STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Poland
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Street Artists in Europe
After the political changes in 1989 which brought the abolition of censorship the alternative
theatre became independent theatre, which basically meant without the financial protection of
the government. This status is a basis of the structure and specific character of the independent
theatre in Poland. Nowadays there is a whole range of theatre productions, which are called
independent:
Performances of amateur theatre groups, student theatre, which is developing very well at the
moment and which organizes a lot of festivals – the most important in Gdańsk, Olsztyn, Kraków
and Częstochowa, experienced artists evolving from amateur theatre. Some of them, as for
example the director of Sopot Fringe Theatre Centre, Ewa Ignaczak, were given their own place
to work. This kind of institutions is financially supported mainly by city authorities.
Street theatres – most of street performances are prepared by theatres which also work on
stage. Some of them have achieved international success, as Dreams Theatre from Gdańsk or
Biuro Podróży Village theatres, independent theatre, etc. Although the tradition of independent
theatre in Poland is very strong, drawing its inspiration from the work of Jerzy Grotowski and
the social centered performances of Eight Day Theatre from Poznań, there is always a struggle
of how to survive working in fringe theatre. Most of them became centers for fringe theatre
providing opportunities for education, participating in interesting projects on the borderland of
theatre, organizing important festivals. They learned from their cultural history that limitations
inspire development.
Romania
In the late nineties, it was almost fashionable for graduates of theatre academies to found a
cultural foundation whose aim was the administration of an independent theatre. This might
have helped Romania to look good – at least statistically: there were a lot of free theatres
registered, but hardly one to really exist and function. And that one was called, for instance,
Teatrul Inexistent – The Nonexisting Theatre. This fringe group, initiated and led by Theodora
Herghelegiu, has produced in the meantime more than twenty plays, many of them very
successful. On the one hand, the subsidized theatres presented no major differences compared to
the repertoires before 1899. Now, there are about 150 graduates a year, in a country with less
than sixty subsidized theatres.
So, young, daring, aggressive performances about real life from nowadays were introduced by
those few independent groups, who managed to make their way through a hostile territory (at
least from the legislative and financial point of view). Although, for years, they were treated
with condescendence or even hostility by the critics.
In Bucharest, for instance, there are only two independent theatres with their own house: ACT,
located in a basement, and ARCA, located in an attic. This is why more and more cafes, bars
and clubs are hosting or even producing theatrical performances.
Serbia
The tradition of performing arts in Serbia, like in the whole former Yugoslavia, was mainly
formed, developed and supported by the State, until the 1990s. Independent initiatives started in
the 1980s, ad-hoc groups were formed (gathering artists on a project-by-project basis) and it was
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