Polish Carnival 2016

• 120,000 spectators
• theatres from 12 countries
• 240 invited guests
• 88 theatre performances and accompanying events/li>
• seven festival locations in Krakow (Main Market Square, Small Market Square, Szczepański Square, Podgórze Market Square, the Zależny Theatre, Archeological Museum, Koko Restaurant)

The leitmotif / idea:

The 29th edition of the ULICA Festival presented a broad spectrum of Polish street theatre. The panorama of over thirty performances of 28 Polish theatres helped answer the questions posed by Jerzy Zoń, director and founder of ULICA, in the introduction to the festival programme. What are the roots of this theatre – the commedia dell’arte, the circus or perhaps the Schumann marionettes? Does it draw on the heritage of the Sowizdrzal theatre? Maybe it has its origins in the Polish tradition of Romantic theatre, abundant in poetry and bountiful metaphor, yet involved in political and social issues?

The context in which we could observe the most significant review of Polish street theatre in years was twelve performances by artists from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Israel and the United Kingdom.