The most exciting pieces of British new theatre

Between the 15th and the 19th of November, the Student Centre and Theatre &TD will be the venues for the 2nd Nu: Write Theatre Festival. This event will once again present the most exciting pieces of British new wave theatre to the Zagreb audience. Since all plays will be performed in English, the interesting program of the festival will also be suited to the city’s guests.

The second edition of Zagreb’s Nu: Write Theatre Festival, which will be taking place between the 15th and the 19th of November at the Student Centre and Theatre &TD, will once again present some of the most exciting pieces of so-called new British theatre. This event is the result of a very successful cooperation that began last year between the organizers of the festival, the Festival of New Theatre Zagreb and the Student Centre’s Culture of Change, with numerous British theatres. Among them is London’s Box of Tricks theatre, which will be presenting an interesting play this year: “Tales of Two Cities”, conceived in cooperation with Croatian troupes. The play is comprised of six 15-minute monologues inspired by geography: three about London, in English; and three about Zagreb, in Croatian. 

After his world tour – during which he visited Hong Kong, Australia, Dubai and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – one of the greatest pantomime and body comedy artists is coming to Croatia: the globally-renowned Doctor Brown. His real name is Philip Burgers and his act was proclaimed the new theatre hope by the Sunday Times last year. He was also nominated for the Malcom Hardee 2010 and 2011 awards for his “Becaves” play, which he will be presenting to the Zagreb audience on this occasion. 

Another interesting play is being performed by the multiply-awarded British theatre troupe “1927”, which is coming to Zagreb straight from a guest performance of “Animals and Children Took to the Streets” at the renowned Sydney Opera House. It is a quirky multimedia satire that combines live music, acting, storytelling, films and animation, all in service of presenting quite a dystopian metropolis, as well as all the shady characters who live there. 

Nu: Write Theatre Festival also features another new and exciting treat this year: as part of the pan-European Night of Theatre on November 19th, 11 artists from the Tristan Bates studio will be entertaining audiences with their awarded plays for a full three hours. The performance comprises their known repertoire of midnight matinees, during which they perform an array of acclaimed plays in almost all forms of art. 

All of the aforementioned plays will be in English, besides a small part of the “Tales of Two Cities”, which is in Croatian. Nu: Write Theatre Festival will also present one exciting Croatian play to the audience: “PLAYlist” – a new piece that is comprised of eight short dramas inspired by songs of the New Wave – in which hits by Haustor, Azra, Zabranjeno pušenje, Idoli and EKV have been adapted to the theatre for the first time. This play has already attracted great attention from the audiences, so it is expected that the announced performances in Zagreb will be the same. 

Theatre events on the stages of &TD will be complemented by educational writing and drama workshops that have been organized by the foreign festival guests. There will also be workshops for clowns and a music program at the Theatre &TD café every evening after the final play of the day.