TicketsInternational Festival of Contemporary Circus and Theatre
Since its very beginning, the festival has presented the crème de la crème of international contemporary circus. It also systematically supports the local circus scene and has helped numerous artists enter the world of circus tents.
Letní Letná 2023
Festival in its 20th edition
The 20th anniversary edition of the Letní Letná festival was held in a birthday spirit and attracted a record 80,000 visitors. During the festival, the audience saw a total of 208 performances, including 51 foreign companies, 82 children's performances, 68 performances within the Czech contemporary circus scene, 5 open airs and 2 opening ceremonies. This year artists from 14 countries visited Letná, including Sweden, Canada, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Panama, Japan, Finland, Italy, Brazil, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Chile and Switzerland. This year, the audience enjoyed the Summer Letná programme from 16 August to 3 September. On the first two days of the festival, spectators saw an unprecedented free show, A Tribute to Contemporary Circus / Aquanauts, which was tailored by a Czech-Swedish team to the newly built reservoir in Letná Parks. More than 25,000 spectators attended both shows.
International Program
The biggest stars of this year's festival were four foreign troupes, the Welsh NoFit State Circus with their show Sabotage, who completely captivated the Letná audience with their energy and artistry and were sold out throughout the festival. Another sold-out troupe was the Canadian bearded Cirque Alfonse, who were already a favourite of the Prague audience at previous editions of the festival, and this year they did not disappoint and presented an incredibly entertaining show Animal with a live band. The third group was Cirque Aïtal from France, and it was not their first time at Letná Letná either. They performed their poetic show A ciel ouvert (Under the open sky) in the courtyard among caravans and trailers, which entertained the audience with ironic humour and charmed them with unusual artistic tricks. The fourth troupe Collectif Malunés & Movedbymatter brought to Prague the incredible spectacle BITBYBIT. Two brothers suspended and connected on ropes, which they gripped only with their teeth, showed that this old circus discipline definitely has something to say in the world of contemporary circus. The spectators watched their show with bated breath, and when the Bruyninckx brothers rested, the audience also breathed a sigh of relief.
Local Program
An integral part of Letná Letná is the Festival of the Czech Contemporary Circus Scene, which every year draws attention to new productions by top Czech companies and performers. At the same time, it also gives space to students of Czech circus schools to showcase their art and talent. Every year, Czech contemporary circus gets a large space at Letná Letná. During this year's edition, two premieres took place in the Czech Tent. The premiere of Losers Cirque Company's Loop took place on the very first night of the festival and was immediately followed by two sold-out reruns. Losers then sold out two other new productions at Letná Letná, namely Unbound (Nespoutaní) and Woman, Rose, Song, Bone (Žena, růže, píseň, kost). The second premiere was the international project Crossing, which was initiated by Czech performer Eliška Brtnická and invited Eleonora Dall'Asta from Panama, Ilona Jäntti from Finland and Aki Yoshida from Japan. The latter also presented her solo performance Ruten at the festival. The Letní Letná Festival is primarily a family festival. New this year was a separate Cirko Hopley tent, where a Teacrobat performance for the whole family took place almost every day and even twice, and even that was sold out every day. This year, there was also no shortage of performances for children and various accompanying free events throughout the venue, which were enjoyed by children and adults alike.
The festival in Letná Parks attracts not only with its unique atmosphere, but also with its rich gastronomic zone and a varied evening programme. As in the previous year, an infectious good mood prevailed throughout the whole area.
When we were starting out, I frankly believed that contemporary circus was beautiful, free-minded, romantic, creative and exciting. I believed that it had a future and that it made sense to let the public know. And I am confident this still applies!
The Letní Letná festival has celebrated its 15th birthday. Since its creation it has taught Czechs to love circus artists.
Prague's Letní Letná festival brings international and Czech acts which inspire the audience to create their own definitions of contemporary circus. And every year, these definitions are challenged.
Contemporary circus is a widely accessible genre, which makes it an easy starting point. Yet, disregarding the criterion of quality may be equally harmful in this field as in any other. Looking back at the thirteen editions of Letní Letná, there is no single item that wouldn’t reach the quality bar. A unique phenomenon, indeed.
Since 2015 Letní Letná has held the EFFE label – Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe. The label was created by European Festivals Association. In total 23 Czech festivals received it for period 2019 - 2021.
