In the course of 13 years of its existence, the Pilsen International Theatre Festival has become one of the most prestigious international theatre festivals in the Czech Republic. The aim of the Plzeň (Pilsen) festival is to present exceptional and noteworthy foreign productions as well as a selection of Czech productions.
Dirk Roofthooft: ‘The performance Sunken Red is based on the novel of Jeroen Brouwers, which is a literary jewel. As an actor, it is a gift to be able to work with his language, rich in imagery. Some images are regularly repeated and this repetition of metaphors increases the intensity of emotions. As such, the title Sunken Red not only refers to sunken memories and the impossibility to forget, but also to the red flag of Japan, to red becoming black, to what has been red, to love, to blood, to old blood. Not only the language is of an extreme beauty, also the way Guy Cassiers staged the novel, is extraordinary. Guy Cassiers’ theatre concept and direction are penetrating and intriguing. I would say to the Czech public: grasp that beauty, while you can!’
Guy Cassiers: ‘Theatre is for me fundamentally a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’. Already during my studies in the graphic arts I discovered that one artistic medium is not enough to express what I wanted. Already then I brought together different artistic disciplines and different artists. That attitude is still the same. As a theatre director I try to build bridges between different arts and artists. Theatre gives me the possibility to tell a story in a fragmented way. Some aspects are told in words, others in images, still others in sounds. It is up to the viewer to finish the painting. I just offer the canvas, the brushes and the colours. The story of Sunken Red is according to me one of the most beautiful, cruel and touching stories about a mother-son relationship written in the Dutch language. I try to combine that strong and moving story about pain and loss with the use of visual technology. I hope the projections will give the public the possibility to get inside the head of the narrator and to identify with him and his journey into mourning, so that It could be a cathartic experience.’
