Zürcher Theater Spektakel

Part of the budget is reserved for festival-owned productions or co-productions. Precedence is given to projects that reflect a connection to the festival. Outstanding artistic personalities and new off-theatre talents whose unusual works are making ripples in the world of international theatre and performance mark the history of the Zuercher Theater Spektakel. The programmers feature various forms of artistic expression. They have included politically engaged companies such as the Market Theatre and the Handspring Puppet Company from Johannesburg, the subversive hotheads of La Fura dels Baus from Barcelona, the video theatre pioneers of the Wooster Group from New York as well as state of the art directors Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and Christoph Marthaler. The festival has presented Israel’s Akko Theater Zentrum, the Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara, Les Ballets C. de la B. from Belgium, Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio from Italy and the greatly gifted directors Eimuntas Nekrosius, Oskaras Korsunovas and Alvis Hermanis from Eastern Europe. Most recently it has been productions on the cutting edge of various artistic art forms – new music, theatre, opera, video and performance – which have been the highlights of the programme: New forms of music theatre such as presented by Guy Cassiers and Wayn Traub from Belgium, Liza Lim and the Elision Contemporary Music Ensemble from Australia and Ong Ken Seng from Singapore. In addition, the video, performance and fine arts creations of Marina Abramovic, Richard Forman, Michael Laub, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Matthew Barney and the Australian Museum of Modern Oddities have demonstrated the versatility of the contemporary arts scene.