45 COMPANIES OF ACTORS FROM 30 COUNTRIES TO TAKE PART IN HIGHFEST 5th INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
Noyan Tapan
Se p 26, 2008
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. 45 companies of actors from 30
countries of the world will perform on 17 stages of Yerevan in the
days of the Highfest International Performing Arts Festival to be
held between October 4 to 12 in Yerevan. Companies of actors arriving
in Yerevan from Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Canada,
Germany, Australia, Italy, Spain, Israel, France, and other countries
wil present multi-genre, pantomime, dramatic, puppet performances,
as well as modern dance theaters’ best performances to the Armenian
spectator.
As festival director Artur Ghukasian reported at the September 26 press
conference, renowned artists, chairmen of international festivals,
theater critics will be present at the festival, who on the spot will
hold seminars and round tables dedicated to cultural policy and art
management in Armenia.
A festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of American Armenian
writer William Saroyan will be held for the first time this year
within the framework of Highfest. Performances by the motives of the
great writer’s works will be shown during the festival: 9 Armenian
and 7 foreign companies of actors will present their performances. A
Festival of Puppet and Children’s Theaters will be also organized.
This year world-famous playwright Mark Ravenhill (United Kingdom)
will take part in the festival. In the days of the festival he will
stage his play Lost Paradise jointly with Armenian actors.
The festival head also said that this year the RA Ministry of Culture
has allocated 35m drams for festival’s organization. In consequence of
the conflicts in the region 4-5 companies of actors, in particular,
from Latvia, Luthuania, Sweden, have refused to take part in the
festival. According to A. Ghukasian, they did not mention in their
letters of refusal that he reason is political, but "it is spoken in
the lobbies that Armenia is Russia’s partner."