Volta International Festival presents:
Four playwrights. Four directors. Four ground-breaking new plays.
For its first year Volta International Festival has carefully selected four award-winning writers from across the world to present four new plays, translated into English for the first time. Staged at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, the plays will be directed by four award-winning UK based directors.
The writers are Austrian playwright Ewald Palmetshofer, American playwright Christopher Chen, Swedish playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri and German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig. The programme will also feature two staged readings by Guillermo Calderon (Chile) and Milo Rao (Switzerland), which will take place in Studio 2 every Saturday at 2pm and 4pm.
Artistic Director Andrea Ferran said: “I’m delighted to present these new plays from across the world that have most challenged and provoked us. Individually, these plays look at themes of persecution, power and abuse; guilt, memory and reconciliation. Together, they explore the challenges and responsibilities we encounter as international citizens, reflecting on how we choose to live in a diverse, cosmopolitan world.”
The cast includes: Amber Aga, Stuart Bowman, Elizabeth Chan, Nicky Goldie, Jack Gordon, Siubhan Harrison, Nabil Elouahabi, Eugene O’Hare, Kathryn O’Reilly, Richard Pryal, Rachid Sabitri, Kevin Shen and Ony Uhiara.
Hamlet is Dead. No Gravity by Ewald Palmetshofer
2 – 12 September Studio 1, 7pm (no performances 6 – 7 September)
Something’s rotten in Mani and Dani’s childhood home. Bine and Oli got married, but did they make the right choice? Kurt has a secret, and his wife Caro knows it. Hannes is dead, but who pulled the trigger? With cruel comedy, past recriminations and sensational revelations, Ewald Palmetshofer presents a dark vision of a family in crisis.
Caught by Christopher Chen
2 – 12 September Studio 2, 9.30pm (no performances 6 – 7 and 13 – 14 September)
15 – 19 September Studio 2, 9.00pm
Chinese artist Lin Bo’s harrowing story of imprisonment has the world standing to attention. His fame, however, is short-lived, as an American publisher begins to question the authenticity of his story. Is he telling the truth or has he been caught? Accusations fly as Christopher Chen’s inventive new play exposes the thin line between fact and fiction, where it is often difficult to tell the difference between the con artist and the conned.
I Call My Brothers by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
2 – 12 September Studio 2, 7.30pm (no performances 6 – 7 and 13 – 14 September)
15 – 19 September Studio 2, 7.00pm
A car has exploded. A city has been crippled by fear. Amor wanders the city, doing his best to blend in. He must not attract any suspicious glances. But what is normal behaviour? And who is a potential perpetrator? Over twenty-four hours, Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s explosive play explores where the lines between criminal and victim, where fantasy and reality, blur.
Ant Street by Roland Schimmelpfennig
2 – 12 September Studio 1, 9pm (no performances 6 – 7 September)
A snowstorm in a heatwave. A mysterious package delivered forty-two years late. A young man who speaks the poetry of the Gods. And a girl who can fly. Something strange is happening in Havana. Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Cuban fantasia imagines a family gripped by a miracle and a neighbourhood seduced by dreams of the past.
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