National Theatre Festival #34 starts Friday in Bucharest

The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival, constructed under the umbrella of 'Dramaturgies of the possible', will take place from October 18 to October 28."The performances that will be presented this year in Bucharest are not a "showcase" of Romanian theatre in the 2023-2024 season, but rather represent options resulting from curatorial criteria. Beyond the choice of performances, we were concerned to propose an extended curatorial concept, focused on 'Dramaturgies of the possible', which would become visibly articulated on other intersecting levels as well, said the three curators of this year's edition of the FNT, Mihaela Michailov, Calin Ciobotari and Ionut Sociu.The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival will open on Friday, at the Studio Hall of the I.L. Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest, with the concert-show Cári Tibor & Folktronica Orchestra.In the official selection of the edition there will be over 30 performances from Bucharest and the country.Among them are "Anthology of Disappearance", directed by Radu Afrim; "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare, directed by Andrei Serban; "Hedda Gabler" by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Thomas Ostermeier; "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, artistic direction and stage adaptation by Declan Donnellan; "The Misunderstanding" by Albert Camus, directed by Bobi Pricop; "THEOREM" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, dramatization and adaptation by Yann Verburgh, directed by Eugen Jebeleanu.This year's edition will feature five guest performances from abroad - Germany, Ireland, Poland (two) and Belgium. These are "Dance me!" produced by She She Pop and co-producers HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Kunstler innenhaus Mousonturm, FFT Dusseldorf, HELLERAU - Europaisches Zentrum der Kunste; "Lippy" produced by Dead Centre; "Meme" co-produced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), De Grote Post (Oostende), Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris), Festival d'Automne in Paris; "Stories of Grandmothers whispered by Mothers to their daughters" - Szczecin Contemporary Theater, Poland; and, under the Romanian-Polish Season, "The Last Days of Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu", produced by Teatr Polski Bydgoszcz.This year, FNT is a partner of the events initiated by the National Center for Dance Bucharest, dedicated to the artist Miriam Raducanu, whose 100th birthday was celebrated on October 17.Under the suggestive title "Miriam Raducanu. 100 years", events will be organized to highlight the creation of the artist-researcher, creator of a deeply personal vocabulary of movement, influenced by German expressionism, local folklore, poetry and contemporary prose, says UNITER.The Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER) and FNT celebrate Silviu Purcarete's 50 years of work for theatre, 50 years of nationally and internationally recognized artistic activity. His most recent stagings, an adaptation A Venomous Tragedy after "Women Beware Women" by Thomas Middleton - a production of the National Theater "Vasile Alecsandri" Iasi and The Bitter lexicon by Sebastian-Vlad Popa and Laur Cavachi, adapted after "Youth without Age and Life without Death", by Petre Ispirescu - a production of the Odeon Theatre, Bucharest will be presented during the festival. Related events will also mark the prodigious activity of the director: an exhibition and the presentation of volumes dedicated to his creation.This year's edition of the National Theater Festival continues the module of performances and workshops dedicated to young people.Each performance in the educational FNT will be presented in collaboration with a kindergarten, school, high school or university in Bucharest and will be followed by a discussion with audiences and a condensed workshop on the following day, organized at the respective kindergarten/school/high school/university.UNITER and FNT support the cultural collaboration and creative exchange of artistic initiatives between Romania and the Republic of Moldova by inviting, in the current edition, the performance "Miss Iulia" by August Strindberg, directed by Luminita Ticu, a production of the National Theater "Mihai Eminescu" in Chisinau.The organizers of FNT #34 are also supporting the construction of a new theatrical space in Bucharest - Grivita 53 - by organizing a special guest performance of "Nora" by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Chris Simion-Mercurian, co-production of the National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale" in Bucharest - Cultural Association "Grivita 53". All the proceeds will be directed to the Grivita 53 space.Under the module Performing Austria & Romania, a dialogue of the performing arts from the two countries will be presented co-productions, performances, interdisciplinary artistic formulas conceived and realized together by Austrian and Romanian artists and their European colleagues - Union Place (text by Elise Wilk, directed by Alexandru Weinberger-Bara, co-production Schauspielhaus Salzburg, National Theatre of Timisoara, Escher Theater in Luxembourg), Holy Hydra @ Timisoara (multimedia performance by the Holy Hydra collective, in collaboration with artists from Romania), Only Violins Remain (exhibition of the Museum of Contemporary History of Austria, with a multimedia intervention by Ioana Mischie).Continuing the successful tradition of events organized in partnership with the Romanian Center OISTAT, FNT 34 creates a new landmark in the cultural landscape: the Bucharest Scenography Biennale. .The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival takes place in Bucharest between October 18 and 28. The event is produced by UNITER - The Romanian Association of Theatre Artists. FNT is a cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture. (Photo:https://fnt.ro/)