Reflections about the play ‘Korona Grammata’ from Valentinos Kokkinos

Valentinos Kokkinos, participant in Korona Grammata‘s play

How do you feel the project benefited you?

I faced the reality of this country’s future as it is expressed and experienced by local youth. I also had the opportunity to notice the wisdom inherent in teenagers not yet preoccupied about how they will appear, but rather how they are.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

It simply reinforced my opinion that teenagers mirror the lives of all of us in a new-found existence.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

It was when I realized that society enforces on teenagers the viewpoint that they had no actual control over their future. For me, that is the grandest form of violence possible.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

When a teenager expressed in his own unique way that the heart of all problems is that we don’t allow people a timeframe for them to exist.

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

I realized that there really aren’t colours, religions and languages, but human souls, and they all long for their chance to exist in this world in love.

Would you recommend the project to others?

That goes without saying. It’s great to be able to come into contact with a youthful heart. It’s simple, wise, pure and, above all,  true.

Reflections about the project from Spyros Antonellos

Inspector of Secondary Education in Drama - Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus

How do you feel the project benefited you?

The project gave me the opportunity to involve students of Secondary Education  into workshops that gave them the chance to collaborate and express freely their ideas and thoughts. The script that came finally up was interesting. Students put their prints in a very productive way and they had the chance to discuss about it. So many schools are supposed to watch the play now, so many students of Secondary Education will face the problems of violent behavior and discuss about them. As Drama consists the most  creative way of collaboration and learning, I really enjoyed it.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

Yes it changed my perceptions.  I’m already suggesting to teachers to use Drama Techniques  in their classes as often as they can. Especially now that  intercultural education is a basic aim, Drama can offer great experiences to teachers and students.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

We really didn’t find any difficult moments due the project. Students enjoyed the procedure and followed the steps  with  joy.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

It was a great experience when we met in Paris and had the chance to see how others worked on that project. The final results were really amazing. Students proved they have so many different ways to express themselves, so I recommend that program to be continued.

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

As long as we give to young european citizens chances to work together, we can organize the educational system under common  aims. Different languages, religions  or cultural differences could  create bridges  and will give us the chance to bring students from different countries together.

Would you recommend the project to others?

I would recommend the project to others and I am waiting to collaborate again in order to achieve common point of views about social problems.

Marina Malenis’ reflections about the project

Marina Maleni, Korona Grammata‘s dramaturg

How do you feel the project benefited you?

It taught me how wonderful it is to adjust to the various different conditions that change during a project, due to people’s wonderful imput.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

It made me realize that young people should have a voice and determine things for themselves and that adults have a lot of preconceived notions that can be broken through actual communication with teenagers.  Wonderful ideas and a new way of perception opened up to many teachers who listened to their students discuss after the production.  Teachers got to really see the students as special distinct human beings, not as a group or a class. On the other hand performers, opened up to imput from non-professionals, and this brought great results!

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

To “let go” of the performance and give up my role as pedagogue, due to other administrative duties.  The production is still travelling to schools, with another animateur, Valentinos Kokkinos, who is doing a wonderful job, as he also has a psychology degree.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

Open rehearsals, where teenagers got to come and see the play for the first time and influence with their comments – A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE FOR ALL!

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

To try and not get emotionally involved, I guess it’s the whole meditterranean-Central European on-going discussion on traits…

Would you recommend the project to others?

Definitely would, as everyone involved benefited in numerous ways!

Refelections about the project from Emilios Charalambides

Emilios Charalambides – Greek translator for the play Korona Grammata

How do you feel the project benefited you?

It has been a fulfilling experience in every way. It gave me the chance to communicate with students with the most energetic and creative way: the theatre. We had the chance to face open hearts ready to participate and commune with the root of the problem.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

Actually it has changed my perception towards violence and young people. I was not sure about the extent of this problem in the Cypriot society and I was at the same time a little bit shocked about the way young people have openly talked about it in the presence of strangers (us).

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

As a translator, the most difficult moment has been the translating of the questionnaires of the students (from Greek into German).

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

The highlight of the experience has been the workshops, but also the performance with a mixed audience (adults/ parents together with the students who participated to the workshops). The translating of the play has also been a great challenge for me, the opportunity of giving the German play a Greek voice, with all the risks and difficulties, but at the same time with all the joy this activity brings along.

What did you learn from the other team/ the process/ the culture of the country?

At the beginning I was not sure weather the play would be appropriate for the Cypriot audience. But the performance and the reactions of the audience made me change my mind.

Would you recommend the project to others?

It has been a great experience as a whole and I would definitely recommend it to others.

Johannes Hendriks’ reflections about the project

Johannes Hendrik, Kopf oder Zahl’s actor

How do you feel the project benefited you?

Besides having a great time with the play and working it out, I was forced to be part of the topic school shootings and the big question of why. I can’t say I found the answer, but I’m glad to have been confronted with a current topic like this, in which no one knows exactly how to solve it. Another experience was the handling of violence of young people in other European countries. We had a partnership with Cyprus, where the people don’t talk much about this topic, so that the play broke a taboo. In Germany violence of young people is a much discussed part of the growing up process.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

Yes it did. When I heard world news before, that there was another school shooting, I pushed it away. I said to myself, it’s not me, this kid isn’t normal. But now, that I’m playing a kid, blowing up his school I’ve got another view. Everything this kid is doing is a logical process of pressure from the outside. I think the society should start working out the problem by individual responding to the kids, instead of pushing it away by saying: it’s been the video games, the new records of Marilyn Manson.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

To understand, that not everything said in the news is about facts and truth. It’s much more complex to understand the world and it takes more than watching the news channel.

Another very difficult situation is taking the audience with you in this staging. These kids are 12 to 14 years old and they are not very interested in theatre in any way. And by having a very specific way of telling the story of this young kid, it’s not getting any easier for us. But still I hope most of the story and the message is sent and received.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

The most interesting part of doing “Kopf oder Zahl” is that every time the audience is reacting completely different. There are kids who are flashed by this way of theatre and surprised about real people on stage, some kids aren’t interested in anything but their ipod, some teachers think it’s to loud and not understandable, then other pupils act and reflect very grown up and say they got everything. So that’s the exciting thing about that. Every time you go out on stage you don’t know what will happen.

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

As said above, the cultural difference of interacting with the topics school shooting and violence of young people is notable, also the resulting effect.

We didn’t hear much about the work of the other country. Maybe it was important for the writer of the play, but we as actors did not interact with the other team.

But an important aspect in the play came from kids in Cyprus. There it is a sportive act to plunge baby cats into bottles of glass. They wait until the cat is growing, till it can’t come out and the body has grown into the form of the bottle. For me it’s a horrific thought but every country has its own ways.

Would you recommend the project to others?

Yes, of course. Theatre is a global interacting process and it’s important for youth in school to get a sense for theatre and its ways of educational assignment. So I would be glad if this project would be expanded.

But I would recommend that every country has the opportunity to see the play of their European partner. I really wanted to see the Cyprian interpretation of the play and I thought that it was just about that: Communication between two different cultures.

Katja Hensels’ reflections about the project

Katja Hensel, Kopf oder Zahl’s author

How do you feel the project benefited you?

I apprectated very much the work shops before I started writing the play. It gave me concrete impressions of the situation at schools in Nicosia and Berlin. It was also very effective and helpful to work closely with the dramaturge (Anne Paffenholz) together, she reflected my writing in an way I would not have been able to.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

It didn’t really change my perceptions, concerning Cyprus I hadn’t perceptions before and in Berlin I got a closer look, but not a different one.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

It was hard to consider  the situations of young people in two quite different societies in  one play. In Cyprus the conflicts in schools are more suppressed and neglected, where else in Berlin the students are sometimes even tired to talk about violence again.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

I was surprised how different the two productions came out. And I was grateful to see how the play in Nicosia brought up a vivid and open discussion about the subject (among the audience)

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

The dialogue is more hirarchique in Cyorus, the values of family, religion are held up high, and the national conflict is present every where, also in the schools. Those aspects make conversations more sensible than in Berlin.

Would you recommend the project to others?

Yes, for sure!

Andrew Breakwells’ reflections about the project

Andrew Breakwell – Director Roundabout & Education (Nottingham Playhouse) – The Island’s Dramaturg & Pedagogue

How do you feel the project benefitted you?

Gave me another opportunity to work with colleagues from other theatres. Made me consider what constitutes a classroom play. Gave me a focus for thinking about what might be appropriate material. Gave me an insight into the theatre-making process of another theatre company. I hope that the project might create opportunities to share my expertise and enthusiasm for young people’s theatre with others. Made me seek out young artists at the beginning of their careers and mentor them, they in turn challenged my pre-conceptions and made me think about their needs.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

No in the sense that the age group, the mode of delivery and the writing process were all part of our usual theatre-making. Thinking about sharing the process and materials was also part of our co-production mode.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

Achieving a consensus on the definition of classroom theatre, putting all the creative team in place. Finding audiences that might understand Norwegian, publicizing the evening of performances for adults in our studio theatre, persuading schools/colleges to have both performances.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

Seeing the reactions of the children in the classroom as the play developed and they realized that they had to watch every moment because the actors were all around them.

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

I learnt about the problems of scheduling in a repertoire based company with a permanent ensemble. A little about the role of the director. What a variety of skills actors possess.

Would you recommend the project to others?

Yes, it has been an enjoyable and worthwhile co-operation and I hope a productive exchange.

Student’s interview about the workshops at the Teatrul National Marin Sorescu

Vincent Dedienne, French student from Comédie de St Etienne – Workshop in Teatrul National Marin Sorescu

How do you feel the project benefited you?

It was very interesting  because Roumania was an unknown country for me. I didn’t know anything about this country, before taking the plane.

Discovering a country, a city, and people who live in that city, through work is, in my opinion, the best way to discover someone, something, some place. Becaue you’re not a tourist. You are a worker, completely dumped into the culture, the uses, the language.

It was also a good way to practise my English, to feel “disoriented” and to learn about theater in Roumania.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

Yes, of course, as every trip I thing. It helps you remember that you are not alone in the world, that people are different all over the world. Different but also the same.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

To live in George’s home, and make him understand that I was too tired to go out, make party all the night and sleep one hour before going to work ! it was completely ununderstanble for him.

And also the meat for breakfast. And the coldness

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

When we finnaly managed to play all together in to different languages, and to understand each other, trough Ionesco’s text.

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

The way to warm up is different, the hunger of parties, the strongness of the families.

Would you recommend the project to others?

YES, definitely !

Alice Chilles’ reflections

Alice Chille - Theatre pedagogue for the play Verminte Zone (Deutsches Theater Berlin)

How do you feel the project benefited you?

I drop two weeks before the premier in the rehearsal process of Verminte Zone. The Deutsches Theater offered me the possibility to accompany the project and it was a really beautiful chance for me to restart working after a time off spent with my children. To combine my knowledge and feelings for France (my mother is French) with my professional way of working is one of the most benefit of this cooperation.

I’m very happy about the team and the very kind way of being working together. The examination with the piece of Pamela Dürr together with the artistic team of the Deutsches Theater was always driven by a precise view on the content without losing humor.

The staging of the play is for me a great success I get supported by the young people each time we speak with them afterwards. But also the quietness of the concentration points this up.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

I like the format of playing theatre in classrooms. It’s the first time I work with it.

No doubt- here you reach a lot of young people knowing less about theatre.

I love their unprepossessed reactions. Often they are so fascinated about the playing of the actors and the way the production shows them the story of friendship in the context of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Often they say its better than a movie or its better than normal school education. These reactions shows me how important it is to propose young people these kind of possibilities to approach contents in different kind of ways in education like it does Verminte Zone/ Champ the mines.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

Maybe how to get to Paris with the heavy suitcase filled with stage props by flying with Easy Jet and not to pay too much for excess luggage.

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

The exchange with the French team! To see the French version was very exciting. It was great to discuss the similarities and the differences concerning the solutions in the production. And also the day when we met the class of the bilingual secondary school (French-German) who had seen the premier of the German version and one of the French shows! Here we had the chance to speak and discuss with the pupils a lot about the topics of the piece but then also about theatre and theatre process in France and in Germany. This was a very fruitfully time in classroom.

And of course the time in Paris! To play in front of French pupils was exciting. To make the experience how the show works out in front of young people being no native speaker. In these couples of times I had the feelings pupils were especially grateful about the work because they understand the amazing circumstance that there were people coming from a long distance for playing only for them.

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

As my process started much later than the other members in the team, I missed the starting point and the process of coming together in the workshop in spring 2009. But I felt very close with the French team in the week when they were in Berlin. We spent a very good time together with respect for the work of each other and with a lot of fun discovering specialties in our every day life habits felt very German or very French.

Would you recommend the project to others?

Yes, Yes! Every time.

Anne Contensou and Karin Serres’ reflections

Anne Contensou, director & Karin Serres, translator and scenographer for the play Champ de Mines

How do you feel the project benefited you?

Regarding the direction : how interesting to deal with the minimum, to evocate more than recreate, to just give signs, to deal with the whole possibilities of a simple space (on the tables, under the tables, curtains, blackboard…aso) and to think about new and dramaturgical uses of all the classroom elements. It leeds us to think about what is essential in theater playing.

Regarding the translation : as a french go-between-playwright, I devoted my whole experiment of playwriting in french to this accompaniment, ego on its lowest, practice and intuition on their highest. Through this passing-translation, I discovered Pamela Dürr’s language. Working in the flesh of another one’s theatrical language to translate it makes you learn a lot for your own writing too.

Regarding both : we live and work in Europe and we do believe in working together in multinational teams or projects as the best way to learn each other.

Did it change your perceptions? If so, in what way?

The whole classroom-play concept is very new for us, in France, and the twin creation of a same play is very rare, too. This CTE project has allowed us to deal with new ways of meeting the young audience AND to confront them with other possibilities the other team has tried on his side : it has made this experiment even more richer.

We have also understoud that the theater strength is much more important than the language we speak : emotions, dramaturgy and global meaning are enough to be touched, even if the German students were not speaking French very well.

What was the most challenging (difficult) moment?

Regarding the direction : the different status of the text in both theatrical processes, that we discovered though the common workshops. The german team is used to deal with the text as a material that they can work on, or improvise from, and change parts ; for us, the text is the starting point of all the process, and if it changes, the whole process has to be restarted.

Regarding the translation : How to translate a text AND its context, the big structural  differences between French and German, and the deep bond between our motherlanguage and our way of thinking.

Regarding both : how to transmit the extraordinary love song to the German language that irradiates this play on, to the French audience ?

What was the highlight of the experience for you?

For both of us, the highlight of this experience has been the amazing way both German and French students have been touched by receiving the same live experiment in their classroom, as a first meeting with a theatrical fiction which was telling such a strong and sensible story. The first theatrical sensations are what matters, and in both countries, they seem very likely…

What did you learn from the other team/the process/the culture of the other country?

We learned a new way of telling the same very story : a distancied way to play combined with extremely playfull moments, physical and choregraphical positive features, nice acoustic brainwaves, and remarquable moments of dealing with the space. Thanks to P. Dürrs involvement, we have also combined both our ways of dealing with the text : the untouchable-central French one and the material-in-process German one, enjoying richnesses of both systems.

Would you recommend the project to others?

We sure do recommend the project to others, with this we have learned :

More than its big artistical, political and poetical value, and the real meaning of this new and full of prospects “Klassenzimmerstücke” concept, this CTE project reveals us two major steps in a right multilingual theatrical collaboration :

-    A preliminary share of the most large, active and deep common territory between the participants from the different cultures, meaning understanding the more differencies we can, to work with them as a richness

-    AND taking time, which seems indispensable to reach, level after level, a real understanding of a text and its largest theatrical, cultural and human context.

And we would be delighted to work again in this sharing, inventing and experimenting artistical process through another CTE project.