Details of selected Central and East European cultural events in the UK
over the next few weeks, including angelic sounds from Bulgaria; love in
an elevator - Bosnian style; a puppet-performed contemporary Hungarian
opera; and highlights of the forthcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Click on the appropiate heading or just scroll down to browse.
The Gate, located in ultra-trendy Notting Hill, is one of London's
smaller but more innovative theatres. This year, for the first time, the
Gate is presenting a summer season of international work. To inaugurate
what will hopefully become a regular summer feature, the Gate offers five
productions by young companies from Central Europe. Four of these
productions have already come and gone (See HERE for a review of one of them)
10 - 14 August 1999, 7.30pm
For bookings and more information contact:
The Gate Theatre, 11
Pembridge Road, Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3HQ
Tel: 0171 229
0706
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In 1947, the Edinburgh International Festival was formed with the idea
of an international arts festival helping to bring about peace to a Europe
still recovering from war. The concept may sound idealist but it must have
resonated at the time, because 8 theatre companies turned up uninvited
and, playing at hastily arranged venues, they cashed in the success of the
official festival. The trend continued the following year and the
phenomenon of the uninvited guests was labeled the Fringe Festival. Today
the proportions of the Fringe, held every August, are staggering, with
over 500 theatre, dance and music groups from all over the world
performing 1,643 shows with 14,108 seperate showings. And that's on top of
the events connected with the official festival.
Full details can be found on the Fringe website, which has details of
performances, venues, times, prices and even a map of Edinburgh to help
you find your performance. Their site also usefully has a search engine
which enables you to search by performer, title, country or venue
The listings below contain some of the Fringe events, covering
performers hailing from Siberia to Bosnia and most places in between. For
full details click on the links to the Fringe's own pages. Eulogies copied
from the Fringe's blurb appear in quotes and are by no means always
endorsed by CER!
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Gyorgy Kurtag
Kurtag has emerged in recent years as one of Hungary's foremost
contemporary composers. The Edinburgh Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival honour him in a series of concerts and events.
Concerts
Concert including Kurtag's music (Hommage a R Sch and Jelek)
24
Aug 1999, 11.00am
The Queens Hall, Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG
Phone: 0131 473 2000
An Evening of Gyorgy Kurtag's Music
28 Aug 1999, 7.30pm
The Queens Hall, Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG
Phone: 0131 473
2000
The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza by Gyorgy Kurtag
29 Aug
1999, 3pm
The Queens Hall, Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG
Phone:
0131 473 2000
Concert including Kurtag's music (Stele)
29 Aug 1999, 8pm
Usher Hall, Lothian Rd, Edinburgh EHI 2EA
Phone: 0131 473 2000
Concert including Kurtag's music (Grabstein fur Stephan)
3
Sept 1999, 8pm
Usher Hall, Lothian Rd, Edinburgh EHI 2EA
Phone:
0131 473 2000
Talks
The Music of Gyorgy Kurtag (by Rachel Beckles Wilson)
27 Aug
1999, 1.05pm
The Queens Hall, Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JG
Phone: 0131 473 2000
Conversations (with Kurtag himself)
27 Aug 1999, 5pm
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 13-29 Nicholson Street,
Edinburgh, EH8
JG
Phone: 0131 473 2000
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Bosnian Events
Secrets - Nomad Dance Company
16 - 21 Aug 1999, 2pm
St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerstone Place, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557
0707
"An Islamic woman and a Western man are suspended together in an
elevator shaft in London, unwitting pawns in a terrorists game. Their own
battles over faith, trust and elevator music reach acrobatic heights.
Spectacular Dance." Click
here for more information.
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Bulgarian Events
The Bulgarian Voices: Angelite
Various times, various venues,
Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557 8330
Internationally acclaimed female choir. "...the most unearthly,
beautiful, eerie, joyous sounds the voice can make" (Guardian). A highly recommended series of shows which will
undoubtedly sell out. Pounce soon. Click
here for more information.
"Fly, Fly my Sadness": Huun Huur Tu, Angelite, Moscow Art Duo
24 - 30 Aug, various times
Graffiti Cafe, Edinburgh
Phone:
0131 557 8330
"Final performances of a five year world adventure. Incredible
visionary musical collaboration. Beyond anything ever heard." Intriguing
Russo-Bulgarian mixed bill. Click
here for more information.
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Croatian Events
Croatian Theatrical Triple Bills
18,19,21 Aug 1999, various
times
Theatre Workshop, 34 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131
226 5425
Three of Croatia's top theatre companies in repertory with a different
combination of shows presented each day. Includes a world premiere.Click
here for more information.
For more Croatian theatre see also East Goes
West
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Czech Events
Cinema
Modern Czech Classics at the ICA
ICA, The Mall, London, SW1
Tel: 0171 930 3647
The nineties have not been the brightest decade in Czech cinematic
history. However, this week the ICA is showing two films from the last few
years which have managed to attract considerable recognition abroad for
their wry views of modern morality . Jan Svankmajer was already
internationally famous for his grotesque animations with a dark
philosphical bent when he probed middle-class passions in Spiklenci
slasti. Knoflikari on the other hand shot Petr Zelenka to
international attention when it triumphed at the Rotterdam International
Film Festival two years ago. To read Kinoeye's review of the later click here.
Spiklenci slasti (Conspirators of Pleasure, 1996)
Fri 13 August 1999, 5pm
Knoflikari (Buttoners, 1997)
Fri 13 August 1999, 9pm
Rough Trade at the Lux
Lux Cinema, 2-4 Hoxton Square, London
N1 6NU
Tel: 020 7684 0201
"A lot can be bought for the price of a
cinema ticket if you know where to get it" starts the Lux's blurb for
their Rough Trade series of films on men who sell their bodies. Most of
the films are American with classics such as Gus Van Sant's My Own
Private Idaho and John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy, the only
x-rated film to have won an Oscar. Three of the ten films, however, take
us to the seedy back-streets of Prague. Scraping off the thin veneer of
Europe's most beautiful city, Wiktor Grodecki exposes the exploitation
festering underneath in three films: two documentaries and a later feature
film that was based on his hard-hitting investigations.
Mandragora (1997)
20-22 August 1999, 6.30 + 9pm
Click here for
Kinoeye's review of this feature film.
Body Without Soul, documentary (1996)
26 August 1999, 9pm
Not Angels but Angels, documentary (1994)
27 August1999, 9pm
Art
Hommage a Jiri: Czech Collage of the 80s and 90s
24 June - 2 Sept 1999
The Czech Centre, 95 Great Portland Street, London, W1N 5RA
Phone: 0171 291 9929
Picture poet Kolar's latest work presented in the context of other
prominent collage artists.
...And More Czech Culture in London
The Czech Cultural Centre in London has just gone electronic! Look here if you want to see a full
calendar of Czech related events in London.
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Hungarian Events
Dance
Turul - Grotesque Myth of a Plucked Angle
16 - 21 Aug 1999, 8pm
St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerstone Place, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557
0707
"Hungarian company Artus' incomparable talent lies in its East European
poetic language. The absurdity of scenes obeys the logic of dreams,
surrealistic images connect dark humour with audacious fantasy. Awarded
and played worldwide." Click
here for more information.
Music
Ando Drom
9 - 12 Aug 1999, 12.30am (!)
Famous
Grousehouse, 5 Chambers Street, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 220 5606
"Award winning, renowned Gypsy music group, topping World-Music charts
and spreading fantastically frenetic folklore throughout Europe. Compared
to the Gypsy Kings and Loyko." Highly
recommended Click
here for more information.
Kati Szvorak and the Water Carriers
16 � 19 Aug 1999,
12:20am (!)
Famous Grousehouse, 5 Chambers Street, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 220 5606
Folk, jazz and world music described as"beautiful material with a
Balkan edge, pretty wonderful stuff" by Folk Roots playing into the
early hours. Click
here for more information.
Kalman Balogh: Romano Kokalo
18 - 24 Aug 1999, various times
Cafe Graffiti, Edinburgh
Phone:0131 557 8330
"9 piece Hungarian Gypsy Cymbalom band playing
a wide range of wonderful music - traditional, flamenco, jazz... perfect!"
Click
here for more information.
Opera
Marriage of Kocsonya Mihaly
16 - 21 Aug 1999, 8pm
St Mary's
Cathedral, Palmerstone Place, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557 0707
"The modern opera company, Kolibri presents this one-act opera. A
17th-century masterpiece using exciting and innovative, man-sized puppets.
The contemporary music has been especially composed and is heavily
influenced in its style by Hungarian folk traditions." Click
here for more information.
Poetry
The Scottish Poetry Library Presents: The Poetry of Hungary
13
Aug 1999, 3pm
St Cecilia's Hall, Cowgate, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131
557 2876
With guests Zsuzsa Rakovszky, Gyozo Ferencz and George Szirtes. Music
and song. Click
here for more information.
Theatre
Laodamia
6 � 29 Aug 1999, 8pm
Famous Grousehouse,
5 Chambers Street, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 220 8606
An English language performance of Mihaly Babits's play by the
Hungarian Merlin Theatre group as part of Edinburgh's Fringe
Festival.Suicidal macho pride kills King Protesilaos in Trojan War.
Lusting widow Laodamia begs the gods for his ghost's return. Her gruesome
wish is granted but for three hours only. Click
here for more information.
...And More Hungarian Culture in the UK
Check out the website of the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London. As
well as listing events of international importance, the site also carries
details of their support network for Hungarian au pairs working in the UK
and Catholic mass in Hungarian.
Look here if you want to see a
full calendar of Hungarian events in the UK.
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Polish Events
Dance
The Light - Magapar
8 - 14 Aug 1999, 7pm
Grindlay
Court Centre, Grindlay Street
Phone: 0131 221 9009
"Based on the myth of Prometheus, performed by 16-17 year olds who have
given up words for language of the body. Theatre of light and illusion
traversing the boundaries between childhood/ maturity, truth/ illusion -
revealing man's quest for a perfect place on Earth." Click
here for more information.
Theatre
Carmen Funebre (Funeral Song)
13 Aug 1999, 10pm
The
Quad, University Old College Quad, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 667 8740
"Tragic testimonies from Bosnian war victims inspired this astonishing
anti-war show which won The Scotsman Hamada Prize in 1996. A unique
outdoor performance in aid of Amnesty International's work with Kosovo
refugees." Click
here for more information.
Drink Vinegar Gentlemen
23 - 29 Aug 1999 (not every
day), various times
Theatre Workshop, Hamilton Place, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 226 5425
After Teatr Biuro Podrozy's 1996 Fringe success (see above), the group
reveal their versatility with this new show inspired by a short (less than
200 words) story by persecuted Russian satirist and master of the absurd
Daniil Kharms. Already it has received a top Polish award. Click
here for more information.
...And More Polish Culture in the UK
Check out the website of the Polish Cultural Institute in London.
Look
here if you want to see a full calendar of Polish events in the
UK.
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Romanian Events
Theatre
ION by the Hard and Fast Theatre Company
5-29 August
1999 (not every day), 1.45pm
C Theatre, Over-Seas House, 100 Princes
Street, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131 225 5105
"This terrifying vision of the future sees a Romanian boy delivered
from conflict by an Enlgish professor. But is the reluctant relationship
formed whilst searching for a solution amongst the atoms too great a price
to pay for freedom?"
...And More Romanian Culture in the UK
There is the website of the Romanian Cultural Centre based in London.
Click here if you
want to see a their diary page.
If you are a Romanian academic or student working in the UK or have
links to Romanian studies you might be interested Romanul's site. It aims
to give wider support to educational, scientific and cultural issues and
has pages devoted to the Romanian community's acitivities in the UK. Click here to have a look.
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Russian (and Eurasian) Events
Dance
Moorland - Evgueni Panfilov's Ballet
Continental Shifts at St Brides, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 346 1405
"Physical In the aspiration to the World Spirit, you see the spiritual
substance in the uncovered bloody flesh the unity of human substance
ascending to Death. The choreographer transfers the national worldly drama
into the crystal of the world tragedy." Click
here for more information.
Music
Farlanders
6 - 7, 10 - 16, 21 - 30 Aug 1999, 10.30pm
Cafe Graffiti, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557 8330
"Highly original, brilliant, driving five piece fusion jazz/folk/rock
band fronted by charismatic singer Inna Zhelannaya. Unbelievable!" Click
here for more information.
Loyko: The Russian Gypsy Band
11 Aug 1999, 7.30pm
Graffiti Cafe, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557 8330
Click
here for more information.
Prodigies
13 - 30 Aug 1998 (not every day), various times
Cafe Graffiti, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557 8330
"Two astonishing solo singers, Pelageya (12, Siberia) and Katya Chilly
(18, Ukraine) with their band, astonish, delight, exhilarate, amaze!" Click
here for more information.
Eurasian Guitars: Two Virtuosos
Various dates, various times
Cafe Graffiti + Greyfriars Kirk House, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 557 8330
"Solo electric guitarist, Crimean Tartar, Enver Izmailov creates
incredible musical universe. Ivan Smirnov Trio: acoustic guitar and
accompanists - powerful delivery, total mastery, passion and poetry. Both
world class." Click
here for more information.
Theatre
Mozart & Salieri - Ulysses Theatre Company
18 - 24
Aug 1999 (not every day), 12.25pm
Greyfriars Kirk House, Edinburgh
Phone: 0131 225 3626
"Why did Mozart perish? Did Salieri poison him? Who was the man in
black who commissioned the Requiem? Two actors - Scottish and Russian -
desperately and selflessly play Pushkin's Little Tragedy as an unexpected
version of Superstar Amadeus's mysterious death." Click
here for more information.
Pushkin on the Moon - Ulysses Theatre Company
20 - 28
Aug 1999 (not every day), 1.30pm
Greyfriars Kirk House,
Edinburgh.
Phone: 0131 225 3626
"A troupe of wandering actor clowns perform a farce. The great Russian
poet's spirit doesn't come alone... Masks images people puppets fairytales
mysticism transform into a joyous carnival of love and dance of death." Click
here for more information.
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Compiled by Andrew J
Horton
