Dear theatre spectator, see You at the NAKS Festival in 2.- 4. November in Valga!
Valga is a marvellous little city on the very south of Estonia next to the country border. Before Estonia and Latvia gained independence Valga and Latvias Valka used to be the whole city. Nowadays, there are a country border and also a symbolic border point separating two cities, but overall cultural space is still the one. People living near the border (and in Valga there are more than 10 000 people) have their own problems and joys. The festival team have set their goal to bring more joyful experiences to Valga through theatre.
Theatre and performing arts always test limits inside people and limits that the environment has set to us, limits that excist outside of people. It doesn't matter whether creative activities are for youngsters or for adults, perfoming arts always give us something to think about, broaden our knowledges, increase our capacity of empathy, give us visual pleasure and sometimes even the joy of participating. This kind of art experinece forces us to look inside us, value or revalue what are inside our souls, what surrounds us and how do we relate to it.
Considering young spectator, we have chosen different types of plays to the festival program, that could speak to young audience in Valga in particular. The plays in our program are remarkables in one or other way. Also, the festival gives a little overview about good examples of theatre made for young spectator in Estonia and outside of Estonia. International plays that you can see in our festival are from Latvia and Norway. Latvia's play "Juhan the skeleton's going-on's" is based of the story written by Estonian author. This is a remarkable example of good creative intergration. Mine Nilay Yalcin Productions play "Blikk" (The look) which originate from Norway could speak all who have ever felt lonely, experienced repulsion and bullying. Our children culture seminar are focused also on these topics. In cooperation with French Institute of Estonia there will be a public reading of two plays (in Estonian): Nathalie Papin's “Noones' land” and Swedish writer Rebecca Örtmans play "A stone in a stomach". By participating in the workshops organized by our festival you can discover the theatre world that's usually hidden behind the curtains.
Wishing you a mighty festival experience
the creative director of NAKS Festival, Marek Demjanov
