Pula



Born as the Croatian theatre reality International Theatre Festival PUF, the contemporary theatre festival strongly arguments and equally refer to the theatrical and non-theatrical circumstances, PUF shows that theatre festivals do not necessarily need to have overtop expanses to serve the public. This festival has its choice and its concept to indicate that sometimes theatre festivals completely ignore an entire segment of the current theatre offer, a comment on the terrible terminological imprecision and lack of clarity, which predominates in the theatre life. From 1st July to 5th July, PUF the Contemporary Theatre Festival, in Pula, Croatia couldn't cope with strict bureaucratic classifications of the "types of performing activities". In between the theatre reality and almost anachronistic frames, PUF offers different aesthetics and poetics that vary from the vaguely defined "mainstream" and the representative predictability of the so called populist naive. The International Theatre Festival PUF in Pula has been officially determined by Branko Sušac, the festival's art director: "PUF is a festival of theatre differences and openness within a sincere theatre experience. It attracts different poetics, seeks new theatre directions and rallies artists and spectators round the idea of theatre. PUF establishes and stimulates dialogue and it gives a chance to polemics. PUF functions as a communication channel, it shows the world from a new angle: not monologue and passive communication, but dialogue, frankness, identification and participation. PUF wants to cross the boundary between life and theatre. It wants to enhance the inner reality of every participant in this project, which we could name theatre as well as life."


The festival is bringing together an important theatre generation, and holds the strict division between the professional and the amateur-theatre directly neglected and ignored by the institutional theatre companies. A place for discussion about the professional and non-professional, about the institutional and non-institutional, about the amateur/alternative and the theatre of the "main stream", these discussions came up alive, because it became clear that – a simply a good play, individual talent and capability for strong theatre communication, capability to face the contemporary theatre moment at home and abroad, is the critical point and level, not the social status of theatre. Besides theatre plays the festival holds exhibitions, concerts, conferences, seminars, workshops and round tables. Also the chroniclers describe the positive atmosphere of the festival - the trademark of the cultural life in Pula, where theatre is not enough alive. At the same time, PUF presents to the inhabitants of Pula the theatre as a place of absolute concentration and silence, as well as a place of big noise and rage. During the days of the festival the whole city, the quarries, the marketplace, the main city squares, the little streets, everything is animated. By now PUF has entered the army barracks, the city catacombs, the sea, it has climbed the theatre stages, and it has done all of that just to be able to enter the art and festival audience.


The festival opens with "Anno Domini 2009" a play with the task to review the world and home made artistic pursuit in the just passed season, to comment through theatre the "picture of the world", to react to the artistic and non-artistic ramblings in the search for dominant directions, which have marked that season and not less important to enable to the members of festival funder theatre Dr.Inat the work in a quality co-productions and the work with home and foreign authors and performers. The very first "Anno Domini 1995", staged in the Quarry of Vinkuran and was directed by Branko Sušac, was very well received by the critics: "The ideas of Sušac captured a huge scene and accomplished a unique, unrepeatable stage happening (.) The excellent, strong, thundering music, the diabolic light atmosphere, the skilful use of gadgets as the machine for the water-foam production (.) were inventively used for the creation of a dynamic and strong stage picture." (Dalibor Foretić, Glas Istre , 3 rd July 1995).

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SAKUD
PUF Međunarodni kazališni festival
Sergijevaca 32, 52100 Pula
Tel./fax: ++385 (52) 223-915
E-mail: sakud@pu.htnet.hr,
sakud@pu.t-com.hr