Matti Linnavuori[1]

Livanuori

This issue’s Performance Reviews span from Bolivia and Martinique in the West all the way to Japan in the East. There is the inevitable stopover in Europe, of course, where critics pay attention and homage to theatre from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany and Romania.

Most of these contributions discuss performances seen at various festivals. Could it be that critics more and more seldom go to watch individual shows in their home countries, perhaps because there are fewer and fewer opportunities to publish one’s writings about them? But surely individual shows are still being produced, for where else would festivals choose their program from? Are local producers failing to get the media attention their shows deserve?

Critically, there is no distinction between local “undergrowth” shows and “international” festival theatre, but economically, local may be becoming more distant for critics than international is.


[1] Matti Linnavuori (born 1955) edits the Performance Reviews for Critical Stages. At home in Finland, he contributes regularly to Parnasso, a literary journal. He has written and directed several radio plays for YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.


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