The Values of a Festival – the Swedish Theatre Biennale 2003

Abstract

The Swedish Theatre Biennale is a peculiar festival in the sense that it lacks a public audience. More than a thousand theatre professionals gather for four days to present and watch the most exciting productions of the last two years in between lectures, debates, master classes and coffee breaks. There is hardly any room for local visitors to see a performance. Nevertheless, the hosting city sponsors the festival, newspapers report on it and the citizens look amazed at the crowd of known and unknown artists. What are the values of such a festival? Why is it held every two years and who benefits from it? These questions are pursued in this article according to a model of the theatrical event as presented in the introduction of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) book publication Theatrical Events –; Borders, Dynamics, Frames (2004). Politics, management, environment and experiences are juxtaposed as equally important elements of the festival as a theatrical event. The article is concluded by an expanded model pointing out some of the values at stake.