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Theatre and Festival– The History of a Dynamic Relationship
For thousands of years, the reciprocal interplay between theatre and festival has helped to shape European culture. The two are inextricably linked, and repeatedly appear in tandem. One can thus write a history of the relationship between theatre and festival from classical antiquity to the present: from the theatrical spectacles of ancient Greece or Rome to medieval Christmas plays, courtly theatrical festivities in the early modern period, modern bourgeois theatrical culture of modernity and today’s international theatre festivals.
The research association Theatre and Festival in Europe sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has set itself the task of exploring this relationship between theatre and festival.
Theatre and Festival– Diversity and Community in Europe
Although theatre and festival have assumed the most diverse forms in different countries, the dynamic relationship between the two can be understood as a central and cohesive cultural legacy in Europe. The interaction between theatre and festival in the genesis of European societies represents an important factor in the construction of, but also reflections upon and challenges to, cultural identities. In highly variable forms, the convergence between theatre and festival has offered the chance to evoke and differentiate community ties, but also to play with and reflect upon them experimentally.
Theatre and Festival as Creators of Identity in Contemporary Europe
In a Europe in search of its cultural traditions and common political strategies, processing this history appears to be a central task for interdisciplinary research in the humanities. With its exploration of the identity- and community-creating qualities of theatre and festival, the project also seeks to contribute to intercultural dialogue in the search for shared European identities.
A View of Five Epochs
Five interconnected transdisciplinary sub-projects, each devoted to one epoch in the history of theatre and festival, will study the specific forms of the productive relationship between theatre and festival. In this way, an almost complete chronological and historical picture of the relationship between theatre and festival in Europe will emerge.
