World Theatre Day 2024: History, Significance, Message Of The Year By Jon Fosse

World Theatre Day, observed annually on March 27th, is a celebration of the rich cultural heritage and significance of theatre as an art form. This special day serves as an opportunity to recognise the contributions of theatre to society, promote international exchange and cooperation among theatre practitioners, and raise awareness about the importance of live performance in our lives.

History of World Theatre Day

World Theatre Day was first established in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a UNESCO-affiliated organisation dedicated to promoting international exchange and collaboration in the performing arts. The idea behind World Theatre Day was conceived during the 9th World Congress of ITI in Vienna, Austria, where it was proposed by the renowned theatre director and playwright, Dr. Arvi Kivimaa of Finland. Since then, World Theatre Day has been celebrated annually on March 27th, marking the anniversary of the opening of the Theatre of Nations in Paris in 1962.

Significance of World Theatre Day

World Theatre Day holds great significance as a platform for celebrating the art of theatre and its transformative power to inspire, educate, and entertain audiences around the world. Theatre serves as a mirror of society, reflecting its joys, struggles, triumphs, and challenges, and providing a forum for dialogue, reflection, and cultural exchange.

Through storytelling, performance, and creative expression, theatre has the ability to transcend language and cultural barriers, fostering empathy, understanding, and connection among people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

Message for World Theatre Day 2024

Every year, a renowned artist shares his or her message for World Theatre Day. This year, the message for the day is by Jon Fosse, who is a renowned Norwegian writer born in 1959. In his message titled, ‘Art is peace’, he says, “Art, good art, manages in its wonderful way to combine the utterly unique with the universal. It lets us understand what is different—what is foreign, you might say—as being universal. By doing so, art breaks through the boundaries between languages, geographical regions, and countries. It brings together not just everyone’s individual qualities but also, in another sense, the individual characteristics of every group of
people, for example, of every nation.”

He continues his message by saying, “ Art does this not by levelling differences and making everything the same, but, on the contrary, by showing us what is different from us, what is alien or foreign.” He finishes his powerful message talking about the current situation of the world, “ There is terrorism in the world. There is war. War and art are opposites, just as war and peace are opposites—it’s as simple as that. Art is peace.”