International Festivals, the Practice of Co-production, and the Challenges for Documentation in a Digital Age

International theatre festivals are now a dominant phenomenon and have significantly influenced global theatre production since the 1980s . While the Edinburgh International Festival and the International Festival in Avignon were established to enforce intercultural, predominately European, exchanges after World War II, other festivals focusing on specific themes or authors (such as Shakespeare) can be found all over Europe. Given the diversity of the phenomenon of the “international theatre festival,” it might be fruitful to analyse the sustained practice of coproduction between international artists, festivals, and production venues that has emerged rapidly over the last three decades (Malzacher 10-11). While the Manchester International Festival, for example, commissions new work by national (Louise Mari, Nigel Barrett) and international artists (Thomas Ostermeier), other festivals, such as Zürcher Theater Spektakel with its emerging artists platform, Short Pieces, routinely provide platforms for international artists and support them financially, administratively and dramaturgically. The initial post-WWII function of festivals to represent various national, mostly European cultures, has gradually shifted towards festivals as co-producers. Within this context festivals appear as influential players in professional networks for establishing and circulating new aesthetic approaches in contemporary international theatre practice.
This chapter argues that trying to understand international theatre production embedded within a dynamic global professional network, poses significant methodological problems for historical research on theatre festivals. Not only does the archiving of festivals as single, locally based institutions in conventional theatre archives obfuscate the practice of coproduction, it also neglects the circulation and mobility of internationally co-produced work within a global context. In other words: documenting festivals as single institutions within national contexts mirrors the organizational structure of festivals and their reception in (mostly) print media but disregards the emerging practice of internationally produced work and the mobile global-operating artists whose context cannot be reduced to one specific nation. It is crucial to rethink not only the understanding of international theatre festivals, but also the methodology for reflecting on conventions and conditions in global theatre production and its documentation in a digital age. A new historiography is needed that links international theatre festivals to crucial practices of co-production that are both facilitated and made visible by digital communication (including the availability of source materials online).