Photo © Volha Karankevich-Koch / unknown citizen of Berlin, 10.11.2023; from left to right: Nicole Desjardins (German); Viviane Boulan (French); Iljana Hubenova (Bulgarian); Johanna Leira (Norwegian); Maia Simonishvili (Georgian); Mirza Metin (Kurdish); Dominique Dolmieu (French); Volha Karankevich-Koch (German); Neda Nejdana (Ukrainian); Wolfgang Barth (German); Gergana Dimitrova (Bulgarian); Blazena Radas (German); Elisabeth Schuster (German); Aleksandra Lukoszek (German); Gilles Boulan (French); Nuno Cardoso (Portuguese); Maria Kroupnik (Russian); Dávid Szabó (Hungarian); Liisi Aibel (Estonian); Charlotte Bomy (German) was not present at the photo session due to important organisational tasks.
Report: Wolfgang Barth
LINK GERMAN VERSION Link preview and program
The EURODRAM Language Committees Conference / EURODRAM GA 2023 took place in Berlin on 10 and 11 November 2023. The conference venues were the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) and the Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg (tak). The cultural focus was on Kurdish theatre.
Support for the Franco-German organisation team via the GERMAN-FRENCH CITIZENS‘ FUND / FONDS CITOYEN FRANCO-ALLEMAND
Photo © Maria Kroupnik, 10.11.2023; from left to right: Viviane Boulan (F), Mirza Metin (D), Nicole Desjardins (F), Dominique Dolmieu (F), Wolfgang Barth (D). Gilles Boulan (F), Aleksandra Lukoszek (D), Elisabeth Schuster (D), Volha Karankevich-Koch (D), Johanna Leira (F), Charlotte Bomy (D) not on the photo.
The conference was organised and led by the German-speaking and French-speaking committees. It was sponsored by the Franco-German Citizens‘ Fund / Fonds Citoyen Franco-Allemand, which enabled a theatre encounter with an international character under Franco-German leadership.
We would like to thank the Franco-German Citizens‘ Fund / Fonds Citoyen Franco-Allemand.
Conference on 10 November 2023
Photo © Gilles Boulan: Part of the conference at the ITI, from left to right: Dominique Dolmieu (French); Elisabeth Schuster (German); Wolfgang Barth (German); Volha Karanchevich-Koch (German); Aleksandra Lukoszek (German); Liisi Aibel (Estonian); Johanna Leira (Norwegian); Mirza Metin (Kurdish); Maria Kroupnik (Russian
Of the current 28 language committees, the coordinators and representatives of the Bulgarian, German, Estonian, English (via Zoom), French, Georgian, Kurdish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian and Hungarian committees were represented with a total of 20 conference participants.
The work of the language committees
Photo © Elisabeth Schuster; left: Maria Kroupnik (Russian); Charlotte Bomy (German), Blažena Radas (German), Nicole Desjardins (French); right: Neda Nejdana (Ukrainian); Gergana Dimitrova (Bulgarian); Iljana Hubenova (Bulgarian); Dávid Szabó (Hungarian), Gilles Boulan (French), Viviane Boulan (French)
At the conference, which was moderated by the German and French-speaking coordinators, the work of the language committees with their specific conditions and problems was presented and solutions were sought in the discussion. A special role was played by the new and renewed committees present (Estonian, Georgian), whose representatives would like to fulfil the EURODRAM tasks against the background of the situation in their countries, and the Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking committees with their extremely burdened and limited possibilities due to the war.
The reports on the plays of the 2023 selections
The committees also reported on their 2023 selections (http://eurodram.org/selections/ ) and the presentation of the plays in their countries.
Photo © Dávid Szabó: Excerpt from the report of the Hungarian committee
The plenum: searching for improvements in piece circulation
Photo© Wolfgang Barth: Maia Simonishvili (Georgian), Alexandra Lukoszek (German), Dávid Szabó (Hungarian), Maria Kroupnik (Russian), Viviane Boulan (French), Nicole Desjardins (French)
Photo © Wolfgang Barth: Iliana Hubenova (Bulgarian), Charlotte Bomy (German), Nuno Cardoso (Portuguese), Liisi Aibel (Estonian)
At a plenary session on 10 November 2023 at the Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg, the conference addressed the particular problem of the cross-language circulation of plays and the translations required for this. The aim is to achieve an annual routine, as expressed in the discussion draft for the plenary session, to which the committees orientate:
The following objectives are to be achieved (in order of complexity and ambition):
- Publication of a call and preparation of an annual selection according to the rules of EURODRAM and the committees.
- Presentation of the selection to the public (readings and/or other forms of presentation).
- Translating the plays in the selection into other languages of the EURODRAM area according to the wishes and capacities of the committee by translators from within or outside the committee and endeavoring to obtain funding for this.
In the years of the selection of plays already translated into the committee language, endeavor to obtain funding for the translation of further plays from the language of origin of the translators of the selected plays, either from the EURODRAM pool or freely selected by the translators.
- After the selection of plays, each language committee should approach other committees with the following questions:
a. Which plays from our selection should be translated into your language?
b. Does your committee have internal or external translators?
c. Should we endeavor to find translators?
d. How can we work together to help obtain financial support for translations?
The results of the conference as a whole will be published shortly on the central EURODRAM website www.eurodram.org under the title „EURODRAM 2024 meeting report“.
The cultural program: Kurdish theatre
The cultural focus „Kurdish theatre“ chosen for the supporting programme had its origins in the fact that the EURODRAM Annual General Assembly (AGA) planned for 2022 should have taken place in Diyarbakır (south-east Anatolia, mainly Kurdish inhabitants), but finally was held as an online meeting. The 2023 programme should repair this a little. The theatre team „Şermola Performans“ travelled from Batman (Turkey, North Kurdistan) with the play „Mem û Zîn“ [Mem and Zîn] and the „BAN-Ensemble“ from Belgium and Hamburg with the play „Qesra Balindeyên Xemgîn“ [The Castle of Sad Birds].
Qesra Balindeyên Xemgîn
Photo © BAN Theatre: Qesra Balindeyên Xemgîn (QBX), Alan Ciwan, Hêja Netirk
At 6 p.m. on 10 November 2023, the about 80 seats provided at the Aufbau Kreuzberg theatre were taken by a German-French-Kurdish-international audience and the play QBX (directed by Hüseyin Umaysız, with Hêja Netirk and Alan Ciwan) was enthusiastically received. A summarizing text in German had been read together beforehand. The play combines an old Kurdish legend with new historical events (e.g. the Halabja poison gas attack) and thus makes a political statement.
Mem û Zîn
Foto © Şemola Performans : Mehmet Arıtürk, Pelda Bal Demir, Kenan Demir
The play Mem û Zîn was under an unfortunate star. The actor Mehmet Arıtürk had been refused a Schengen visa, so he was to be replaced by the director Mirza Metin together with Pelda Bal Demir and Kenan Demir. During the journey, one of the most important drums for the piece was lost. As a steadily growing audience impatiently awaited admission after 8 pm, it was announced that the performance had to be cancelled due to the total failure of the lighting equipment the team had brought with them.
Panel discussion: What is Kurdish theatre?
Photo © Elisabeth Schuster: Alan Ciwan (BAN Theatre); translator Kurdish-Turkish-English-German; Mirza Metin (Director Şermola Performans), Huseyin Umaysiz (Director BAN Theatre); Gergana Dimitrova (EURODRAM President); Dominique Dolmieu (EURODRAM Secretary, French-speaking Committee); Wolfgang Barth (German-speaking Committee)
Instead, the panel discussion scheduled for 21:15 was brought forward and the audience in the theatre, which was full despite the cancellation, engaged in a lively discussion with the panel and with each other with one essential result: the vocal and sound experience (e.g. by tapping on the chest) evoked in Kurdish and with great physical effort beyond the language norms in connection with the old and updated material is both a desperate expression of melancholic homelessness and one of the few guarantors of enduring Kurdish identity.
Photo © Wolfgang Barth: Mirza Metin (Director Şermola Performans), Alan Ciwan (Actor BAN Theatre), Huseyin Umaysiz (Director BAN Theatre)
Continuation of the Conference on 11 November 2023
After dealing with EURODRAM internal matters (elections, resolutions) on Saturday morning in accordance with the statutes and the often media-supported report of the committees on the selections, the conference came to a worthy conclusion, documenting the network’s solidarity with the shocking current events:
The actress Carrie Getman read in English the Ukrainian play „Pussycat in Memory of Darkness“ by Neda Nejdana, coordinator of the Ukrainian-language committee, to the conference participants. This play has been recently translated into German too.
Photo © Wolfgang Barth: Neda Nejdana, Carrie Getman
Infrastructure, organisation and publicity
The conference room in the Kulturzentrum Bethaniern was made available to us by the German Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), for which we are very grateful.
The Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg (tak) was rented for 10 November by the German-speaking EURODRAM committee. We would like to thank them for their excellent cooperation and technical support.
Members of the German-speaking and French-speaking committees were responsible for the infrastructure (catering, accompanying guests, hotel accommodation, programme) for the entire conference.
The conference was prepared and accompanied in the media by the homepage of the German-speaking committee (https://eurodram.dev.goyippi.net/stucke-des-aufrufs-2023-in-arbeit-plays-of-2023-call-in-progress/ ), the central EURODRAM website maintained by the French-speaking committee (http://eurodram.org/ ), the performance schedule of the Aufbau Kreuzberg theatre (three entries for 10 November 2023, https://tak-berlin.de/spielplan ), Facebook posts and a press release sent to many print media in Berlin, each with reference to the support provided by the Franco-German Citizens' Fund:
