Interplay Europe

Interplay Europe is a festival for young playwrights in Europe. It is organized by Interplay; an international, not-for-profit arts organisation for the furtherance of young playwrights aged 18 to 26. It was founded in Sydney in 1985. Every two years Interplay organises the largest and most prestigious festival of its kind, World Interplay, in Australia.

Every other year a European country hosts Interplay Europe. The first Interplay Europe was held in 1995 in Mainz organized by the playwrights Antje Rávic Strubel and Tobias Rausch and Interplay Europe e.V became official in 1998, which was also in Berlin.

Participants from all over Europe discuss their plays for two inspiring, practical and creative weeks in classes, workshops, forums and events with experienced international tutors. Through workshops and small-scale productions, they have the opportunity to improve their work. Interplay also supports international youth exchange and seeks to contribute to better understanding between nations.

Interplay Festivals are held in order to:

  • celebrate the creative richness of young playwrights
  • provide an international meeting place where their work can be discussed, workshopped and performed
  • provide an international forum for the ideas of young playwrights
  • offer the general public access to the works of young writers
  • contribute to regional, national and international cultural development.

Alumni

Many highly respected and international award-winning European playwrights started their career with Interplay. For example: Ivana Sajko and Tena Stivicic from Croatia, Katharina Schlender and Kristo Šagor from Germany, Ali Taylor and Sarah Kane from the United Kingdom, Enver Husicic and Esther Gerritsen from the Netherlands, Vera Filo and Anna Haraszti from Hungary, Darja Stocker and Simon Froehling from Switzerland and Ignacio Pajón Leyra and Antonio Rojano from Spain.

Interplay festival 2006

Interplay festival 2008

Interplay festival 2012

Host towns

border="1" cellpadding="2"

!Year

!Town

!Country

!Artistic Director

1995

| Mainz

| Germany

| Antje Rávic Strubel, Tobias Rausch

1998

| Berlin

| Germany

| Henning Fangauf

2000

| Warsaw

| Poland

| /

2002

| Pecs

| Hungary

| / Judit Cziráki

2004

| Athens

| Greece

| Nikos Kamtsis

2006

| Schaan

| Liechtenstein

| Henning Fangauf

2008

| Utrecht

| Netherlands

| Hubert Roza

2010

| İzmir

| Turkey

| Hasan Erkek

2012

| Madrid

| Spain

| Ignacio Pajón Leyra, José Cruz

2014

| Bregenz

| Austria

| Henning Fangauf

2016

| Ljungskile

| Sweden

| Niklas Malmcrona

2018

| Liepāja

| Latvia

| Lauris Gundars