What a finale! On the Saffainsel, 50 performers of all ages staged «Slow Show», the collective slowdown by French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas in front of hundreds of spectators, while Canadian musician Feist enchanted the visitors with a special intimate concert project at the sold-out Werft. The evening, which literally began amidst the audience with a one-hour solo concert, ended in a grand pop gesture with a band and a video show on broadband screen without ever losing the extraordinary closeness and proximity to the audience. Meanwhile at the Nord, Nadia Beugré's award-winning dance production from the Ivory Coast celebrated its third sold-out performance. The 2023 festival ended on an atmospheric summer evening with an exciting range of performing arts projects in sold-out venues.
Big emotions and a huge range
The unique festival atmosphere this year was again characterised by great emotions and a wonderful juxtaposition of curated international programmes and spontaneous street art. A huge range of artistic formats was shown – from theatre and dance to performance, circus, installation and concert to discourse and exchange formats and many offerings that do not fit into any of those categories. The festival was also determined by extreme weather conditions: From events taking place in scorching temperatures up to 36 degrees to rather chilly evenings during which the audience was wrapped in down jackets and blankets – everything was possible this year. Unforgettable the moment when the entire team of the Australian company Circa wiped the lake stage dry together with our technical crew after a hurricane-like downpour so that the sold-out performance could still take place.
Audience favourites
There were, of course, many other highlights – such as the energetic opening premiere of «One Song» by Belgian artist Miet Warlop or French-Catalan circus company Baro d'evel, which enchanted the visitors with breathtaking artistry and poetic imagery in «Falaise». Enthusiasm and sold-out performances were also ensured by «Petróleo» by the feminist collective Piel de Lava from Argentina and the touching musical theatre evening «All right. Good night.» by Helgard Haug from Rimini Protokoll and the stirring lecture by the great thinker Silvia Federici, who captivated several generations of feminists on the packed Seebühne. During «Orchesterkaraoke», the bravest of our audience members were finally allowed to take the stage themselves and perform karaoke classics, from Züri West to Lady Gaga, accompanied by a real symphony orchestra. What an event!
Desire for new perspectives and reflection on the complex crises of our present time
With an average of 86% seats sold of the 92 performances subject to charge in the main programme, with over 70 free performances at the Zentral and DeZentral and countless other street artists who transformed the Landiwiese into a large stage, there was plenty to experience at the Theater Spektakel. The fact that the audience was so numerous and enthusiastic about new perspectives as well as prepared to deal with the complex crises of our present was very touching and confirmed us on our path. Also in moments when things developed differently than planned: for example when we realised that the large «Liveboat» installation by Plastique Fantastique could not only be understood as a walk-in reflection space on questions of migration at Europe's external borders, but also as a mysterious cave system, which emanated an immense attraction, especially for our youngest audience...
ZKB Prizes 2023
At the end of the festival last Saturday, the ZKB Prizes were awarded, with which the Zürcher Kantonalbank, as our main partner, has been honouring artists performing at the festival for over twenty years. The jury (Antje Schupp, Kristina Savickienė, Miriam Ibrahim, Rosette Nteyafas and Shinu Kim) awarded the ZKB Patronage Prize of CHF 30,000 to Nadia Beugré for her piece «L’homme rare». The ZKB Acknowledgement Prize of CHF 5000 went to Khun Sreynoch & Ny Lai for their short piece double bill «Sronoh & Snow White». The ZKB Audience Prize of CHF 10,000, voted for by our visitors, went to the Palestinian artist Basel Zaraa for «Dear Laila», an interactive installation about war, displacement and exile, about everyday life and resistance.
Thank you!
Countless people have helped and supported us with this festival. A huge thank you goes to all our staff for their enormous commitment, to our partners for their reliable and generous support – and especially to our audience, who came in such large numbers and always met us with curiosity, openness and positive criticism.
The next edition of the Zürcher Theater Spektakel will take place from Thursday, 15 August to Sunday, 1 September 2023. We look forward to seeing you there again!