Song of the Goat Theatre Association
The association was officially registered on 23 April 2002. Our mission is to maintain
and develop a wide range of cultural activities in the fields of theatre and music; we also
intend to offer artistic education, promote and support other artists and communities,
whose native traditions are threatened by extinction.
Established in 1996 by Grzegorz Bral and Anna Zubrzycki, Song of the Goat Theatre
has developed an international reputation as one of Europe’s most innovative training-based
theatre companies, committed to researching what makes theatre distinctive to other artforms. From its base in Wroclaw, Poland, the Company constantly develops its approaches
and performances with the aim of unlocking theatre’s power to offer audiences a profound
experience that can reaffirm their own sensitivity and humanity. Song of the Goat Theatre’s
ever-evolving training, rehearsal and performance process are treated as laboratories,
enabling the Company to research the craft of the actor and director and to evolve new
techniques, performance languages and work. A distinctive element of the Company’s
practice is a search for connection, meeting and openness as the seeds of authentic
experience. This commitment to connection informs the development of each new training
approach, which always seeks to integrate movement, voice, song and text, creating
performance that has an inherent musicality and connects with the audience on a sensory
level.
Through this training-based theatre, the Company continues to enrich not only its
own practice and performance, but also to invest in the artistic development of the actors
and practitioners it collaborates with. Song of the Goat Theatre has developed a major
profile for the quality and distinctiveness of its pedagogical work, which is an integrated part
of the Company’s approach – a way to enrich as well as to disseminate its own practice.
The most successful performance entitled Songs of Lear had its international
premiere during Fringe Festival in Edinburgh in August 2012, where it received three
prestigious awards: Scotsman Fringe First, Herald Archangel and Musical Theatre Matters
Special Award. Songs of Lear was also enlisted on the very top of The List, winning the first
place in the ranking of all theatre performances during the festival.
Song of the Goat Theatre Association annually organises Brave Festival, which is a
truly unique artistic event not only for Poland but all of Europe. Organized since 2005, it is
one of the biggest festivals in the Lower Silesia region. Brave Festival is an artistic forum for
brave people: those who speak about where are they come from, who voice their values,
their traditions and spirituality. Its participants include both professional artists as well as
authentic representatives of distant and little know cultures who have the courage to
cultivate their own cultural and spiritual heritage. The Festival’s reputation and high artistic
quality has been acknowledged by the honorary patronages granted to it, among others, by
UNESCO and the Polish Ministry of National Heritage and Culture. The festival’s entire boxoffice proceeds support the activities of ROKPA International, a charity which, for the past 30
years, has developed and supported educational, healthcare and cultural projects for the
needy, and children in particular, in Africa and Asia.