Concept

After the end of the bipolar block situation in the world, after the implosion of the socialist camp, in the times of an infinite global neo-liberalism under the leadership of the US, the contradictions of our world do not diminish. On the contrary, they escalate in all areas. Our world has not become a more peaceful one, but war has become a more total one. The end of the balance of terror makes old conflicts revive and new war zones arise.
Again/always humans of different nationality face each other as enemies – rearmed with all the old-fashioned historical prejudices that seemed already outdated in the modern world of global communication.

Unbridled strong forces (political, economic and military) affect humans and demand their total conformity.

Cultural identity and ethnical traditions are unrelentingly doubted and swept away. At the same time, these are the areas of retreat and the grounds from which the conservative and sometimes fundamentalist counter attacks are lead against the changes influencing our world.

The pictures produced of the stranger, the intruder, the ENEMY, are threatening and extremely effective - and the fight for defence, which is regarded as the natural consequence, does not tolerate limits, it does not follow rules nor the standards of morals or civilisation. Total lawlessness seems to be the common answer to total challenge. Our work in the ITI and particularly in the CIDC is thus of new and urgent necessity. Even more than in the past years we are asked to hold contact and to organize and support cultural meetings between theatre people, despite of all borders and separation. Telecommunications can do much; however, they cannot replace the coming together of people. To reduce prejudices is the first step in order to be able to discover the human behind the ENEMY.

I suggest that the CIDC starts a project with the title: "My Unknown Enemy".

In view of insurmountable dislikes and resistances, in view of barriers of prejudice and hate as well as of mutual negative experiences with one another, theatre people should have the opportunity to meet (in a workshop of several weeks), to learn about and with one another, to make contemporary theatre.

By playfully experiencing "the enemy" through scenic exercises new knowledge may be won and the basis for a possible culture of dialogue may be set.

The workshop as an opportunity of encounter should not take place in one of the participating countries, but in a "third" place. This place could be/should be a country, which was or is in a comparable situation of confrontation: Dubrovnik in Croatia, a theatre city which made these painful experiences, would be a possible choice, for instance, or Nikosia, or one of the German cities, etc.

The discussion during the workshop should not focus on the separating aspects of the conflict nor should it intervene in the current/eternal controversy, nor judge or blame. The artists should have the opportunity to meet and work together on a "third" object, e.g. a suitable piece, text, etc., offering both sides the opportunity to phrase their identity and their concrete experiences through play, on the one hand, but also offering the opportunity to open up the prospect on the current conflict and its potential.

I practised this basic approach in a workshop ("image.construction.site II") that I directed during this year’s Theater der Welt festival. The results were very encouraging: Actors from different Arab countries and their German colleagues worked on the topic THE HERO, on the basis of the one-act play PHILOTAS by G. E. Lessing.

Our main concern is to make theatre, together - overcoming all separation and, at the same time, being fully aware of each one’s own cultural identity. We should encourage artists to develop a critical, sovereign awareness immunizing them against being exploited by means of whatever image of the ENEMY and enabling them to give impulses to the theatre work in their home countries.

Participants should be both theatre groups as well as groups of individual theatre people, applications will be selected by the CIDC in accordance with the respective local centre of the ITI. The theatre people will be invited as artists and will not be considered representatives of national or religious organizations or parties of their home countries.

This project should be carried out by several countries under the guidance of the CIDC, it should be developed on a long-term basis and its different modules should refer to and build on one another. Supporting and co-operating partners in the preparation and realization of this CIDC project should not only be the national ITI centres, but also various other institutions and partner organisations.

Alexander Stillmark
June 2002