Extending theatre performances to international audiences could help to make them economically feasible, especially in small countries where there is a limited domestic audience, according to Aadne Sekkelsten, the managing director for the Norwegian Touring Network for Performing Arts.
He was one of the keynote speakers at an event organised by the annual arts festival for children and youths, Żigużajg, aimed at arts practitioners. Festival director Toni Attard organised workshops by three foreign experts about producing theatre for children, hoping to inspire them to look beyond Malta’s horizons.
The network facilitates tours for performing arts in Norway and internationally with over 100 different productions available, targetting various age groups.
The productions typically involved few actors – three to five is optimum – and combine acting with dance, puppetry or mime to overcome the language barrier – although Malta has a clear advantage because its English-language productions are so much easier to “export”.
However, the situation in Norway is different in that the Government actually sets aside €25 million every year from the lottery fund to subsidise the cost of performances for schoolchildren.
“It is mandatory for schools to ensure that each child aged six upwards attends at least one performance a year, so that has created a demand for productions. This has turned children’s theatre into an industry – and schools actually need to seek productions outside Norway in order to meet the demand,” Mr Sekkelsten said.
The network does not act as an agent for the productions, but merely as a facilitator, leaving it up to the hosts to contact the performers.
“We scour the festivals to find ones which may be interested in our productions,” he said. “The network is important as it makes them visible, and generates interest as the hosts have otherwise a very difficult job to sift through all the productions available.”
Żigużajg will this year be held from November 18 to 24, with 22 performances, over half of which will be foreign.