DFKH 2023

Unlike in previous years, the ninth edition of the festival, which took place on 7-9 September 2023, has moved from the periphery of Kutná Hora on the grounds of the Sedlec Brewery directly to its centre, where it has revived several venues, namely the Municipal Tyl Theatre, GASK – Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region, the Congress Centre, Breuerovy sady, Bar Pod Schodama, and the Chapel of the Corpus Christi. It is the transfer of cultural events to public spaces that represents one of the creative principles of Theatre X10, as the thematic repertoire focuses mainly on current social issues, which is also reflected in the festival programme. The common link between the titles was the issue of freedom, for example, the production of the Na cucky Theatre in Tanec dervišů, directed by Barbara Herz, dealt with the legalization of marijuana through the fate of the convicted prisoner Dušan Dvořák. The theme of aggression across history to the present day was then elaborated by the Slovak National Theatre in Budete mať Luft! responding to the prevailing xenophobia in today’s society.

The foreign partner for this year’s edition was Bulgaria, which presented itself to the audience through the production Dance Baby, Dance by choreographer Zhana Pencheva, which falls under the genre of dance and physical theatre, and the puppet-drama production 37 Matches by the Bulgarian artistic group 36 Monkeys and the German Tartproduktion. Divadlo X10 itself presented the production Destruction, directed by artistic director Ondřej Štefaňák, based on the novel of the same name by Stanislav Biller, which was awarded the Magnesia Litera in 2022. Invited students of theatre science from Palacký University in Olomouc and Masaryk University in Brno appreciated a series of performances Y: Creatures focused on the theme of monsters around us and in us from the Y Events series, which repeatedly took place in Bar Pod Schodama and created an imaginary evening ending to the whole day. The youngest audience was not forgotten either, with the afternoon performances of Kašpárek domek staví by the Lokvar ensemble and Za dveřmi by the FRAS art group, which took place in the chapitó in the park below Vlašský dvůr.

Companies and performing artists

Slovenské národné divadlo (Budete mať luft!), Divadlo na cucky (Tanec dervišů), Divadlo X10 (Destrukce), Y Events (Y: Creatures), Pulsar (Vyjdu z lesa, vyjmu páteř ze svého hřbetu a budu ji mít místo meče), Krajinou přílivu (Spis / Růžena Vacková), 36 Monkeys (BG) / Tartproduktion (DE) (37 Matches), Zhana Pencheva (Dance Baby, Dance), FRAS (Za dveřmi), Lokvar (Kašpárek domek staví)

Debates

informal meeting and networking at Café 21

Foreign guests: Galina Georgieva (BG), Katarina Georgieva (BG), Stefan Ivanov (BG), Miroslav Hristov (BG), Valentina Moroz (BY), Anna Kazakova (BY), Alexander Ivanoff (BG), Gabi Sabo (DE)

Accompanying programme

Mutanti hledaj východisko – concert
Body of pain – concert
Edging Tomorrow – a staged reading of three contemporary Bulgarian plays followed by a debate