The Gesher Theater has not yet recovered from the death of its mythical founder and director, Yevgeny Arieh, and is now preparing to dedicate the Jaffa Fest 2022 International Festival, which will take place on June 20-15, in his memory.
The festival will also give the stage to artists from Russia and Ukraine against the backdrop of the war.
Along with Arieh's death, the theater is also facing the difficult war between Russia and Ukraine, which left entire families of artists torn from their homes.
That is why Gesher chose not only to dedicate the festival in Yevgeny's memory, but also to emphasize aliyah absorption and to present to the public works by artists and actors who recently immigrated from Russia and Ukraine, including the new curator Philip Wallach, who served as a lecturer at the National Institute of Performing Arts and Theater in Russia.
The festival, which will open with a large-scale outdoor show directed by Maxim Didenko, one of Russia's leading directors, inspired by "Emperor Gok" by Hanoch Levin and performed by Gesher theater actors and new immigrant actors, will feature diverse original productions from Israel and the world in four languages - Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian, Russian.
In a joint interview, Lena Kreindlin, the theater's director, and Roi Chen, the house playwrights, explain the difficulties and challenges the new reality presented them.
CEO Lena Kreidlin, Photo: Daniel Kaminsky
"It's hard for us to live without Yevgeny, we have not yet recovered from it, and everything we do in the last year is in his memory and with thoughts about him," Lena honestly admits, "We decided to dedicate the festival to his memory. "From Russia and Ukraine come here - artists, actors, directors and creators, and we decided to give them the stage at the festival. I think Yevgeny was very pleased with that."
How much have the events in Ukraine affected you in recent months?
"We deal with it every day and try to help our workers, some of whom are Russian and some of whom are Ukrainians. It is a painful and difficult story."
According to Chen, "Among the people who came here was Philip Wallach, the curator of the festival who came from St. Petersburg, who curated major festivals in Russia and around the world and brought us several projects, not all from Russia, one of which - and in my eyes the festival's highlights - is called 'Remote Tel Aviv' Rimini Protocol, commissioned by 'MART Festival' ".
House Playwrights, Roi Chen, Photo: Isaiah Feinberg
This is a project based on an audio-visual tour of more than 50 cities around the world, which is now coming to Tel Aviv, and in which a group of people with headphones go on a tour of the city streets, and their guide is the synthetic voice we know from the Wise Navigation app.
"Walking inside a work of art"
"I did it a few days ago and flew to the sky. It's an inner and outer journey, when the body goes to Tel Aviv but the heart connects and you get excited like inside a work of art. It's a personal experience that's hard to explain, and maybe not worth spoiling," says Chen.
Kryndlin says that "in addition to Hebrew, there will be readings in the festival in different languages. Also in Russian, by actors who are here - we do not reveal the names of the playwrights who played an anti-war play, because they are in Russia and it is dangerous for them, and in Ukrainian - a play called "Sasha, take down the garbage" by Natalia Warszawit. "
Chen adds: "It must be understood that this is a crazy time, and the festival has changed shape because we have to respond to what is happening around. The purpose of the readings in the different languages is to let them be heard together."
Have you already received threats or boycotts from artists in Russia?
"Not yet, wait," Crindlin laughs, "Social media is reacting to it in all sorts of ways. I do not yet know what will happen, but we are behind our decision that culture connects people, and not the other way around. We captured 20 actors and creators from Russia and Ukraine at this festival. Our job is not to take a stand but to give a stage to players who suddenly found themselves without a job, money or family. "
The diverse artistic program is on a dedicated site set up for the benefit of the festival.
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