WHERE IS THAT BOOZE, LETS GET PISSED

The town of Pula has the six largest Roman amphitheater in the world, most beautiful by the elegance, existing 3 000 years, and makes Pula unique place with all the traces of its distant past inhabitants. From Classic, Romanesque-Gothic structures and Baroque to Austrian Secession architecture and Italian Novecento makes this place perfect home for the contemporary creations. It’s like you are stepping into the culture with the soul that carries all sorts of sexy little things in between its walls. Well PUF{International Theatre Festival] is one sexy creation with mystical number of 9 years existence. It’s something that you keep sake in between, but it’s still not some crazy hot romance, it’s art. PUF is joining innovating theatre people on the specific locations around this ancient town, putting the research of the dimension in the middle. It focuses on man, space and time, exploring the repression on nature, on the natural beauty, working on the modern life depression and getting to know basic beauty of the living, proving over and over again the life as it is. ‘Cause life is performance and performance is life. Artists and performers on PUF are made of different theater aesthetics.
PUF by now has entered into the international publications of the festivals [IDM INSTITUTE FOR THE DANUBE REGION A CENTRAL EUROPE-WIENA]. Festival signed the contract for the collaboration with the association "Four Days" from Prague, a member of IETM European Theatre Meeting of the European Association of the Professional Theatre Festivals and theatres itself.
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– IBSEN UNDER THE BAD WEATHER-
NOR Theatre from Stamsund Norway, on Loften Islands, 500km north from the polar circle, is physical and visual theatre. Imagine theatre troop, living under such a bad weather, getting awarded on PUF in Croatia and on Serbian [ex Yu] Mono Drama and Mime Theatre Festival just couple days later? If we define Teater NOR as a medieval, romantic, modernistic or postmodernistic project with minor adjustments, the only thing that we can say is: Doing Ibsen [Peer Gynt] is a hard work. Imagine life under such a bad weather? Love, dance, booze, hard work, fishing on the ice… NOR Theatre chooses to concentrate on developing further theatrical skills, artistic expression, precision and power. No explanations necessary. If the performance dies, they refuse to launch rescue operation, cause this much is enough when doing Ibsen concerns. "Mass for Bad Weather" is completely natural and it goes with the flow. Teater NOR focuses on the human being, encountering all human strength and weaknesses. The message is simple and is told with small nuances. " Teater NOR works against the current in a landscape where trends, intellectual concepts and light entertainment dominate…" The result of theatre’s geographical location and special interest in culture in a broad sense, NOR has dedicated much time and effort to the coast and their coastal culture. Their geographical position is important to clarify the social culture point of departure, develop relationship to what surrounds and establish its own platform in relation to the whole, to collect old instruments, myths, legends, true stories and music. One of the basic concepts in the work with fragments of the coastal culture has been to find traditional art. "When Nietzsche proclaimed that God died out of sympathy with humankind and when Ibsen moved his actors from Dovergubbens Hill and the back of a billygoat down to the humorless chit chat of a drawing room sofa, something serious happened." Thorbjorn
" In 2002 any attempt to approach Teater NOR, taking into account art theory as a point of departure, is analogous to an encounter with Tatlin’s Tower [Vladimir Tatlin-Monument to the Third International] in this museum of lost illusions. Because, just as is the case for this monument, Teater NOR is also an anachronism a memory from time past, as well as a vision that is history. The Wall had fallen, The Iron Curtain had been dusted and tucked away, and all the grand narratives were already dead, when Teater NOR was established in Stamund, in the Loften Islands of Norway. Not only where Tatlin’s tales or progress and reason buried and forgotten also into the grave went the grander tale of art as it had once existed and as artists liked to portray it, as a encounter cultural meeting place and as a point of departure for alternative experiences." [Jon Refsdal Moe, theater expert freelance writer]

Pictures of Festivals & Events - General

Roman Golden Gate

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–DEVIL MACHINE-
Italian theatre "En Vol" with their "devil machine" "ED Altre Diavolerie" is an exceptional theatre game, played on the streets of Pula. Fire and smoke spitting machine "Sputafuoco" is lead through the streets and squares following only to them defined route. It is accompanied by its creator Maestro Scintilla who looks after the fire, never to get to the end. Than, at his side, we have Nicoletta Farina di Ponzio, the famous most elegant art critic and dance fanatic, occasional mistress of the devil ceremonies. She is also followed by her stepdaughter Marina Salterella who is perused by her obstinate suitor Romeo Calaluna. The group closes down with faithful and cunning fireman Goffedo Battipanni. Running through the streets of Pula, this intriguing party invites the audience and casual passengers to join them in their festive procession. The company presents an atmosphere of suspense. They invite people to join the view, managing however to keep distance at the same time. This fiesta involves people around. "En Vol" is one, big fiesta, luxurious and glamorous with all possible effects to grab and keep attention of the passengers. Very clever!

Lero Theatre is student theatre from beautiful and unique by its tradition and architecture, Dubrovnik. Traditionally contemporary crew of this theatre fulfills all expectations with 2 plays "Secret Garden" and "A Dialogue about beauty". Both plays are about mysterious life of Cvijeta Zuzoric, woman legend, who lived in 16 century in Dubrovnik. During her life, she left many admirers, but even so she wrote nothing about herself. Her gravestone was used in building the stairway and the rest belongs to the legend. It is very hard to talk about such mysterious person with the contemporary language. And, it is very hard to direct such a story, maybe that’s why contemporary theatre can do this best. Both plays are Lero’s theatrical battle with literature and drama of beautiful city of Dubrovnik in the past and today. The show uses fragments of "Dialogues" by Gucetic, between Cvijeta Zuzoric and Mare Gundulic, two Dubrovnik’s literal legends. Story describing beauty of the city Dubrovnik, that was big merchant center at the time, with the description of the nature and the mentality of people, as well as intimate story about sexual maturing of one young lady. If you ever come to Dubrovnik you will know what I’m talking about here.

Artists, Milan Bozic and Vlasta Delimar presented their idea to the theater audience of the festival, by taking one big bed into the one big empty room, spending night there, together. The space in Carlo Royce Building, the old army building, had one big white bed and two chairs and that’s it. The building is, from 1998, local culture center. An way, once when you get in, into the empty room, with such artists, you are gaining such positive energy, starting to picture the life that can be happening under such circumstances. Almost instantly, you are finding such a place most romantic of all in the world. Because real life is not a make up, nice curtains or luxurious condo, it’s a situation that makes us memorable experiences. Imagine how many deserted buildings and places are on the world? In New York, in Paris, in Serbia or in Croatia. All those place are loaded with energy of past life and people that lived there. The basic idea of this project is to, through artistic message, present the possibility of thinking and finding usage, dignity and spirituality of such places. This project sends a clear message presenting direct environmental problem to any society. Global geography is not essential here. ‘Cause we are not talking about Croatia, we are talking about global message for all those lovely and deserted places in the world.