The Theatre of Nations’ performance Three days in hell by Dmitriy Volkostrelov took part in “New plays from Europe” Festival in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. This performance was shown twice on 25 June on the stage of Frankfurt LAB, where the most socially important projects are staged. During the performance Three days in hell, the audience stay in military tents, thus becoming part of the harsh reality of the Minsk suburbs. After the second staging, the after-performance discussion with the director and the actors was held. The performance Three days in hell depicts 2 countries – Russia and Belorussia – the latter being the motherland of the playwright Pavel Pryazhko, who was a guest at the Festival.

 “NEW PLAYS FROM EUROPE” is the largest Festival of contemporary drama. It is dedicated to stage plays in their original language. Every two years the Festival becomes a meeting place of different theatre aesthetics, international creative interaction, where new plays, authors and directors are discovered in the context of European integration. Many contemporary playwrights have become famous after the Festival - Biljana Srbljanović, Vassily Sigarev, Dejan Dukovsky, John Foss, Enda Walsh, Yevgeni Grishkovetz, Werner Schwab, Yasmina Reza and many others. This year the Festival will gather participants from 41 countries, cooperate with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm – independent theatre in Frankfurt, and hold a forum for young playwrights, translators and critics.

The 12^th Festival took place on 19 -29 June 2014. The participants and art directors of the Festival - Manfred Beilharz, Tankred Dorst, Ursula Ehler – focused on the idea of the “Rebellious theatre”. The performances were dedicated to recent civil conflicts around the globe – Turkey, Hungary, Spain, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal, Italy, Sweden and Norway. The conflicts between the public and the government, which resulted in mass demonstrations and protests were the theme of the performances in “NEW PLAYS FROM EUROPE” Festival 2012.

The Festival was founded more than 20 years ago. The first 10 years it was held in Bonn, after that – in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hessen. In 1990s thanks to Manfred Beilharz and Tankred Dorst Bonn became the meeting place of those, who lived on different sides of the Iron curtain. Every year the directors strive to expand the geographical scope and make sure all plays are shown in their original language. The Festival’s partners are Institut Français, Goethe Institut and many other international cultural organisations.

“The participants of the Festival keep asking each other and themselves “Why do you write?” “What is a play today?” Needless to say there are as many answers to these questions as there are participants”, - says Roman Dolzhansky, Kommersant newspaper №111 of 21.06.2012.

This dynamic Festival is developing very rapidly. Its 10^th anniversary was celebrated on 7 stages and gathered 7000 people. 86 playwrights presented their works, delivered lectures and took part in discussions on contemporary drama during the anniversary biennale. During the final press-conference the founder of the Festival Manfred Belharz shared his views on the future of European drama: “The less the policy of trust is abided by in Europe, the more important the reflections of contemporary authors on European society are”.