Mime Fest in Polička – International Pantomime and New Circus Festival
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The 3rd edition of Mime Fest, the only mime festival in the Czech Republic, is currently taking place in Polička, Eastern Bohemia. It started on 15th September and will last till 20th September. The festival opened with the performance of the Mime Prague company and it further featured an Egyptian ensemble El-Ghaba or the Group X company from Poland (performing on Tuesday), founded by the members of the well-known Tomaszewsky Wroclaw Mime Theatre. Wednesday night might be attractive for opera lovers, as Mime Fest presents the Silent Opera ensemble which fuses the two genres of opera and pantomime (a unique phenomenon in the Czech Republic). The Italian libretto of Life on the Moon is expressed through mime as well, so the opera becomes comprehensible for all types of audiences.The Thursday 18th September programme starts in the afternoon hours with the performance of the Czech ensemble of the deaf Pantomima S. I. The night will bring exotic atmosphere right from South America - the Teatro del Cielo from Ecuador will perform in the Tyl House. “It’s our first time in the Czech Republic and a great honour for us. We hope to please the audience with our emotion-filled performance,” says the director of the company, Martin Peňa, one of the top-level artists in his field.
Friday night will belong to the legendary Bolek Polívka, participating in the festival with his successful piece Pro Dámu na balkóně (For the Lady on the Balcony). “It’s a play about love, life, but more about its dark sides and underneath tones,” says Polívka about his piece. Mime Fest culminates on Saturday with the traditional Mime Night, featuring all the stars of the festival - Anke Gebner and Oliver Pollak (Germany), El-Ghaba, Boris Hybner, Radim Vizváry and others.
The organisers of the festival have taken into account the child audience, too. The Czech new circus ensemble Bratři v Tricku will present their work Na plovárně (At the Swimming Pool) to secondary school students. For primary schools, the Polish company Pineczka prepared a whole-family piece to be performed on Saturday, 3pm.
In addition to the workshops for festival participants, led by instructors from all over the world, such as Irina Andreeva (Russia), Funka Taina Mäki-Iso, Katarzyna Śniezka Sobiszewska (Poland) or Martin Peňa (Equador), the public will have a unique opportunity to learn the basics of pantomime, on Saturday 10am at the Tyl House, with the members of the Mime Prague Company.
Mime Fest builds on the tradition of just a few international festivals of mime theatre in the Czech history. The first one was held in 1969 in Prague and last one in 1996 in Kolín. Mime Fest wants to revive the forgotten golden era of the Czech mime art, to continue in its tradition and create a new platform for the art of pantomime. It endeavours to rehabilitate the almost forgotten artistic discipline which is still able to surprise by its modernity. More on: www.mimefest.cz.
For the first time this year, Mime Fest is also held in Prague, from 17th to 22th October.