Children of all ages will flock to Haifa this Passover to enjoy the city’s annual International Children’s Theater Festival.
Directed by Roy Segev, the festival includes a dazzling variety of family-oriented performances. From fairly low-tech performances like Gum, in which Miriam Novoplansky inhabits the role of a grumpy teacher who attempts to rid her classroom of the sticky substance (Hakaron Theater), to Hans Christian Andersen – Prince of Stories. This is a music-based performance in which Israel Philharmonic Orchestra members perform on stage while children are introduced to the iconic stories penned by the Danish writer (Sami Levi’s National Youth Theater).
Five original performances were chosen for this festival out of 150 proposals received. These shows will enjoy their world premiere this Passover and take part in the annual competition over the coveted title of Best Children Oriented Performance.
“One of my goals as director is that the performances produced would go on living after the festival ends,” Segev told The Jerusalem Post. He pointed out to the “poetic, intimate” nature of Matan in Lands the Like of Which Do Not Exist. Directed by Itzik Weingarten, the performance includes the poems of Naomi Shemer set to music by Shlomo Gronich within a framework story about a child who longs for a missing father.
“This performance deals with sorrow,” Segev explained, noting that most theater troupes would shy away from dealing with grief or loss during an ongoing war.
Segev is aided by two other artistic directors, Gibson Bar-El and Yinon Tzafrir (Orto-Da Theater Group co-founders), who oversee the outdoor theater program within this festival.
“The street allows the creation of edgy actions,” Bar-El told the Post, “as its agreement with the audience is different. Actors on stage know that the audience already took its seats, but in a street performance, audience members can always just walk away.”
Advantages of street theatre
Bar-El noted the many advantages of street theater performances in this context.
“They are without words,” he suggested, making them an ideal choice for a multilingual city like Haifa, which has Arabic, Hebrew, and Russian speakers. “When actors offer physical, wordless, work on stage they expand the imagination of the audience,” he added, “this allows us to feel our own inner freedom as spectators.
“We define the street,” he pointed out, “it does not define us. We must never give up this authenticity, the shared gathering of creators and audience members which leads to a moment of grace. A cultivation of the human spirit which offers us to live in hope.”
Bar-El also complimented a special, recurring guest, Haifa Mayor Yona Lahav.
“This festival is dear to his heart,” Bar-El said. “He visits it every year to enjoy the street theater performances.”
In contrast to the guest theater performances and the festival-specific productions, which require a paid ticket, all street theater shows are free.
This allows families a unique opportunity to see some of the best world talents in street theater today without needing to pay anything.
It is mostly thanks to the work done by Bar-El and Tzafrir that international troupes and guest performers have decided to come to Haifa from Austria, Australia, Spain, and other countries – this despite the war and its chilling effect on cultural relations between Israel and the world.
“My one hope for the festival this year”, Segev told the Post, “is for it to serve as an island of tranquility for just a few hours.”
Living in Israel since 1990, St. Petersburg-trained house director of Elkarma Theater Semion Gulko mastered spoken Arabic and directed The Little Witch, one of the few Arab-language performances included in the festival this year.
Hebrew speakers are warmly invited to attend the show, Gulko said, as “this is a show for children. There is really no need for subtitles.”
With 300 performances per year, Elkarma Theater (Beit HaGefen) is an important strand in the tapestry of Arab theater groups currently active in almost every major Arab city in the country.
Nazareth has the AlKhial Theater (The Bunny, The Golden Egg) and the Fringe Ensemble (Rhino and Giraffe), Tamra has the El-Ayn Theater, and Sakhnin has Al-Jawal Theater. Almost all of them offer a range of children-oriented theater shows.
“There is no difference between a Jewish child and an Arab child in how they respond to a performance,” Gulko told the Post. “When a theater performance takes a child into his inner world, he responds full-heartedly.”
Haifa’s 34th International Children’s Theatre Festival will be held at Haifa Theater from April 24-26. NIS 59-75 per ticket for theater performances. Families evacuated from the North and South are eligible for free tickets upon pre-arrangement.
All outdoor theater performances held during the festival are free of charge. These include Austrian Theater Irrwisch with the performance Grannies (stage 5, Wednesday to Thursday at noon, 1:45 p.m., and 3:35 p.m. with one final show given on Friday at 12:30 p.m.) and Australian stilt artist Adam Read who will perform Parasomania (Stage 5, Wednesday to Thursday at 11:10 a.m. 12:45 p.m., and 3:15 p.m. Friday at 10:15 a.m. and 11:35 a.m.), both shows are 30 minutes long.
Matan in Lands the Like of Which Do Not Exist will be offered on Stage 2, Wednesday, 10 a.m., noon, 2:30 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m., noon, 2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. The Little Witch will be offered at Beit HaGefen (2 HaGefen St.) on Wednesday, 5 p.m. Gum will be offered at The Wonder Room on Wednesday, 10 a.m., noon, 2:30 p.m. with the final performance offered on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Hans Christian Andersen – Prince of Stories will be offered on the main stage at Haifa Theater on Thursday, 5:30 p.m.
04-8600500;www.haifakids.co.il
