Close Strangers Festival

A Quiet Revolution: About The Festival
Close Strangers Festival 2021

10/10/2021

Closer Strangers: East is a platform that enables ‘intercultural dialogue’. As a representation of the Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Queer communities, this festival in not just a performance nor is it a co...

Shelter
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Grace Creaton-Barber

07/10/2021

Down a side street of ram shackled buildings and rust rimmed cars, there is a door. It is not a welcoming door. In fact, the paint is so chipped that there is more damp and blackened wood on show than visible c...

That Walk
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Grace Creaton-Barber

03/10/2021

Agata Siwiak, the art director of Close Strangers: East, is a firm believer in participatory theatre not as a temporary solution due to the pandemic, but as the future of performance. That Walk is an event put ...

Stand Up (for your rights)
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Grace Creaton-Barber

02/10/2021

The scene is set. We are attending a stand-up performance by Belarusian activist and artist Jana Shostak. We are screaming for Belarus; we are sharing a global scream. Often, when someone sees a beauty pa...

Pandemic.ua
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Grace Creaton-Barber

30/09/2021

Pandemic.ua is a project inspired by the inability to communicate in conventional theatrical ways during the pandemic. This performance has a longer history, and is made up of pieces of a previous project under...

H-Effect
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Grace Creaton-Barber

28/09/2021

On Friday night, the festival saw the main event; the ‘spectacle’. Close Strangers: East is full to the brim with new and innovative approaches to performance so it was nice to uphold some tradition and step fo...

Psychosis – Close Strangers Festival

Emma Burnell

17/09/2019

This is a swirling mix of very dark poetry and even darker humour presented with a powerful Brechtian soundtrack. The performance is non-linear but surprisingly easy to follow (not least for me because quite a ...

Agata Siwiak and Joanna Wichowska in conversation with Emma Burnell
Close Strangers Festival 2019

Emma Burnell

15/09/2019

I meet Agata Siwiak in the glamorous downstairs bar and cabaret space at Teatr Polski in Poznan. It is the second day of the festival for which she is the artistic director, The ‘Close Strangers’ festival – whi...

Restaurant Ukraine – Close Strangers Festival

Emma Burnell

14/09/2019

Restaurant Ukraine is a deliberately disjointed affair. Made up of two performers mixing spoken word, dance, rap and political commentary it is more hit than miss, though it does feel occasionally scattergun in...

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Times – Close Strangers Festival

Emma Burnell

13/09/2019

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Times is a fascinating play deserving of a wider audience and greater understanding. That I am saying that having experienced it delivered in Ukrainian with only a Polish tran...

5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Surfing the Holyland

Paul Richards

03/06/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My Marquee
Barb Jungr and her Trio

Richard McKee

19/05/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Cymbeline

Mel Cooper

11/05/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Innocence

Hafiza Butt

06/05/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Aida

Josi Steinfeld

05/05/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Il Barbiere di Seviglia

Josi Steinfeld

04/05/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Sweeney Todd

Tim Hochstrasser

27/04/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

F**king Men

Tim Hochstrasser

27/04/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Animal

Tim Hochstrasser

24/04/2023
5.0★ ★ ★ ★ ★

L’Orfeo
Opéra-marionnettes

Josi Steinfeld

22/04/2023

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha
in conversation with Rivka Jacobson

Rivka Jacobson

16/04/2023

The leap from Limpopo to the Royal Opera House took even Masabane Cecilia by surprise.  On 17 June 2021 the BBC anno...
Ruby Thomas
in conversation with Rivka Jacobson

Rivka Jacobson

21/02/2023

Ruby Thomas in conversation with Rivka Jacobson ‘I'm really interested in love, relationships, human connection, emp...

Professor Jerzy Limonan

Paul Richards

02/03/2023

He was an extraordinary visionary, brilliant scholar, and absolutely charming diplomat. The world is a great deal poorer...
Under the Radar
The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival

Austin Fimmano

17/01/2020

The Public Theater has long since established its reputation as a haven for up-and-coming artists and theatrical product...

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

Surfing the Holyland

Unexpected Twist

Aspects of Love

A Critic's Advice on Reviewing

Professor Jerzy Limonan

Under the Radar
The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival

She NYC Arts Festival

A Quiet Revolution: About The Festival
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Shelter
Close Strangers Festival 2021

That Walk
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Stand Up (for your rights)
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Pandemic.ua
Close Strangers Festival 2021

H-Effect
Close Strangers Festival 2021

Psychosis – Close Strangers Festival

Agata Siwiak and Joanna Wichowska in conversation with Emma Burnell
Close Strangers Festival 2019

Restaurant Ukraine – Close Strangers Festival

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Times – Close Strangers Festival