This year’s edition is marked by dialogue. Visitors will not only find it on the stages but will truly experience it in the very rhythm of the festival – in chance meetings on the streets or in conversations after performances. These are moments when the city becomes a shared space for tens of thousands of people for several days. “Dialogue is something we often mention nowadays, but don’t always truly experience. The festival offers a rare opportunity to be together, share one space, and open up to perspectives different from our own,” says Tomáš Jarkovský, director of Divadlo Drak and festival dramaturge.
During the eight festival days, REGIONY will offer more than 400 productions at thirty locations throughout the historic city center. Besides theater halls, public spaces and unconventional corners will also come alive. The city will once again transform into one big stage, where the boundaries between spectator, artist, and passerby often naturally blur.
Where to go with children today
This afternoon, you can dive into the festival whirlpool with your children at 3 PM, either at Divadlo Drak or in Žižkovy sady Park. If you have younger preschool children, take them to Šapitó Žižka for two performances dedicated to the theme of nature and natural elements, Čakwája and The Pool, suitable for children from ages three and four, respectively. Then you can move with them at 5 PM to Pod hradby for the acrobatic-cooking show Teacrobat, suitable for the whole family. With slightly older children, you can head to Drak, where first at 3 PM there is the minor theater piece Pes Paličák, suitable for children from five years old, followed by the puppeteer delight Nature Culture, which will enchant anyone from age six. It is performed twice, at 4 PM and 6 PM. For even older children from age ten, you must not miss the Ostrava staging of the Erben’s A Bouquet of Czech Folktales. You can then turn all the inspiration gained with your children into a work of art – make your own musical instrument and join an improvised concert in a workshop organized by the RECYUPCY recycling center.
Where to go today?
In the beautiful setting of the Municipal Music Hall under the open sky, at 5:30 PM the Ostrava ensemble MOVE will perform their physical theater piece Wild Geese, directed by Hana Strejčková, which blends circus, dance, object theater, and music. From the Municipal Music Hall it is just a short walk to the Main Stage of Klicperovo Theatre, where at 7 PM the climax of the first festival day will begin: one of the biggest attractions of this year’s festival program – the performance A Macbeth Song by the Catalan company La Perla 29 with live music performed by the legendary band The Tiger Lillies.