Cyprus Mail 16 April 2024 - by Eleni Philippou
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| Photo: @maurice haas |
Cyprus International Theatre Festival
Pattihio Municipal Theatre, The Warehouse by ITQuarter, ETKO and Berengaria Hotel, Limassol
29 April - 16 June
The 1st Cyprus International Theatre Festival will see the famous actor on a local stage
The first edition of the Cyprus International Theatre Festival is about to launch, ready to host a series of performances and parallel events from April to June. The festival, held mainly in Limassol, will showcase a carefully curated selection of theatrical productions, local and international premieres, including a performance that will bring world-renowned American actor John Malkovich to Cyprus.
The events begin in late April with the premiere of Apocalypse Tomorrow, a production by the Berlin-based Kirill & Friends created by theatre director, filmmaker and Cannes winner Kirill Serebrennikov. The performance will take place at the Pattihio Municipal Theatre in Limassol on April 29 and 30 with a cast of six actors on stage.
In mid-May, Malkovich and Anastasya Terenkova will present the musical show The Infamous Ramirez Hoffman. The show is created by Malkovich himself and Terenkova, who is a renowned pianist from France and tells the story of a writer who believes that the work should be valued above any human ideal.
The hour-and-a-half performance is based on the final chapter of the novel by Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño Nazi Literature in America and is about the fictional writer Hoffman. The performance features music performed by a trio – violin (Alissa Margulis), bandoneon (Per Arne Glorvigen) and piano – led by Anastasya Terenkova and uses compositions by Astor Piazzolla, Alfred Schnittke Leonid Desyatnikov, Antonio Vivaldi, Giovanni Sollima, Alberto Iglesias and other outstanding composers.
The Infamous Ramirez Hoffman, Malkovich said, “tells a story of a writer for whom aesthetics overlaps with ethics and who considers that the work should be valued above any human ideal. Bolaño’s book features fictional histories of imaginary Nazis, most of whom have some connection, however tenuous, to the literary world – both the real one and Bolaño’s completely invented one. Though I did adapt quite a number of the stories, I decided in the end to concentrate on the story of Carlos Ramirez Hoffman. Perhaps someday I will return to visit the other characters or in some other, entirely different form”.
The performance will be held at Pattihio Municipal Theatre on May 15 and 16 before more performances continue through May and June. The festival will wrap up in June with shows by Polish theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev featuring Mahamaya Electronic Devices and World of Beautiful Butterflies, and Cypriot director Paris Erotokritou with play The Only Thing You Need to Know About Derrida and closes on June 16 with Mitcha Figa The Superfluous Man by Israeli director Yehezkel Lazarov. Besides performances, the festival also aims to offer off-the-stage events with open talks, film screenings, master classes and discussions.
“Theatre is a place to address the most existential questions. Our mission is, on the one hand, to build a new recognised theatrical brand and thereby increase the attractiveness of Cyprus; on the other hand, it is to engage in discussions with the audience about the most pressing issues: fears, anxieties, tolerance, love, and understanding. I invite all of you to become participants in an incredible theatrical experience,” director of the first edition of the festival Alexander Weinstein said.
