International Festival of Contemporary Circus and Theatre Letní Letná in August
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Letní Letná is an international encounter of new circus and theatre. The festival dramaturgy focuses on the European cultural phenomenon of the past twenty years – the new circus, presenting the best new circus companies from around the world, Czech and international premieres, and selected productions inspired by the genre. The programme includes street art and open air shows, photographic exhibitions, workshops of new circus, encounters of professionals working in the field, projections of recordings of selected foreign productions, concerts, etc. A large part of the festival program is designed for children who are offered a rich variety of as many as five shows per day and free of charge workshops of graphic arts and other disciplines for free.
This year: 17. 8. – 2. 9.
For the third time in the history of Letní Letná, the organisers are honoured to welcome this summer one of the biggest stars of the festival ever – Cirque Trottola. Their brand new piece Matamore is a co-production with yet another big name on the French new circus scene, Le Petit Théâtre Baraque. The result is a surreal circus production with gentle and burlesque clowns and acrobats, juggling and flying high in the air, re-examining the law of gravity. Matamore is joyful and sad at once, tough and touching, intensely humane, a journey to the very heart of the new circus and its audience.
Crazy, mad, insane, nuts… in one word – extreme: that is what they are, three incredibly dexterous actors and acrobats from Cirque Inextremiste who, in this brilliant piece Extrêmités, build huge constructions of boards, bottled gas and pieces of iron. Once they’re built, the three perform acrobatic numbers that will leave you literally breathless out of fear of disturbing the fragile balance. Even the tiniest wrong move of one of the protagonists can cause the whole construction to break down and sweep away the whole trio. Welcome to the world of risk, danger, crude poetics and ruthless humour.
The festival takes place in the area of Letná, a place where classical circuses traditionally build up their tents. However, Letní Letná, named after the very location, has chosen not to be held on a vast sand area of the classical circuses but instead to hide in a picturesque spot in the middle of a park, surrounded by trees, within a stone's throw from the Prague Castle, the Lesser Town, the Old Town and a sight of the river Vltava. From the very beginning, the festival wanted to present all of its show either in circus tents or in the open air. The main objective was to acquaint the Czech public with the genre of new circus, to make them like it and to provide them the opportunity to actively try it themselves. Also, the festival wanted to set up a unique location in the middle of the city where people could spend their leisure time in an active, cultural way, together with their whole family – a location that would offer them leisure time activities from morning till night.
More at: http://en.letniletna.cz