Thus far, the International Festival of Theatre Schools of the BRICS Countries has been held for four times. This year’s festival continued with the theme "Let's Play Together" of previous years, and had representative teams from universities of Russia, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Armenia and Belarus. 2020 is a year full of challenges and opportunities. Although the theatrical productions of various countries could not travel from afar to the hosting country for a real-time and live cultural exchange due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the technical barriers did not reduced the passion and love for theatre held by the teachers and students of the Directing Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy. The new mode featuring the combination of offline video recording and online performance showcase, the performances of this year’s festival have brought a brand-new and unique drama-watching experience to the audiences.
As the participating works of this year’s International Festival of Theatre Schools of the BRICCS Countries, the teachers and students of MFA 2020 of the Directing Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy started working on their first original adaptation work “Mother Courage and Her Children” from October 2020, and completed the performance recording before the opening of the festival. All actors of the participating countries will take part in a joint real-time performance to be held online at 9 pm on 22 November (Beijing time). The closing ceremony and associated activities will be held on 23 November. After summing up the experience and achievement of this year’s festival, the creative concept for the next festival will be finalized.
Academic exchange has always been an important part of the International Festival of Theatre Schools of the BRICS Countries. Professor Wu Zetao of Shanghai Theatre Academy, as the leader of performance physiology and psychology studies, conducted an online master class on the evening of 14 November. He shared the cutting-edge research of Chinese theatre with professors of theatre studies, actors and teachers from various countries, and received favorable comments and actively participation from experts from various countries.
