Bitef

This year's seminar is organizad with thè support of Goethe Institute in Beigrade, and with thè courtesy of French Cultural Centre in Beigrade. The mentor is Mr. Jürgen Berger, theatre critic from Germany. Düring thè six-day long training, thè participants will acquire a historical and theoretical insight into thè critica! practicas in Europe, and will undergo a practical training program: Mister Berger will present the development of theatre in England, France and Germany in the 19th Century, namely the ways in which the development of theatre influenced the forms and Standards of theatre criticism in Europe. Mister ivan Medenica, theatre critic from Serbia, deputy general secretary of the International Association of Theatre Critics (lATC), will talk about criticai practices in Southeast Europe and in the Balkans. The practica! pari of the program will consist of writing reviews based on the performances presentad in thè main program ofthe 41 st Bitef Festival, Selected reviews written by thè seminar participants will be published in thè papers, magazines and other media in Beigrade and Serbia.

This year's PACT is just thè beginning. Negotiations for thè next year shall start on this Bitef Festival, in the dialogue with the representatives of European cultural centres in Beigrade, and during the festival, young critics and other interested people can voice their opinions, impressions and suggestions on the web forum.

Suncica Milosavljevic

Coordinator ofthe 41 st Bitef Festival Special Program

THEATRE, TEXT, CRITICISM

If we look at theatre in German speaking areas and its interlacing with the English Francophone theatre and dance, we can see two streams of development. On one hand, theatres in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, in the late 1990's are oriented toward the Anglo-Saxon role models, based on giving support to theatre authors, such as London theatre Royal Court. They organize workshops for authors, festivals of new plays and introduce prizes for authors, while the authors such as writers in residence or dramaturges are only temporarily tied to a theatre. This development leads to many variations ofthe concepì of theatre play.The authors, among other things, have an insight into the practical development of a play in theatre and they do not see their work as literary, but rather as a well made play.

At the same time, there ¡san increased influence of French dance and, above all, Flemish Crossover scene on the theatre in the German speaking areas. Because ofthat there was an expansión ofthe very concept of theatre, and theatre artists are increasingly more using other means of expression, such as video projections.The linear way of storytelling and directing became more fluid, while the authors, in thè spirit of postmodernismi, questioned the subject, partially erasing the dialogue from their plays and expanding the concept of theatre. From theatre work was emerged a part ofthe script, in which clear figures are not necessary any more. With that comes the adaptation of world novéis and great movies, which lead to storytelling theatre forms replacing the dialogue.

The force of these different developments creates a challenge to theatre critics in the German speaking areas. On one hand, they were forced to sharpen their semantic tools and to find a descriptivo language for all those new works and theatre forms and, on the other hand, there were heated debates in the papers about thè question of what are the boundaries of theatre and what new forms really lead to improving the theatre work. At that time, theatre critics from the German speaking areas, who discussed these issues with their colleagues from Europe, noticed that they had much more space in the papers than their colleagues from England. NIT is clear that this did not necessarily lead to individual theatre critics now using sharper criteria in their judgments.

1t is exactly here that the work ofevery theatre critic and cultural Journalist begins. In relation to such a variety of theatre manifestations, from performance Three, by Batsheva Dance Company from Israel, presented on the 41 st Bitef Festival, to BR#O4 Bruxelles presented at Societas Rafaello Sanzio in Italy, he must find a special descriptive language, in orderte create an image for his readers of what was happening on the stage. At the same time he should have his personal opinion and to convey ñow he sees particular theatre forms and what is the reason he is judging them in the way he does. Theatre criticism is a Constant work in progress, during which the critic sharpens his judgment tools based on what he sees on stage. The Seminar for Young Theatre Critics within Bitef is trying to make a Step forward in that direction and offer young people a platform for discussion that will help them sharpen their Judgment tools.

Jürgen Berger

*** Jürgen Berger graduateti from the of German Language and Political Science at the Heidelberg University. He is thè editor of a weekly magazine"Communale''. Since 1990 he works as a theatre critic for "Suddeutsche Zeitung" (München), "Theater heute" (Berlin) and "Die Tageszeitung" (Berlin).