Festivals - Tartu

discover such unexpected locations and transform them for a performative use is their
core business and chief mandate. The notion that a performance should take place on
a fixed stage, in buildings specifically constructed for performances, in theatre venues,
is in fact a rather limiting condition of performance and historically one that has
marked the performative practice only since the end of the 16th century when the first
durable theatre buildings were built in Madrid and at the periphery of London. Even
in those 400 years since then, performative practices were never limited to those venues
alone. The search for appealing alternatives to the standard theatre venue marks
the experiments of several great artists of the 20th century, starting from the Salzburg
Festival, established in 1920 by five artists including the composer Richard Strauss,
the dramatist Hugo von Hoffmansthal, the director Max Reinhardt, the stage designer
Alfred Roller and the conductor Franz Schalk. They staged the first performances on
the steps of the Cathedral Square and then two years later in the baroque Felsenreitschule
(the Summer Riding School) in the historic centre of Salzburg. A few years later
the large Festspielehaus was built and other theatres and concert halls came into use,
but still today this most prestigious festival feels the need to present some performances
in unconventional spaces such as a former salt factory and to stage Jedermann
at the open air in the Cathedral Square.
Staging dramas or concerts in public squares in front of the cathedral or the main
local church is in some countries a way to link the festival to traditions, such as in
Italy, where the so called sacre rappresentazioni date back to the medieval times. Since
the World War 2 several major theatre festivals established their distinction exactly
in appropriating some historic or ex-industrial buildings for the performance, starting
with Jean Vilar’s staging of the early Avignon Festival productions in the Cour
d’Honeur of the Pope’s palace in Avignon, adding throughout the years many similar
historic locations as stages. Since 1950, Dubrovnik Summer Festival systematically
appropriated various fortresses, chapels, squares, palaces, beaches, ramparts for its
productions and gradually brought their number to over forty. Many other festivals
did the same, reviving their architectural heritage and making it work as an interface
of artistic innovation and tourism development. It is the case of many theatre festivals
staged in ancient Greek amphiteatres in various Mediterranean countries (eg. France,
Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey) as well of many music and theatre festivals taking place in
castles and palaces. Sometimes the set is provided by a public space - such as a square,
surrounded by old buildings, and for weeks every night it turns into an arena for the
festival productions.
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Inventing a space of performance, appropriating it and adapting it for a single use is a
way for a festival to prove its own function in the creation of added value, additional
cultural capital. This effort allows the festival to experiment in the spatial shapes and
relationships of the performing and observing zones, in the communication patterns
between the performers and the viewers. Bringing the public to an unknown, previously
unfrequented space stresses the festive character of the festival and the forma-