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The essay examines the importance of displacement in multilingual theatre training and its broader implications for European cultural contexts.

March 16, 2026Open Access

Displacing Practitioner: on Professional Training for Multilingual Theatre in Europe

Key Points

The essay examines the importance of displacement in multilingual theatre training and its broader implications for European cultural contexts.
Analyzed multilingual theatre training techniques and their implementation in contemporary theatre.
Investigated the role of various audience types and cultural backgrounds in theatre training.
Utilized a case study of Jeune Théâtre Européen Jeunes Publics to illustrate the training models.
Multilingual theatre training enhances understanding of diverse audiences and cultural contexts.
Displacement is identified as a key factor in developing artistic quality and adaptability in theatre practices.

Abstract

This essay explores methods for multilingual theatre training in contemporary theatre and its implications for European theatre systems. It argues for a displacement – from one’s language, system, and culturally-framed “artistic quality” – as a core element of such training. The essay shows that multilingual theatre training goes beyond role-spe-cific techniques (voice, acting, directing etc.) and also includes skills and understand-ings related to different audiences, theatre systems, and socio-political aspects of thea-tre. The case study is the Jeune Théâtre Européen Jeunes Publics (JTEJP). This Creative Europe project involved early-career theatre artists working across multiple languages and cultural backgrounds to create new models for multilingual theatre for young and new audiences.

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