No one is too small to make a difference.
– Greta Thunberg

The 9th edition of POLIS is dedicated to an international focus on contemporary theatre in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries. From 5 to 10 May, in Ravenna’s main cultural venues, over 30 events will welcome guests from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Together with artist Gianluca Costantini, we have chosen to place at the centre of this year’s festival the image of a girl who, struck by films shown at school about plastic in the ocean and polar bears dying of hunger, becomes a climate activist and very quickly an icon of our time. Today, Greta Thunberg, already an adult, is also working for peace all over the world. Here we see her immersed in the northern sky, in the company of the bear she wants to protect.

Just as solar particles penetrate the atmosphere and shine with fluorescent light, so the guests from these seven countries illuminate the different interpretative strands that make up this year’s festival.

The dances begin with the flashes that Costantini himself dedicates to 14 female poets: warriors of the word who come from Northern Europe and pour into the drawings exposed in Via Zirardini Open-Air Gallery from 28 April to 19 May, talking to us about social transformation, emancipation and freedom.

Female creativity also dominates most of the festival programme, with proposals that reflect on pleasure, care, patriarchy and body politics. Emblematic in this sense is the work of one of Lithuania’s most internationally renowned artists, Laura Kutkaitė, with tremolo, also presented in a matinée for schools; Cristiana Minasi’s new show dedicated to the Latvian philosopher Asja Lacis, staged in the cozy setting of “Sunday at Lunch” at the Teatro Socjale; and the introspective gaze of Eeva Turunen, who arrives in Ravenna from Finland to be interpreted as mise en espace by Eugenio Sideri with the actress Alice Giroldini.

Also focusing on a strong female figure, but with an emphasis on vocal and musical experimentation, Medea Material by ErosAntEros, together with Stina Fors’ one-woman punk band and Demetrio Castellucci’s performance-concert, shifts the focus to the sound-hearing dimension.

Reflection on today’s Europe in the global geopolitical context returns to the centre of POLIS through the prism of the Nordic Focus, particularly with Karolis Kaupinis’ contemporary opera on censorship, where archive materials from Lithuanian Radio and Television are blended with 1980s and 1990s music performed live.

Nostalgia and relationships with others are also at the heart of the two works inhabiting The City’s Art Museum: with Camilla Parini’s intimate approach, revealing her memories and reflections on oneself to two spectators at a time; the residency-workshop of interdisciplinary Estonian artist Siim Tõniste, who meets with different groups of students and people, culminates in an experience of sharing and collective memory.

Also from Estonia comes Martin Algus’ text, a noir thriller about the increasingly virtual human condition in the contemporary world, entrusted to the reading of Studio Doiz.

In addition to new dramaturgy, POLIS continues to support emerging creativity through two performances chosen by Visionary citizens, which will open the festival on 5 May and once again bring women’s issues to the fore: Ismene foreverand Capelli.

Once again this year, the shows are complemented by international meetings and debates with artists, critics and scholars, educational activities and participatory projects developed over the year, result of multiple collaborations with local, national and international entities.

Be curious and join us in looking up at this sky star with events that seek to make a difference, starting from our small.

Agata Tomšič / ErosAntEros