Creative Europe
Desk UK
for Culture

THEATRE CAFÉ 2014-15 is a pan-European movement addressing the problem that the best new plays for young audiences are often seen
only in the country, and language, in which they were written. 4 European theatre companies will select 16 contemporary play texts and 4 full
productions for young audiences, from a total of 15 countries, to translate and circulate around Europe. At events in 5 cities, the plays will be
presented to young people and theatre professionals.
Play texts will be presented as staged readings in specially-designed ‘theatre cafés’, where audiences sit in café-style seating and actors ‘pop
up’ around them – an informal and intimate way for young people to experience new plays. The concept has been evolved through 9 previous
Theatre Cafés, including 2007‘s Theatre Café Europe, funded by the Culture 2000 Programme.
After the readings, post-show discussions will open up intercultural dialogue around subject matter, form and how plays cross borders.
Industry Symposia will foster new professional relationships. And a European Writers Lab will commission new plays from 4 emerging
European writers, assigning each a mentor from another country.
Ambassador schemes will directly involve local young people and the programme culminates in an International Youth Encounter, in which
young people from 4 countries stage the plays developed through the European Writers Lab. Meanwhile, Theatre Café Digital, a new online
resource, will host a library of plays in multiple languages and connect artists across Europe.
Timetable
February 2014: Theatre Café London
March 2014: Theatre Café Oslo
December 2014: Theatre Café Berlin
December 2014: Theatre Café Frankfurt
May 2015: Theatre Café Amsterdam
August 2015: International Youth Encounter, Berlin
Each event lasts between 2 and 7 days.
The long-term goal of THEATRE CAFÉ 2014-15 is a new movement around cross-cultural collaboration, creating and circulating the very
best new theatre for young audiences.