Enhancing quality in Drama and Theatre training and Artistic based Research in Norway and Russia: Tradition and new trends in Drama and Theatre 2013 - 2016 was a cooperation project between the Acting department at St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts and the Drama and Theatre department at the University of Tromsø, the Arctic University of Norway.
During the two first years Russian and Norwegian students participated in four joint workshops, two held in Russia and two held in Norway. In all four workshops we approached Peer Gynt by Ibsen through different methods, from traditional acting techniques in Russia and on contemporary trends in the theatre in Norway, with a special focus on interactivity in all workshops.
The outcome was the development of a joint study course in Interactive Theatre and a joint interactive theatre performance. Students and staff from Norway visited Russia for two weeks where they cocreated Peer Gynt, showed in The Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.
In addition to the academic goals the project was important to establish working relationships between two different institutions and traditions, and to increase the understanding of the cultural traditions and political conditions that set the contexts for and influence theatre training in the two countries involved. The project was documented in several videos: Site specific theatre: http://kristinajunttila.com/teaching-posts/russiaproject/ Interactive Theatre and Tecnhology: https://youtu.be/VcgXIzMhsSc Interactive performance: https://youtu.be/q9lq5aN-6Ow
