hellwach - digital
9th international theatre festival for young audiences
in the Hellweg region
June 9-13, 2021
"hellwach" took place digitally this year!
“hellwach”, the international theatre festival for young audiences in the Hellweg region, has been running since 2002. The festival thrives on international encounters between children, young people and adults from the region with international artists. In 2021, it went fully digital – but this format, too, opened up a wealth of opportunities.
Performances for all ages were available via streaming during the festival week until June 23rd, featuring plays from France, Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Greece, India and Mexico. Kindergartens, schools, and families had the opportunity to see a wide variety of plays whenever it suited them best, regardless of where they live or how far they have to travel.
For the most part, the original festival programme could be transferred into the digital space, boasting a broad selection of interdisciplinary theatre works. The productions represented a wide artistic range: from dance for young audiences, through music, acting, to working with objects, puppets, and materials. Most of the productions used little to no spoken language, while at the same time telling a lot.
Productions
Laika / Aminata Demba (Belgium): Binta's Inner Room 11+
Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust (India): The Girl in the Pink Frock 11+
Teatro Distinto (Italy): The Rematch 5+
Ljubljana Puppet Theatre (Slovenia): Sand Pit 5+
Teatro Al Vacío (Argentina/Mexico): Close 3+
TJP Strasbourg (France): WAX 3+
La Baracca (Italy): Frames 3+
Artika (Greece): A Wonderful Day 3+
International Exchange
Following the digitalisation of the festival, a great focus was placed on the international exchange between theatre-makers: in live talks and workshops, artists discussed the work in their countries, the current situation, projects that were created during the pandemic, developments in children's and youth theatre, and they exchanged views on the importance and opportunities of networks for their work. The talks were watched by theatre makers in many countries. Most of the talks can still be watched on youtube.
Thu, June 10th
Talk: Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust (India)
Talk: Teatro Al Vacío (Mexico)
Fri, June 11th
ASSITEJ Workshop: Why Build Networks?
Sat, June 12th
Talk: Projects of the Pandemic
Book Project: Christel Hoffmann
Festival Centre
An online pinboard served as the digital festival centre, where members of the audience could share their impressions of the plays, ask the artists and festival organisers questions and leave their own creative mark.
Education Art
This digital edition of “hellwach” specifically addressed schools in the region: taking advantage of plays for children and young people and digital workshops, schools could thus experience theatre and immerse themselves in the theatrical experience before and after the performances.
Programme Brochure
The digital programme brochure can still be downloaded here:
Programme Brochure "hellwach digital" (pdf, 2 MB)
hellwach 2021 was funded by
in cooperation with
Programme partner
Media partner
