THEATRE OLYMPICS – The greatest theatrical celebration in the world – Roundtable discussion

Participants: Valery Fokine, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Attila Vidnyánszky 

Moderator: András Kozma

The Theatre olympics are one of the most prestigious, professionally and socially significant events in the world of theatre, founded in 1994, on the initiative of the renowned Greek theatre director Theodoros Terzopoulos. The event was first held in the cradle of European theatre, Delphi, Greece in 1995. Besides Theodoros Terzopoulos, the Theatre olympics were launched with the participation of several prominent theatre artists such as Robert Wilson (USA), Heiner Müller (Germany), Yury Lyubimov (Russia), Tadashi Suzuki (Japan), Nuria Espert (Spain), Antunes Filho (Brazil) and Tony Harrison (United Kingdom). The idea behind the Theatre olympics is to bring together a wide range of theatre cultures and schools in the framework of one grand festival, in order to give the audiences and theatre professionals a more complete picture of the world's theatre heritage and trends of contemporary theatre. It is also committed to providing an opportunity for deeper dialogue between creators and audience, and to helping future generations of artists pass on and renew cultural traditions through performances and professional programmes. During the nine Theatre olympics that were held over the past 25 years, other notable theatre artists have joined the professional committee, including Valery Fokine (Russia), Giorgio Barberio Corsetti (Italy), Georges Lavaudant (France), Jurgen Flimm (Germany), Jaroslaw Fret (Poland), Liu Libin (China), Ratan Tiyam (India), Choi Chy-Rim (South-Korea), Wole Soyinka (Nigeria). The Theatre olympics take place in a different country each time. So far the host countries were Greece (1995), Japan (1999), Italy (2001), Turkey (2006), South-Korea (2010), China (2014), Poland (2016), India (2018) and Russia–Japan (2019).

It shows an outstanding recognition of the Hungarian theatre life and of the Madách International Theatre Meeting (MITEM) that the Professional Committee of the International Theatre olympics has awarded Hungary the right to host the next, 10th (jubilee) games in 2023, on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Imre Madách. Ushering the International Theatre olympics to Hungary means a unique opportunity for the Hungarian theatre and culture in a broader sense – not only hosting the world's theatre art, but also showcasing its own world-class values.

(22 August 2021)