PILOTS in Colchester
Colchester’s Mercury Theatre is a founder member of interACT, the international consortium of 26 theatre companies and festivals. For the week 7 to 12 March, it has been hosting an European Union project in support of mobility and the exchange of experience and expertise between artists, technical staff and administrators. This has taken the shape of technical workshops.
The lead partner is the municipality of Lecce, Italy with Cantieri Teatrali Koreja, also of Lecce, the Mercury Theatre, the Youth Cultural Center in Skopje (Macedonia). The Drama and Puppet Theatre of Pazardzhik (Bulgaria) and the Helen Modjeska Theatre in Legnica (Poland).
Through its extensive programme of staff exchange, workshops, training, research and new productions, PILOTS is programming and presenting five small international festivals in 2011. These are in Leece (17-21 July), Legnica (15-20 September), Skoje (24-27 September, Colchester (24-30 October) and Pazardzhik (1-7 November).
Two Mercury Company actors are currently working with actors from the four other partner countries at Drama Theatre Skopje, and the Mercury’s chief executive and artistic director Dee Evansis going to Lecce, next week for a festival management and administration meeting.
Attendees at the technical workshop hope to establish a set of technical guidelines for working together and co-producing the five festivals, an information pack on the technical facilities available and a resource of experience for other artists and companies wanting to work collaboratively internationally.
It has included a guided tour of Shakespeare’s Globe and the Mercury theatres as well as performances of The Rivals at the Mercury and Dangerous Corner at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. Other events have been the UK Production Managers’ Forum, and sessions with lighting designer Ben Payne and sound designer Marcus Christensen.
There have also been discussions about the structure of each theatre’s technical department, the expectations of the different creative teams and the infrastructure required for running an international festival.
