News

The performances "Hedda Gabler", directed by Thomas Ostermeier and "A few people away from you", directed by Radu Afrim, are part of the official selection of the 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival, which will take place from October 18 to 27, 2024 The curatorial team of the National Theatre Festival - Mihaela Michailov, Calin Ciobotari and Ionut Sociu, who have watched over 250 performances from Romania, Republic of Moldova, Austria, Belgium, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland - presents the argument, structure and components of the current edition. The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival - under the theme of Playwrights of the Possible - continues the shift of emphasis from the idea of selection to the idea of curatorship, already practiced in previous years. Thus, the performances that will be presented this year in Bucharest do not form a "showcase" of Romanian theater in the 2023 - 2024 season, but rather represent options resulting from several curatorial criteria. For more information and a list of selected performances, please visit www.fnt.ro   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival will take place from October 18 to October 28, 2024 in Bucharest, with performances and events being hosted by most of the theaters in Bucharest, as well as other well-known cultural spaces. An edition under the sign of the Dramatisteries of the possible, which analyzes, researches and highlights the dynamics and trends of the Romanian theatrical phenomenon. The performances were chosen from the perspective of the variety of dramaturgical formulas, the three curators, Mihaela Michailov, Calin Ciobotari and Ionut Sociu emphasizing approaches in which the dramatic structures and content arouse the interest of the audience. The attachment to one theme or another, the appetite for a certain type of aesthetics, the sensitivity for a certain creator, the availability for a certain type of dramaturgy, the chance to meet less developed performance typologies were at the center of the three curators' choices. Tickets will go on sale on the host theaters' online platforms in early October. We will be back soon with the program of all the events of the 34th edition of the FNT (performative and visual installations, reading performances on new texts from contemporary dramaturgy, independent theatre performances, modules dedicated to established artists, educational performances, debates, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, book releases, radio theatre performances, as well as the program of workshops, conferences and exhibitions organized within the Bucharest Scenography Biennale, a partner event of the FNT 34th edition). Information is being updated on www.fnt.ro.    The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival takes place in Bucharest between October 18 and 28, curated by Mihaela Michailov, Calin Ciobotari and Ionut Sociu. Cultural project produced by UNITER - The Romanian Theatre Union. FNT is a cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture. Co-producers: Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB - Cultural Center of Bucharest, Bucharest Directorate of Culture. Partners: Romanian Cultural Institute, National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale" in Bucharest, ITI - Romanian Center of the International Theatre Institute. We invite you to access the program and we look forward to seeing you at the Festival! Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

"The Eichmann Trial is a play about an event that took place in Israel in 1961. But the purpose of the play is not to reconstruct the event as a history lesson. It has quite different aims: a moral, an educational and a social one that go much further. The first and most obvious is to unravel the inner mechanism of Eichmann, a human being - perhaps monstrous, but human after all - that made him commit genocide against the Jewish people of Europe. Unfortunately, this still remains a very important goal today, when even after the Second World War there have been too many cases of genocide on this planet. (...) This play is a moral statement more necessary today than ever for the whole world." - this is how the playwright Motti Lerner defines the message of his play whose world premiere will take place at the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre (Atelier Hall), in the presence of the author, on October 4 and 5, 2024. Born in Israel in 1949, Motti Lerner studied mathematics and physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, followed by theater studies in London and San Francisco, and is now one of Israel's best-known playwrights and screenwriters, including international acclaim with plays performed in the United States, England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, South Africa, India, Australia, Italy, Austria, South Africa and Switzerland. From 1993-2008 he taught a course on Political Drama at Tel Aviv University, was a resident at the Center for Postgraduate Jewish Studies at Oxford, visiting professor at the theater department of Duke University in North Carolina, etc. Honored in 1994 with the Prime Minister of Israel's "Writers' Prize" and in 2014 with the Landau Prize for the Performing Arts. Motti Lerner's writings deal with deeply controversial political themes, focusing on the Jewish community and the Israeli identity, including the Holocaust, Zionism, terrorism, and some biographies, in the form of documentary theater texts, which have even been the target of censorship, despite the numerous literary awards he has received. The story of Adolf Eichmann, the Obersturmbannführer-SSS who organized and led the abominable "Final Solution" that led to the extermination of six million Jews between 1940-1945 is a well-known one. Condemned as a major war criminal by the Nuremberg Tribunal, he was sentenced to death in absentia. Captured by Mossad in Argentina, he was retried by a Jerusalem court. The public prosecution was led by Israel's first prosecutor, Gideon Hausner. Found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, Eichmann was sentenced to death and executed by hanging at Ramla prison on May 31, 1962. His ashes were scattered in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea to avoid possible future pilgrimages. Based on the re-enactment of the Jerusalem trial, Motti Lerner's play, and thus the performance directed by actor Mihai Calin, aims to have a profound impact on the conscience of the audience: "One of the most agonizing questions I have had over the years in connection with the Holocaust has been: «How can this have happened?!». Many people now believe that it was a long time ago and that it has nothing to do with the present (like communism, for that matter...)" – says Mihai Calin, trying to convey a question we should all ask ourselves. Unfortunately, history repeats itself and, each time, it is the leaders who are condemned ( mostly in declarations), the embodiments of Absolute Evil: Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Milošević, ...Ceaușescu... But there is something deeper and more frightening than the EVIL personified by these monsters: the «banality of evil» of which Hannah Arendt speaks and the gears of the system's little cogs, «normal» citizens, «God-fearing» men and women, loving parents, more or less petty officials, who keep the wheels of Terror, Cruelty and Extermination turning perfectly." A necessary lesson in history, but also a wake-up call to prevent an unfortunate repetition of it, the play The Eichmann Trial, staged with intense emotional participation by an excellent team of actors, is addressed to both adult and teenage spectators, high school students and their teachers. It is not by chance that the National Theatre's performance of The Eichmann Trial was carried out within the tnb.edu Program - a program developed out of the conviction that Theatre, by excellence an art of encounter, can complement and cover an important side in the educational process, the emotional-cognitive and direct experience. "I am very grateful to the National Theater in Bucharest for producing the world premiere of this play" - says writer Motti Lerner, who will come to Bucharest especially to attend the first performance of The Eichmann Trial. *We would like to point out that the initiator and supporter of the project in Romania is Mrs. Tova BEN-NUN CHERBIS, president and founder of the "Magna Cum Laude-Reut" Foundation”. Cast: Richard Bovnoczki, Diana Dumbrava, Razvan Popa, Mihai Calin, Axel Moustache, Vitalie Bichir, loan Andrei Ionescu, Cosmina Olariu, Florin Calbajos, Emilian Oprea, Iuliana Moise, Irina Movila, Ana Ciontea, Ovidiu Cuncea, Rodica Ionescu, Andrei Finți. Directed by: Mihai Calin. Set design: Gabi Albu. Original music: Nikita Dembinski. Video-design: Constantin Șimon. Images and video footage: Mircea I. Anca. Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

The 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival will take place between October 18 and 28, 2024 in Bucharest, with performances and events being hosted by most of the theaters in Bucharest, as well as other well-known cultural spaces. An edition under the sign of the "Dramaturgiilor posibilului", curated by Mihaela Michailov, Calin Ciobotari and Ionut Sociu, which analyzes, researches and highlights the dynamics and trends of the Romanian theatrical phenomenon. Tickets for the performances of the 34th edition of the National Theatre Festival will go on sale on Thursday, October 3, at 12.00 noon, simultaneously, on all sales platforms of each host theater, as well as at their ticket offices. For easy access, we recommend that you go to the desired performances from the day-by-day program displayed on the website www.fnt.ro and, by pressing the Buy Tickets button, you will be redirected exactly to the page where you can purchase tickets for the desired performance. Soon we will come back with the program of all the events of the 34th edition of the NTF (performative and visual installations, reading performances on new texts from contemporary theatre, independent theatre performances, modules dedicated to established artists, educational performances, debates, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, book launches, radio theatre performances, as well as the program of workshops, conferences and exhibitions organized within the Bucharest Scenography Biennale, partner event of the 34th edition of the NTF). The image of FNT34 is a created by Szilard Banga - coordinator Dragoș Buhagiar. Please follow us on www.fnt.ro (information is currently being updated) and on the National Theatre Festival Facebook page to keep up to date with all the details on the program of performances and related events. See you at the Festival! NTF is a cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture. Co-producers: Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB - Cultural Center of Bucharest, Bucharest Directorate of Culture. Partners: Romanian Cultural Institute, National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale" in Bucharest, ITI - Romanian Center of the International Theatre Institute.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu