian theater directors’, has profoundly influenced the Chinese-speaking world with more than 40 theatrical works. His representative pieces include “That Night, We Performed Crosstalk”, “Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land”, “A Dream Like a Dream”, and “A Village on Treasure Island”. Currently, he serves as the artistic director of Shanghai Theatre Above and Taiwan’s Performance Workshop.

Meng Jinghui, the initiator and artistic director of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival, is set to reproduce Samuel Beckett’s absurd classic “Waiting for Godot”, a play that has dominated the world stage. Meng Jinghui, known for his extreme avant-garde and personal style, directed the graduation play “Waiting for Godot” at the Central Academy of Drama in 1991. His newly arranged classic version will premiere in Wuzhen, marking a shocking collision between the absurd drama classic and the Chinese theater director after thirty years.

Meng Jinghui is a powerhouse in contemporary Chinese theater, with an artistic language that is incisive, humorous, and critically charged, consistently eliciting strong responses upon the release of his works.

“Waiting for Godot”, a world-class absurdist theater masterpiece, has been the subject of discussion, research, adaptation, and re-enactment for over 60 years. The play follows two tramps who wait day after day for ‘Godot’, who never appears. It explores the transient nature of the world and the purposeless wait that is life, a lifetime of seeking meaning amidst the tension between the absurdity of theater and the reality of life.

The Inanna Project, directed by Thomas Richards from the Italian theater group Teatro Senza Confini, is an adaptation of Sumerian mythology. Thomas Richards, a disciple of Jerzy Grotowski, brings this work to life. Inanna, the high priestess and central figure in Sumerian mythology, symbolizes femininity, strength, spirituality, and tenacity. Her story, dating back to 3000 BCE, is a mix of comedy and tragedy, highlighting the eternal struggle for self-improvement and inner evolution. Teatro Senza Confini, under Thomas Richards’ direction, develops musical compositions by translating poetry into the performers’ languages, creating a rich tapestry of performances. Thomas Richards extends the concept of ‘poor theater’ to performance research as ‘art as a vehicle,’ and his exploration of human possibilities in performance environments continues to influence the global theater system. At the 6th Wuzhen Theatre Festival, his directed play ‘The Living Room’ was performed, leaving a deep impression on the audience.

“Unspeakable”, written and directed by Yu Rongjun from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, marks China’s National First-Class scriptwriter’s first self-written and self-directed work. The play revolves around a respectable family of three, whose secrets are gradually revealed with the visit of a college classmate. The exposure of one lie leads to a domino effect of lies being uncovered, provoking thought amidst reality and absurdity. Yu Rongjun uses this work to project the essence of ‘Tao’, where plays, stories, plots, and characters are external manifestations, and the ineffable part is the internal essence. Yu Rongjun, known for his ‘high productivity’, ‘high quality’, and ‘high box office’, has won numerous awards including the Cao Yu Outstanding Repertoire Award and the Lao She Drama Literature Award. His main works include “The Visitor”, “Last Winter”, “The Elder”, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, etc. “Unspeakable” is his directorial debut.

“Fingertip Sentiments” is a production by the Finger Puppet Theatre Company from Belgium, with choreography and direction by Gabriella Iacono and Grégory Grosjean.The language of modern dance sometimes seems closed or challenging to those who have never been exposed to it. The two directors, Gabriella Iacono and Grégory Grosjean, who are trained in ballet, want to develop a story without using words and present the richness of dance expression to the audience and let the imagination run wild. In ‘Fingertip Sentiments’, a pair of men and women played by fingers dance together in the long river of time and return to important events in world history. Iconic dance works of the 20th century are rearranged in miniature scenes. The performance scene is simple but evocative. In the miniature theater, the fluttering fingertips are like narrators of world memory. Under the camera lens, they review dance types such as ballet, Lindy Hop, musicals, modern dance, and hip-hop. They use their bodies… starting from both hands and fingertips, spanning many famous scenes around the world from Broadway to Paris, from Brussels to Harlem. Iacono and Grosjean have a solid foundation in dance education and rich performance experience. The two established the Finger Puppet Theatre Company in Brussels, Belgium in 2019. This work is also the first work jointly created by the two directors after the establishment of the theater company. It has been presented at one of the most important puppet and drama art festivals in Portugal – FIMFALx23 – the 23rd International Puppet and Animation Art Festival.

‘The Threepenny Opera’ by New Youth Theatre Company of China. Adapted from the play by Bertolt Brecht. Director: Li Jianjun. Li Jianjun, an important practitioner of contemporary theater art in China and a powerful director of the middle generation, joins hands with the New Youth Theatre Company to recreate the eponymous play by the famous German dramatist Bertolt Brecht. On August 31, 1928, ‘The Threepenny Opera’ premiered and became one of the most influential cultural events of the 20th century. This fable play depicts a survival landscape in the era of industrial capitalism through the bloody plot of mutual utilization, struggle and betrayal among robbers, profiteers, prostitutes and policemen, presenting a system full of eternal exploitation and universal evil. [Press release for the 2024 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival]. The story of eternal betrayal of the characters in the play is a revelation and satire of the theme of ‘alienation’. Nowadays, Li Jianjun and the New Youth Theatre Troupe’s reproduction of this ‘alienated’ story has become an anti-mythological myth. The works of independent theater director Li Jianjun often show concern for the living situation of ordinary people. He combines the historical experience of visual art with the research on theater media, making his works have a distinct innovative spirit. In 2011, he established the New Youth Theatre Troupe. The troupe has created works such as ‘Diary of a Madman’, ‘The Metamorphosis’, ‘World on a Wire’, and ‘The Master and Margarita’, and is committed to exploring new theater aesthetics and intervening in contemporary Chinese life with theater.

Four. New Cutting-edge Brilliance

‘Animals That Can Be Called Human Beings’, China. Adapted from Eugene O’Neill’s play. Director: Li Luka. ‘Animals That Can Be Called Human Beings’ is brought by Li Luka, who crosses over from music to theater. This play is adapted from Eugene O’Neill’s classic play ‘The Hairy Ape’, which combines realism, expressionism and symbolism and was created in 1921. As a cornerstone work of American modern theater, ‘The Hairy Ape’ often uses long inner monologues to show the conflicts in the depths of the characters’ souls, expressing deep psychological content and spiritual world. This is a major feature of O’Neill’s entire creation. This work portrays the psychological process of small people at the bottom of society from being content with their lot and blindly optimistic to realizing their pathetic position in society. Director Li Luka uses ‘Animals That Can Be Called Human Beings’ to explore the value of human existence and the contradiction between humans and society. Li Luka, who has been active on the theater stage as a musician and actor in the past, has done music design for works such as ‘Misunderstanding’ directed by Yang Ting and ‘Rhinoceros in Love’ directed by Meng Jinghui, and has participated in works such as ‘Shakespeare’s Women’ and ‘R.U.R.’. This time, Li Luka comes to the Wuzhen Theatre Festival with his work as a director for the first time.

‘Flying to the Moon’, China. Institute of Daily Poetry. Adapted from Lu Min’s work of the same name. Scriptwriter/Director: Xiao Jing. Chinese young director Xiao Jing will bring a new work ‘FlyingWith three chapters, the narrative unfolds different aspects and endings of the ‘leaving’ story from three distinct perspectives. Nanjing, brimming with symbols of life, embodies the mundane reality, while the elusive Wuque appears as a Utopia, captivating to many. Numerous individuals have fantasized about escaping the humdrum to reach an eternal ideal country. The question lingers: Does ‘Chang’e Flying to the Moon’ ascend to achieve true liberation, or is it to bear shackles elsewhere? In this ongoing journey of pursuit and escape, we are perpetually seeking the true essence of self and freedom.

Xiao Jing has been recognized with selections for the 2021 ‘Linhai but Not Linhai’ residency, the 2022 Swiss Cultural Foundation, and the 2023 A4 International Artist-in-Residence Art Center. Her works, ‘Peach Blossom Fan’ and ‘Romance Occasionally Comes’, have been invited to the Wuzhen Theatre Festival’s special剧目 section. In 2021, she established the Daily Poetry Research Institute, beginning with ‘What if…?’ as the creative genesis, incorporating historical records and documentary materials into the theater, and persistently probing the blurred line between reality and fiction. ‘Lying Flat 2.0’, directed by Wang Chong—a new wave theater pioneer and one of China’s most influential post-80s theater directors—constantly delves into the most contemporary artistic vocabulary and the timeliness of theatrical themes. In this collaboration with the Xinchuan Experimental Theatre Troupe, ‘Lying Flat 2.0’ continues to explore new aesthetics in theater. The play, which must be watched lying down, is a script crafted by artificial intelligence, combining innovative viewing formats to immerse the audience in dreams and exploration. Wang Chong has been lauded by Chinese, American, and British media as ‘the most experimental among the new generation of directors’, ‘the hope of Chinese experimental theater’, and ‘changing the face of Chinese theater’. He was named the new artist of the year in 2012 by the Beijing News. Wang Chong founded the Xinchuan Experimental Theatre Troupe in 2008, with the goal of discovering new aesthetics in theater. Comprised of post-80s theater professionals, the troupe focuses on current social realities and creating contemporary theatrical works, rapidly becoming the most internationally influential Chinese troupe.

‘Summer Sounds: Seagulls’, an adaptation of Chekhov’s original by China’s Sleepless Studio, is written by Hu Xuanyi and directed by He Qi. Young theater creators He Qi and Hu Xuanyi, founders of the Sleepless Studio, bring a dialogue with the classics, presenting their adaptation of Chekhov’s ‘Seagulls’. They deconstruct the master’s renowned work and transplant the narrative to China in 2023. ‘Summer Sounds: Seagulls’ centers on five young women around the age of 25, depicting the confusion and anxiety prevalent in contemporary Chinese society, as well as the fear of abstract ideals when confronted with reality. An all-female cast, assembled by chance, delves into the shared memories of contemporary young women during their growth, the complexities of friendships, and the struggle between ideals and reality. They investigate the age-old question: What is the essence of life? In 2018, the outstanding work created by He Qi and Hu Xuan Yi was shortlisted for the Wuzhen Theatre Festival’s youth competition. The duo has been progressing from the youth competition, producing a continuous stream of excellent works. Their creations have been showcased in the invited剧目 section of the 8th and 10th Wuzhen Theatre Festivals. The festival has witnessed and accompanied the rapid growth of these two young theater creators. Sleepless Studio, the entity they founded, is a space for creation from nothingness, a carnival that documents the present and clashes with reality, a social institution, and a form of resistance.

Dance Theatre ‘All to Dust’, British Choreographer/Director: Soren Werner. Artist Soren Werner presents her first choreographic work ‘All to Dust’. This dance drama has made an appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Werner endeavors to blend dance, comedy, narrative, and drama, crafting a more profound space for the audience to confront loss and transition through a series of passionate reenactments—the funeral of a loved one, the imagined funeral of oneself. Although death is an inescapable conclusion for all, discussing it often approaches the forbidden. This leads to individuals bearing the sorrow alone when contemplating death. ‘All to Dust’ earnestly explores various death rituals—those we have lost and need to invent—composing a highly infectious hymn to life in a joyful manner. The Times commented, “Funerals have never been so interesting,” on this work. As an independent dancer and choreographer, Werner frequently collaborates with many well-known European dance and physical theatre troupes, amassing extensive experience.She has worked with the Scottish Dance Theatre, Lost Dog Theatre, Joan Cleville, Gecko Theatre, Vera Tussing, and most recently Una Kavanagh. In addition, she is one of the founding members of a music and dance improvisation collective – the Collective Force.

‘Medea’ Austrian Fluid Space Theatre Troupe
Choreography: Chris Harring, Hannah Templer, Kim Dong-wook
Director: Chris Harring.
Director Chris Harring and his ingenious Fluid Space Theatre Troupe explore and reimagine the myth of Euripides’ ‘Medea’, bringing a同名 dance work. Inspired by the narrative style and philosophy of Italian theorist and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, Fluid Space Theatre Troupe collects associative fragments of the ancient Greek myth of Medea and juxtaposes them with the current male-dominated, logic-centered digital civilization, reflecting on the transition from the old order to the new order.
Harlin’s main inspiration comes from science fiction and the view of regarding the body as an electronic landscape. This work is between performance and media installation, providing a space for associative transformation. The landscapes of objects and projections are constantly deformed and turn into Medea’s clothes, and even almost become her second layer of skin. At the same time, cameras, projectors, and lighting and sound systems running in feedback loops create an almost cybernetic environment. Chris Harlin is currently the choreographer and artistic director of the Fluid Space Theatre Company. In 2007, he won the Golden Lion for Best Performance at the Venice Biennale with ‘Photo Op Project B – Glamour Art’. In 2010, he won the ‘Outstanding Artist Award for Performing Arts’ issued by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. He has choreographed for international groups such as the Shanghai Jinxing Dance Company, the Monte Carlo Ballet, the Moscow Contemporary Ballet, and the Rome Ballet.

‘GALA’ Chinese Body On and On
Director: Jérôme Bel
Executive Directors: Xiao Jing, Chen Xindi, Henrique Neves
The famous French choreographer Jérôme Bel will bring the world-class dance work ‘GALA’ with the Beijing Body On and On Cultural Exchange Center. Since 2015, ‘GALA’ has been performed locally in more than ten countries and regions such as Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, and Portugal, and has been widely praised. 18 dancers of different ages, occupations, and diverse backgrounds interpret their dances with different body postures, blurring the line between professional and amateur, and reflecting on and redefining the aesthetics of dance art. Breaking the shackles of technique and aesthetics, the stage also becomes an extremely inclusive and free field. The purity and touch brought by dance flow between dancers and audiences. Therefore, ‘GALA’ is a work with a reproducible structure but uncopyable content. In his early works, Jérôme Bel created dances using structuralist techniques. Later, his interest shifted to the performer as a specific individual. When providing performance opportunities to non-traditional performers, he shows concern for special groups and love for spontaneous dance. Jérôme Bel has been invited to participate in many contemporary art biennials and museum exhibitions, and his works have also won many international awards. In 2005, ‘The Show Must Go On’ won the ‘Bessie Award’ in New York. In 2008, ‘Pichet Klunchun and Myself’ won the European Cultural Foundation’s ‘Princess Margriet Award for Cultural Diversity’. In 2013, ‘Theatre for People with Disabilities’ was shortlisted for the Berlin Theatre Festival and won the Swiss ‘Dance Creation Now Award’.

The 11th Wuzhen Theatre Festival 2024 presents a variety of thought-provoking performances.

Six, Academy Observation ‘Artificial Intelligence and Abel’ – A play by Bianca Thomas, a playwright and director from the Austrian Reinhardt Academy of Theatre, explores the limitless nature of artificial intelligence, which, with its rapid development, has sparked both curiosity and panic among humanity. Bianca Thomas brings to the stage a work co-created with ChatGPT, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Abel’, to examine the contradictions of technological progress. This year, the play was invited to open the Kolbe Young Director’s Festival, one of the most important platforms for young directors in the German-speaking region. Thomas questions the role of artificial intelligence in our society and the responsibilities of programmers within her work. How does AI deal with its susceptibility to manipulation and dependence on pre-programmed facts? What influences does it allow and what positions does it take on complex issues such as war and interpersonal relationships? Bianca Thomas, who studied directing and psychology at the Budapest Reinhardt Academy of Theatre, co-created the script with ChatGPT, allowing it to explain the impact of artificial intelligence on humans. She demonstrated her ability in directing actors andThomas is a multifaceted artist, not only directing but also creating in visual arts and literature. He has been honored with the Gubis Visual Arts Award and the Műút Literature Special Award.

Sebastian Kaiser, a German theatre director and playwright known for his bold and direct stage style, has collaborated with the Nanjing University of the Arts Master’s Theatre Troupe to bring a new work titled ‘Werther: Adapted from a Novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’. This play contemporaneously interprets Goethe’s classic while introducing other significant texts from philosophy and literature to engage in dialogue with the characters. Characters who were silent in the original work are now given a voice. The play explores the complexities of love in an era of capitalism, where the pursuit of independence and freedom makes love even more complex. It raises questions about the choices one makes when love is unattainable: self-destruction, dragging others down, madness, or becoming an artist. Kaiser has an extensive background, having worked as a dramaturg at the Berlin People’s Theatre, planning large-scale art events, and initiating talks.

In 2018, Kaiser collaborated with Meng Jinghui to choreograph ‘Teahouse’, which premiered in Wuzhen. Since then, he has maintained close cooperation with Chinese artists and directors. He has served as a visiting professor at the Central Academy of Drama and Nanjing University since 2020. The Art Master Troupe of Nanjing University is a theater art group that integrates teaching, literature, and theater creation under the guidance of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Arts, School of Liberal Arts, Nanjing University. They have performed famous domestic and foreign dramas and launched original plays such as ‘I am the Moon’, ‘The Face of President Jiang’, and ‘Faust III’.

‘Epilogue/The Witch’s Hammer/Alarm’ is a production from ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands, showcasing three student works that tell different stories with humor and emotion. The young theater creators address topics like the ultimate destination, patriarchal oppression, and female freedom. ‘Epilogue’ explores the things that will eventually disappear, while ‘The Witch’s Hammer’ leads the audience back to the Middle Ages to expose the cruel reality behind the witch hunt. ‘Alarm’ delves into what happens when women break social admonitions, using theater to attack bourgeois norms and call for freedom and non-judgment. ArtEZ University of the Arts is a leading art institution in the Netherlands, fostering students’ artistic, intellectual, and personal growth with personalized teaching and guidance. The Gentle Troupe, composed of Isa Zwart and Clay Delfi, graduates of ArtEZ University of the Arts, has a deep understanding of historical and social issues and presents their thoughts in an unusual and creative artistic way.

‘Reversing the Future’ is a special attention, public welfare performance by the China Leyi Troupe. Playwright Gao Yuan and Director Ma Yan have created the first pan-disability open inclusive theater in China. The play features mostly pan-disability theater enthusiasts who, with extraordinary love and effort, devote themselves to a stage intertwined with time and space. The play explores identity exchange, strength inversion, future and present inversion, and the interweaving of science fiction and reality, inspiring the audience to think from different perspectives and promoting mutual understanding among different groups.

Ma Yan, currently a cooperative screenwriter and director for CCTV’s Social and Legal Channel, is committed to advocating ‘national drama’ and the popularization of drama art. The Leyi Troupe is an original drama brand initiated by drama lovers with diverse backgrounds, adhering to the concept of integration of people with and without disabilities.The drama aims to narrate the stories of the disabled community, capturing and amplifying the diverse life experiences of individuals with disabilities. In the interplay of light and shadow, the unique personality and true temperament of this community are vividly portrayed. The troupe highlights that artistic practice serves as a bridge, connecting people with and without disabilities. By transcending physical constraints, emotional integration is achieved, fostering an inclusive, harmonious, and integrated social environment.

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