Bitef

We're here from 1 8 to 27 September 1 984 with three performances; the spectacle Landscape Automatics on 23 and 24 September, plus a oneoff performance worked out on the spot called Imagomanla. The festival office is the rehearsal room of a large theatre, temporarily converted by the decor workshop. The walls are nung with light blue cotton, the furniture is a tasteful mixture of styles, apparently put together from the stage props of a variety of productions. We spend hours here, talking with lots of people and drinking lots of coffee. Everyone joins in, the most trivial matters are important. Every time someone gets up to leave the table, someone else comes to take his place. Some people speak fluent English, others need an interpreter. The lack of bustle which discussions like these require is in sharp contrast: to the pressure we're under to get

everything done. Judging from our experiences in other countries in Southern Europe, we expect all this talking to result in a chaotic lack of organisation, but in fact, when it comes to the crunch, everything runs smoothly. We set up our act on a piece of waste land between the Turkish fort - which defended the city during centuries of occupation - and the Danube. Big, wild fields, tall trees and the ruins of the medieval city which once stood here. Our workshop is a building called the »Turkish Bath«, but that only refers to the foundation: it is a planetarium. A moving night sky is projected onto a domed ceilling with an enormous piece of equipment. It Is visited twice a day by a group of a hundred or so school children, stumbling over our bits and pieces. Our first performance is on Saturday evening. In