ICEBREAKING – theatre of social inclusion
of V4 citizens and Ukraine refugees
 

Something unknown lies ahead.

A war is burning near us.

Suddenly, a stragner lives next to us. Another.

A barrier stands between us – a thick layer of ice. Can it be melted?

Will we leave our prejudices behind and melt the frozen rivers together?

Will we meet each other upstream?

ICEBREAKING is uncovering the stereotypes in our heads.

Breaking down the boxes we pigeonhole people into – immediately, but forever.

Breaking through the prejudices of our day.

Bonding with those we need to survive.

PROJECT
Four partners led by AND (project coordinator) will produce a street performance act focusing on closing the distance between V4 citizens and Ukrainian refugees. ICEBREAKING will be an original physical-visual expression of social inclusion that tells stories of people living in mixed communities through theatre. A theatre that breaks down the prejudices, portrays the benefits of global coexistence and gets people closer together.

Coordinator: The Ensemble of Irregular Theatre NPO (AND) 

The Ensemble of Irregular Theatre NPO (AND) is an independent group of theatre and contemporary art professionals formed in 2017 after transforming from Kremnica Theatre Underground (*1973). It focuses to bringing new forms of modern street cabaret and socially engaged productions in cooperation with foreign creators. In 2016 AND founded the international multigenre AMPLIFIER Festival − New Cabaret & Street Art in Banská Štiavnica. AND was also the co-author of Renovation of the Identity for the City of Culture Banská Štiavnica 2019. Work of the AND has been presented at international festivals such as Za dveřmi (Behind the door) Praha, Festival REGIONY (REGIONS) Hradec Králové, ULICA (STREET) Krakow and domestic festivals such as Anasoft Litera, Akademický Prešov, Festival slobody (Festival of Freedom), Dotyky a spojenia (Touches and connections), POHODA Festival, etc.. The role of the AND in the project ICEBREAKING is to coordinate the project activities and the implementation of the whole project.

PARTNERS

PARTNER 1 (Poland) 

The KTO Theatre (*1977) is one of the most respected professional Polish theatres with a long tradition of street performances and open-air theatre. The group has visited over 250 cities in over 40 countries on 5 continents. The KTO Theatre has been involved in numerous international projects and is also the organizer of the international ULICA Festival in Krakow (36 years). The theater operates under the leadership of the renowned director Jerzy Zoń. Partner’s role: script & direction supervision, performing.

PARTNER 2 (Czech republic)

Creative members of PROSTORES group from Prague, representing the middle generation of Czech artists and musicians, are teamed around the cabaret theatre KRVIK TOTR (*1991). The group’s two founding members Petr Novotný and Tomáš Kout who specialize in playwriting will participate in the project. Their main role will be to write an original script based on the use of authentic materials collected via field research in the identified V4 locations in which the local citizens and refugees from UA co-exist.

PARTNER 3 (Hungary)

The FIREBIRDS new circus group formed in Budapest in 2000. Embodied by a wide range of artists its repertoire consists of street performances, cabaret, contemporary circus and children theatre. The goal will be to reach the spectators in all V4 countries through a non-verbal circus and movement art and to ease the gravity of serious topics by using sensitive humour and story visualization. Their connection with a Ukrainian community will be essential for the main objective of the project: breaking down barriers between the V4 citizens and UA refugees. Partner’s role: creative, performing.

PARTNER 4 (Ukraine)

WE: MEDIA THEATER (2018) is an independent Ukrainian artistic ensemble working in the field of multimedia theatre. It was founded in Lviv and its leader is a young activist, director, screenwriter and playwright Sashko Brama, self-named Oleksandr Palianychka, who experiments in the border between post-documentary theatre and documentary film. Brama’s productions have been presented at festivals in Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Slovakia. Currently, the events of the all-out Russian war in Ukraine are the main theme. Partner’s role: artistic video reportage of the research.

Pictures and videos: https://and-theatre.art/icebreaking-eng/gallery/

CALENDAR

Human Caravana:

Press:

ICEBREAKING (V4+UA)
report from the research, workshop and premiere of the Human Caravana pilot

"I believe in the power of art as a form of being together."

Jerzy Zoń, director Teatr KTO, Krakow

The idea of preparing a theatre of social inclusion, which would help to integrate the Ukrainian
expatriates into society and to help the local population to understand the situation in which
we all found ourselves, occured at a time when the wave of solidarity and help to our invaded
neighbours was at its peak, yet the first misunderstandings and animosities were already
appearing. We had no idea that their development would be so dynamic, nor did we foresee
how uneasy it would be to map the state of the diverse relations between the locals and the
refugees in the neighbouring countries, to capture and understand the key moments of human
fates and in the process of creation to transform them into an attractive artistic and theatrical
form that is understandable to the general public by using dramatic tools.
That is why the "ICEBREAKING" project has had and will continue to have a number of different
and challenging phases. The whole project consists of 3 stages: RESEARCH, HUMAN CARAVANA,
CIRCUS CARAVANA. The starting point was to approach four friendly theatres from the V4
countries and agree on the topicality of the theme and the need to help overcome the barriers
between us, the closest neighbours. So that it is not revived prejudices, mental barriers and
spreading hatred that prevail, but mutual understanding, humanity and dignity. We, The
Ensemble of Irregular Theatre (AND) from Banská Štiavnica, approached and formed a creative
consortium with Teatr KTO from Krakow, Krvik Totr from Prague and Firebirds company from
Budapest to jointly create an international street production aimed at bringing local citizens in
the V4 countries and the exiles from Ukraine together. We also invited the Ukrainian
multimedia theatre WE: MEDIA THEATER from Lviv to join the partnership. Each of the partners
of this European cooperation has a specific role in the project. The Slovak coordinator is
responsible for the overall management of the project and its directing component, the Czech
partner is tasked with writing the libretto and later the script of the production, the Polish and
Hungarian theatres are mainly represented by their actors as performers of the production, and
the Ukrainian team enriches the project with film and documentary production.

RESEARCH
The initial stage in V4 countries was first undertaken by a smaller team: the main protagonists
of the Krvik Totr theatre and the scriptwriters of the project from Prague − Petr Novotný and
Tomáš Kout, together with members of our AND theatre, director Jana Mikitková and PR
manager Ema Rajčanová, prepared various socially inclusive activities with local citizens of the
V4 countries and the Ukrainian community in Prague, Budapest, Banská Štiavnica and Krakow.
The four-day stays of the international team of theatre artists in each of these cities took place
in August 2023 and were focused on RESEARCH and collecting authentic field stories of
expatriates as an inspiration for the script of a future street production. From the meetings we
attended, exploratory visits to temporary Ukrainian homes, from conducting creative
workshops with local citizens and domesticated refugees, as well as from numerous individual
interviews with selected respondents, we recorded a number of extraordinary stories and
emotional testimonies that shed light on the lived experiences of diametrically different fates of
similar generations in two neighbouring countries.
We understood that the power of the topic is enormous. We humbly respected that the
personal experience of Ukrainian expatriates is largely non-transferable and incomprehensible
to us, and at the same time we slowly found ways that brought us closer together, such as
sharing recipes for national specialties, live music, singing favorite songs, or juggling techniques,
or laughing at minor language misunderstandings.

The research trips culminated in each town with a nice NEIGHBORHOOD PICNIC and an
informal yet purposeful program, structure, and light refreshments. After the initial
introductions and participants' handwritten first names on a common wrapping paper (it was
remarkable to see who used Ukrainian or Russian signatures or pronunciations of names), there
followed a fun exploration of the different meanings of sound-meaning words in our Central
European languages (blueberry in Slovak, etc.), searching for similar words with different
meanings (e.g. our amazing is terrible in Ukrainian), and realizing the loss of the original
language identity and the acquisition of a new one among the departees (rejection of Russian,
preference for Ukrainian, inevitable learning of the local language). The picnic continued with
the idea of home, where the exiles live, but with their eyes closed (they often emotionally
compared their current small, shared rooms with their big houses and orchards in Ukraine).
Almost all of them lived in memories, in the past. Then it was their turn to hand out each
other's pre-prepared gift packages and guess what might be in them. After unwrapping them,
individual consideration of whether the recipient needed the gift or would pass it on to
someone else. The gift-giving game was followed by walking interaction in pairs with a string of
parcels, guiding each other with eyes closed around the picnic's exterior as a test of mutual
trust. Then, all the gift recipients used pieces of gift wrapping paper to piece together the
regions and cities of Ukraine and the V4 countries (the very name of the country "Ukraine"
contains the Slovak word "ukrajovať" which can be freely translated as to remove, to take away
or to cut). Older participants also willingly added their home region to this "map-making" of the
new European continent. Each picnic (except Budapest) was multilingually moderated and
enriched by an experienced stage designer and performer Tomáš Žižka from Prague, who
presented an unusual musical performance at the end of the picnic with his captivating story
about the European roots of his ancestors. He miraculously made various rhythmic sounds from
a large dry tree root with the help of a sensor and various tools (sticks, brushes, toys...), which
not only captivated the children, but also literally enchanted the older women who had not yet
encountered similar contemporary art. Neighbourhood picnics took place in the exteriors of the
Thomayer Gardens (Prague), in the park of the Konnektor Community Incubator (Budapest), in
the garden of the Scout House (Banská Štiavnica) and on the outdoor stage of Teatr KTO
(Kraków). The number of participants was variable over time, ranging from 20 to 40 over the
course of three to four hours. Some people came and went according to their abilities. The
majority were mostly Ukrainians, with the managers of the local partner theatres helping with
the organisation of the event.

During the 13-day research tour, the members of the eight-member international team also
met together every evening to not only pass on background information and personal
experiences gained in individual conversations and situations during the day, to select
interesting and inspiring moments for the production that could enrich the scriptwriters,
dramaturg and director in the process of creating the future production, but also to "melt the
ice" between the research participants and each other. In addition to a number of photographs,
a rich database of all the activities that were recorded on audio and video by Liudmyla Batalova
and Olha Klymuk from the partner Ukrainian theatre during the research trips was also created.
They were later artistically processed by director Sashko Brama (UA) into the documentary
ICEBREAKING as a reportage story of one of them. The premiere and a discussion with the
filmmakers took place at the end of the 8th edition of the AMPLIFIER Festival − New Cabaret &
Street Art 2023 in Banská Štiavnica.

WORKSHOP
Immediately following the research trips came the creation of the libretto for the future
production. The author duo Petr Novotný and Tomáš Kout (CZ) wrote the first version of the
script within ten days, which was then edited according to the comments of the dramaturgs

and especially the director Jana Mikitková (SK) into the first version of the libretto. This,
together with the previously prepared site-specific scenographic vision by Tomáš Žižka (SK/CZ),
was the basis for the intensive creative work of the lecturers of the international WORKSHOP in
the four most important production components of HUMAN CARAVANA. While Martin
Geišberg (SK) practiced playing atypical musical instruments and singing with the seven actors
and composed and recorded original music for the pilot production at night, costume designer
Anna Weszelovszky (HU) was intensively creating costumes on site from pre-purchased and
collected materials (sleeping bags) and adapted them to the actors' bodies. Set designer Tomáš
Žižka together with his technical assistant Henrich Žuch prepared visual installations and props
for the street set: spotlights with smoke effect in the entrance gate of the Old Castle, fortune-
telling place and cards, white shirts hanging in the treetops, a huge nest made of branches in
the forest, boundary markings on the fence, a rope of parasols. They also modified a cart to
haul the "new temporary home for exatriates". However, the international team of performers
from Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia was most physically exhausted by the
creation of meaning-making movement drama-tic situations by choreographer Ladislav Cmorej
(SK), who was a hearty reinforcement of the non-verbal and visual-movement concept of the
work-in-progress staging by director Jana Mikitková (SK). Despite the fact that a three-day
workshop cannot replace the classical six-week rehearsal process in a theatre, all the above-
mentioned creators as well as the performers from the partner theatres and artistic groups
Slawek Bendykowski, Paulina Lasyk, Mieszko Syc (PL), Gergely Kiss, Bálint Turai (HU), Tereza
Kmotorková (SK) and Anton Eliáš (SK/CZ) worked intensively together from early morning until
late at night, with respect for the expert lecturers and the intentions of the project. With their
natural willingness, immediate humanity and especially professional approach they broke the
ice and together formed a friendly 15-member artistic team ready to present the 45-minute
work output from the creative workshop as a possible part of the future great work, which will
bring a real artistic and emotional experience to the audience at the premiere and two reruns
in Banská Štiavnica and its surroundings.

PREMIERE OF THE PILOT
The premiere of the pilot street production HUMAN CARAVAN took place just one hour after
the opening of the 8th International Festival of New cabaret & street art AMPLIFIER 2023 on

Friday, September 22 nd from 17:00 to 17:45. Approximately 80 to 90 spectators were guidedd
from Holy Trinity Square to the gates of the Old Castle by the 22-member Dutch brass band
Orkest de Tegenwind, which created a great atmosphere and the necessary anticipation of the
audience.
The production was a simple story of a family with a dog who had to leave their home under
dramatic circumstances. At first she tried in vain to return to it through a high wall in the style
of an acrobatic grotesque, but soon realised that she had to embark on a long journey to find a
new place to live. Already at this stage, the performers involved the audience in the action by
letting them carry their ladder and luggage. Along the way, the family met a gypsy fortune teller
who predicted an ambiguous fate for them from the big cards. At a fork in the woods, she and
the spectators found a good-natured wanderer who showed the family members the way.
However, it was full of pitfalls and danger. After wandering the forest trail for some time, they
discovered a temporary residence in nature (the nest), but there they symbolically said
goodbye to the father of the family, who had fallen defending their homeland. After further
wandering with singing and music, the family discovered an old cart, which they managed to
pull to the borders of a new, unknown country, but not without the help of the spectators..
After crossing it, dynamic dance-movement and even acrobatic scenes with clothes and
sleeping bags were enacted in the new, free space, symbolizing not only the help from the
natives, but also the rivalry between the family members and the cynical market society.
Eventually, the wanderers settled into their new home, a cozily furnished traveling carriage, like
itinerant circus performers whose new life was just beginning. Already, however, they felt what
it was like to receive a helping hand. At the end, they personally shook hands with the
spectators who decided to help them during their wanderings with their sweaters, food, or
physical strength.
The production had the character of an errand theatre, the individual performances took place
in a structure similar to the Stations of the Cross at the seven stops. The audience was greeted,
accompanied and guided along the route by a delegate-moderator who promised at the
beginning an excursion to a neighbouring country and an entertaining show. But what followed
was an unexpected refugee tragedy with a long journey and an open ending in a new
homeland. Almost the entire, otherwise essentially non-verbal production was carried by
brooding ambient music from a portable loudspeaker and, at times, lively choral singing by
performers with instruments, which captured and reinforced the atmosphere of exodus, the

search for the promised land and, at the same time, happiness in adversity. The audience, with
interest and patience, followed the entire march around the Old Castle through the forest path
to the garden of the Scout House, where they rewarded the creators and performers with a
long applause. It is therefore a great pity that in the following two days, due to the
unfavourable rainy weather and the illness of one actress, it was not possible to carry out two
more scheduled reruns at the Hájovna Cervena Studna on the outskirts of Banská Štiavnica and
at the Kolping House Rest Area in Štiavnické Bane.
The pilot premiere of HUMAN CARAVANA was a laboratory for potential story, form, and
interpersonal convergence through a street theatre of errands that, based on a refined script,
will be staged in the spring of 2024 by the creators and performers of the four collaborating
theatres under the name CIRCUS CARAVANA. The premiere is scheduled for the end of April in
Krakow, with repeat performances in all V4 countries as well as in Ukraine.
"ICEBREAKING is uncovering the stereotypes in our heads.

Breaking down the pigeonholes into which we sort people − immediately, but forever.

Breaking the prejudices of our times.
Bonding with those we need to survive."

(Jana Mikitková)

Recorded by Ján Fakla, AND n.o.

CONTACT
Project Coordinator:

The Ensemble Of Irregular Theatre NPO
Akademická street 327/2
969 01 Banská Štiavnica
Slovak Republic
mobile phone: +421 905 258284
e-mail: divadlo@and-theatre.art
www.and-theatre.art

 Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.