European theatres collaborate on inclusive programme

Eight theatres around Europe are participating in a new project that will create texts on diverse and inclusive topics for young theatre audiences across the continent.

Young Europe IV is the fourth edition of European Theatre Convention’s Young Europe project, which has been running since 2008.

It will see the Belarus Free Theatre, which is currently based at London’s Barbican Centre, work alongside theatres in Germany, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and the Netherlands.

The new, diverse plays will cover issues from mental health to sexuality to the Israel-Palestine conflict and will be performed in school classrooms across Europe.

A separate strand of Young Europe IV, the Forgotten Plays Committee, will select and revive dramatic work by writers from non-dominant backgrounds that have been overlooked, either because of the background of the playwright or theme of the play.

Artistic Lead on Young Europe IV Paulien Geerlings says the European theatre world currently remains the white, heterosexual, male gaze that determines our experiences.

“Women, BIPOC, the LGBTQIA+ community…everyone needs to see themselves represented in the stories that are told. If there is hardly any representation, and the representation that does exist always confirms the same (often problematic) stereotype, as a person or child belonging to a marginalised group you cannot relate to the multitude of possibilities your counterparts are provided with. 

“That is why it is time for a new repertoire – to stop people from being reduced to the ‘single story’ that they have heard all of their lives.”

An online launch event is scheduled for Thursday (6 October) evening.