Two Milo Rau retrospectives // Seasonal Presentation 21-22 // Angélica Liddell stages “Histoire(s) du Théâtre III”
Two Milo Rau Retrospectives // “Queer Utopia” at School of Resistance
‘Polemic LGBTQ+ spectacle comes to Poland,’ wrote Vogue last week about this year’s Malta Festival Poznań, which is dedicated to Milo Rau’s artistic work. In addition to many other plays and films by Rau, the festival programme includes Rau’s play La Reprise, the work that opened the ‘Histoire(s) du Théâtre’ series three years ago and that is based on a homophobic act of murder. On the occasion of the Rau retrospective in Poland, the 15th edition of ‘School of Resistance’ dedicated to queer activism will also take place this Friday, guests are drag performer and activist Maciej Gosniowski and philosopher Helen Hester (“Xenofeminism”).
With that, the Malta Festival picks up where the Croatian film festival ZagrebDox left off just last week, with its own comprehensive retrospective of Rau’s film works. Thus, with two back-to-back retrospectives, summer 2021 is launched – the first season to materialise in 14 months, since the first wave of the coronavirus. You can view all of the tour locations of the plays, films and actions of Milo Rau and the artists associated with NTGent here. We look forward to your visit!
Season Presentation 21-22 // Castings for Rau’s new film “Massacre” started
What autumn holds in store for NTGent and IIPM, you will find out on 24 September at 8 p.m., live in Gent – or online at this link on the occasion of the hybrid season presentation. Artistic director Milo Rau takes you on a virtual trip through the programme for the months of September to December, which will showcase no fewer than five new productions and ten guest productions. Meet Angélica Liddell, Alain Platel, Luanda Casella, Miet Warlop, Lara Staal or Luk Perceval and learn more about their productions for the post-Covid season of NTGent.
But the start of the action comes even before summer gets into full swing. While initial casting sessions for Milo Rau’s new feature film Massacre are set to begin in a week, rehearsals have already started for his current play Grief and Beauty. Both projects celebrate theater and film as collective action: “Art consists in bringing bodies into a living, utopian practice context. You only grow and change in relation to and together with others,” says the director in an interview about his team’s working practice after Corona.
Angélica Liddell creates Chapter 3 of „Histoire(s) du Théâtre“ // “The New Gospel” at Festival d’Avignon & in the US
As was the case two years ago, however, the actual start of the season will take place at the Festival d’Avignon. Following in the footsteps of Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula in 2019, the radical Spanish performer Angélica Liddell has accepted Milo Rau’s invitation to write a chapter of the series ‘Histoire(s) du Théâtre’ this year. In Liebestod. Histoire(s) du Théâtre III, Liddell lends the sacred origins of her theatre a voice and a body – and calls for a revolt against the theatre mainstream.
In two special performances in Avignon, Rau himself will present his film The New Gospel, which had its world premiere in Venice and won the Swiss Film Award, together with the activist Papa Latyr Faye (as Saint Peter). Liddell and Rau will also welcome you to an encounter in Au Coeur d’Avignon on 9 July at 11 a.m. Interested? Please reserve your seats at avignon@ntgent.be.
And a very special event will complete the summer kick-off on 9 and 10 July, as over 15 American theatres, universities and activist networks in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Utica, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Oakland and Boston join forces to present a two-day special US screening of Milo Rau’s film The New Gospel. The accompanying panel discussions on the subject ‘How artists seize power’ will include, among other participants, Toshi Reagon, Alec Duffy, Yvan Sagnet and Milo Rau himself. You will find all of the information on this event here.