Tmuna Theatre’s October Festival offers a broad spectrum of works in theatre, dance, music and performance, taking place from October 17 – 26, 2014. It’s an invitation to audiences to experience the diversity of the theatre, and with many events at 30 NIS a ticket – it’s a very warm invitation!
Unlike some of Tmuna’s other festivals, such as A-Genre, where the emphasis is on the process and some works are presented in what might be called a first-draft form, October is harvest festival, with an abundance of full-length works in several disciplines, from Israel and abroad.
This year the festival will launch a Polish-Israeli Dance Platform, with the intention of deepening the dialogue that already exists between Israeli and Polish dancers/choreographers, and providing a structure for mutual dialogue, exchange, exploration and discovery. The Art Stations Foundation/Stary Browar Nowy Taniec from Poznan, together with the Polish Institute in Tel Aviv and Tmuna Theatre, will launch the program with two evenings of performances: The State Identity – Cultural Identity as a designer of identity, and Emotional Identity – Reality vs. Emotional Identity. Participating artists include: Agata Maszkiewwicz, Anna Nowicka, Rotem Tashach, Janusz Orlik, Daphna Horenczyk, and Guy Bernard Reichman.
Choreographer Noa Shadur will premiere a new work – Shifters, in a joint program with We Do Not Torture People. Shadur utilizes a precise and individual movement language to explore the relations of the individual within the political/cultural context, examining issues of identity, power, and volition. Noa Dar’s Skin is a visceral, intense work that explores the human skin as a vessel for all that we contain – physically and emotionally, and as the border between people, the place-marker of our separation from the world and others, and the place where we connect to others, touching skin to skin.
Theatre premieres commissioned for the festival include: Asufi (which means foundling) by Idan Zilberstein, Al HaBgida (On Betrayal) by Alma Veich, and 1948 – a post-dramatic tragedy based on the book 1948 by Benny Morris. Visual concept and direction by Marat Parkhomovsky and Shimrit Malul; performed by Gad Keynar and Marat Parkhomovsky. The work is described as: an idealistic artist decides to confront a skeptical historian on the stage, in the desperate hope of understanding the most essential and most repressed event in the history of the State of Israel – the war of 1948.
Two productions of the Tmuna Ensemble which will hold a festive performance are PahadMavet (Scared to Death) by Nitsan Cohen and Goldberg Variations – Written by George Tabori; translated by Gad Keynar; directed by Gil Alon; performerd by: Michael Oshri, Roy Ayalon, Gil Alon, Shira Alfandari, Avrum Horovitz, Chen Yanni, Niso Keaviya, Odelya Segal, Shahar Farhi, Tom Kenan Cannetti, Yossi Rahmani. The play takes place in the theatre, during rehearsals. God is the director and the production is Creation. Will it be a success? I saw a brief (very brief) preview this morning, and Gil Alon (as God) was hilarious.
Performance works to premiere in the festival include: a new work by Michal Dvir; VaTehar VaTeled (She Conceived and Bore) – Written and directed by Rachel Keshet and Hannah Vazana Gruenwald. This work looks at conflict and connection between motherhood and artistic creation, employing texts from the Bible and Israeli poets Yona Wallach, Dalia Rabikovich; and a full-length performance of Torat HaZera, by Daphna Silberg, which premiered in A-Genre 2014. From my thoughts on seeing the initial version of this piece: “raises some serious and valid questions about the policies and practices relating to artificial insemination, the ethical implications of which have not received the attention they deserve. Silberg uses this platform to expose issues of racism within Israeli culture, a racism that is all too often unacknowledged and ignored. Yet, at the same time, I am perplexed.” (read the full review here)
Tickets for most Tmuna October Festival events are 30 NIS, with some exceptions. All dates, times and ticket prices are available on the Tmuna website. Tickets may be ordered online, or call: 03-5611211.
