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In early December, this year, on the stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest, Chekhov - the most original playwright of his time - meets the vision of one of the most unconventional and talented theatre directors in Romania, Radu Afrim. After five other shows created on the theatre stages, including the exceptional enactment with "The Forest of the Hanged" from the end of last year, Radu Afrim is preparing a new show, "Three Sisters" - an un(naturally) free script after Chekhov. The preview will take place on December 3rd and 4th, 2019, and the official premiere on December 5th, 2019, from 7.30 pm, in the Studio Hall. It is well known that Afrim rarely stages classical dramaturgy, preferring contemporary texts or original scripts. However, when he does, he proposes extremely personal and exciting upgrades, with a strong impact on viewers. The worlds recreated by him after classical texts aroused controversy, even disturbed, but his shows did not leave anyone indifferent. Radu Afrim challenges the audience again, offering a remix of a classical play, hallucinating and extremely topical revival of a story told hundreds of times, a powerful, original and shocking show that, like all Afrim brand creations, will draw viewers out of their comfort zone. Far from the settings in which the spirit of Russia is rendered through clichés, "Three Sisters" by Radu Afrim proposes a surrealist vision, a mixture of absurd, humour, grotesque, but also of deep sensitivity, which places the story of the three sisters in contemporary Romania. In his new show from NTB, Afrim creates a universe that is molded on the receptivity of the contemporary audience, with obvious references to the present, but which integrates so well into the world imagined by Chekhov over 100 years ago.   "I took the liberty to read the thoughts of the three sisters. And Andrei's. And to transcribe them word for word. I mean, I scribbled over the silence between their old words for over a hundred years. My people reflectincessantly. They are sick with thoughts. No spleen. And it would be ideal for them to act. They are already beginning to take action. I took several liberties. I would call them interventions in (almost) still life. Or a little adrenaline in the vivarium. And yet I could not change their destiny. Should I perceive this detail as a failure of mine? ”, Radu Afrim. The show boasts a cast comprising some of the most famous actors of the moment: Raluca Aprodu, Natalia Calin, Flavia Giurgiu, Marius Manole, Emilian Oprea, Irina Movila, Istvan Teglas, Ada Gales, Ciprian Nicula, Florin Calbajos, and is performed in collaboration with a team of innovative artists, with whom Afrim constantly collaborates: Irina Moscu - stage design, Andrei Cozlac - video design, Calin Topa - sound design. The following performances are scheduled for December 28th and 29th, 2019, from 7.30 pm.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Radu Afrim rarely enacts classical playwrights. However, when he does, he proposes highly personal and exciting upgrades, with a strong impact on viewers. The worlds he recreated after classical texts created controversy, even disturbed, but his shows left no one indifferent. Afrim is challenging the audience again, this time with an original vision after "Three Sisters" - an (un)naturally free script after Chekhov. More details here Credit foto Adi Bulboaca   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Solar and impetuous since the very debut, since the student years, when she was already performing in three professional theatres in Bucharest, when Horea Popescu, well-known director, had entrusted her the main role in the show "Ondine", having Adrian Pintea as stage partner, Tania Popa never knew what failure or expectation of the lucky occasion meant. She provoked and was challenged to become a popular audience name. Employed immediately after college at the National Theatre of Bucharest, the chance surged with every role entrusted to her, for two and a half decades, by top directors. This autumn, Tania Popa has the ambition to surprise her viewers in the directorial posture. And not anyway, but through a double directorial debut. One of the shows will premiere at NTB on November 3rd, 2019, and is called The Extra. The play belongs to an old friend, himself an actor, Andreas Petrescu, and was written especially for Tania, in a key different from his other texts, of which we will mention: I move to my mother, I move to my father - Small Theatre , I love you but not you - show hosted by the Metropolis Theatre, Marriage in 3 - Teatrelli, Today No! Maybe tomorrow! - show hosted by the National Theatre of Bucharest and, in preparation at the Playwrights’ Theater, The Butler. The Extra is a puzzle of states and situations that take one by surprise, at the border between laughter and tears, at an alert pace, and is recommended as a generous offer for the character of the actress and for the new trial in her career. "Andreas' texts are like a well-crafted glove, perfect even," says Tania. They serve you and challenge you, the actor, in the most fantastic way possible. As I enjoy  professional challenges, I decided that now is the time to test myself as a director. Those who know me know that I can be at the same time not only on stage, behind the scenes, in the room, but also in the skin of the spectator”. She is Tania Popa, one of the most valued actresses of the National Theatre and she expects to tell you naturally the story of the Extra, using only a few elements of play and her exuberant and persuasive energy. “Tania Popa is a ticking bomb. A luxury ticking bomb. You never know when it will explode and when it does, the reaction is strong, sweeping everything around. But not with violence, but with delicacy. With much heat, "states the author of the play. If you have seen her in "The Girl from the Rainbow" ... what can we add? So, remember, on November 3rd, 2019, at 8 pm, in the Painting Hall of the National Theatreof Bucharest, the premiere will take place: The Extra, a new one woman show with Tania Popa!   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

The 29th edition of the National Theatre Festival will take place in Bucharest, from October 18th to 27th, 2019. For the fifth consecutive year, the National Theatre Festival is being held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania. It is an event funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Identity and the City Hall of Bucharest. This year's edition of the NTF is dedicated to the 30 years we have celebrated since the events of December 1989, which put Romania back on the world’s democratic map. „The theatre, the magical instant of History - is this year's motto of the National Theatre Festival. Because theatre, like a compass in the midst of social disorder, has always had the quality to put distance and lucidity between it and dehumanization. Through its shows, it recorded periods of wanderings, but also of fertile searches. It had the power to - magically - stop the moment, for those people who have not yet lost their morality. It has punished the kitsch, applauded hope, encouraged meritocracy - even in this brief historical time which has elapsed since the Revolution. The theatrebears within it the power to always start from scratch. To be a witness, to record times, but also the force, through the intercession of its creators, to take attitude when everything seems to get worse, " says Marina Constantinescu, manager of the National Theatre Festival. A true cultural effervescence will encompass the capital in the ten days of the festival. To the 41 national productions created in the 2018-2019 season will be added four foreign high-class theatre and dance performances that will be played on the stages of the most important partner theatres in Bucharest. Also, unique events, of great diversity - conferences, debates, exhibitions, film screenings, special events, workshops - concentrated in the NTF HUB (at ARCUB Gabroveni), will enrich the festival days. The official opening of NTF 2019 will take place on Friday, October 18th, 2019, from 9.30 pm, in the central foyer of the "IL Caragiale" National Theatre of Bucharest. This occasion will mark the opening of the exhibition Doina Levintza - a Theatrical Experiment, which will accompany the Festival - being open to the public throughout its duration - in the "Marble" and "Tapestry" Hall of NTB. Selected creations, conceived by the incomparable Doina Levintza, propose a new formula of the theatre costume in an artistic manifesto of its own accord: an approach meant to recalibrate its significance. The costume thus acquires nobility, becoming a symbol for the perenniality of the most ephemeral of the arts: theatre.      Event Alexandru Darie (1959 - 2019), starting with the last two editorial editions of Nemira Publishing House dedicated to him: "Alexandru Darie - fairytale shows" by Doina Papp and the photo album "Coriolanus - a Show by Alexandru Darie" signed by Mihaela Marin. The theatre world is still in mourning after the passing awayof director Alexandru Darie. This event proposed by the National Theatre Festival has been conceived since during his lifetime. October 25th marks one year since the premiere of the show "Coriolanus" by William Shakespeare, production of the Bulandra Theatre, hosted by NTF 2018. The National Theatre Festival awaits on Sunday, October 20th, 2019, from 12.00 to the Grand Hall of the NTF HUB (ARCUB - The Gabroveni Inn), those who have cherished Alexandru Darie to reunite, in the spirit of the artist. Thus, we want to recall the complex personality of a great creator. Let us remember the joy shared by the act of culture, by the intellectual emotion triggered by means of the stage, by naming the representative moments of a life lived to the fullestby the one who, in one of his thoughts about the art he served, stated: "I like to create emotional theatre and truth on stage. I made theatre out of love, not out of fear. Theatre is the only art invented by man, which shows what cannot be seen. What can be more tremendous for the audience? You cannot be selfish in a professionwhere the purpose is to reveal to the public things unknown." Metropolis newspaper   More details here   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu

Wednesday, October 9th, 2019, marks the beginning of the 9th edition of 5 High Schools - 5 Theatres, a project dedicated to students. The launch will take place at the Nicolae Toniza High School of Fine Arts, starting from 11:00. All the participants of this year - high school students and teachers from Bucharest, organizers and partner theatres are waiting for the launch event. ECDL Romania, together with its partners, UNITER, Bucharest City Hall, School Inspectorate of Bucharest Municipality, House of the Academics and Small Theatre, IL Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest, Jewish State Theatre, Ion Creangă Theatre, Nottara Theatre invites you to meet the young artists and theatre spectators. 5 High Schools - 5 Theatres is an educational project that encourages high school students to be involved in cultural activities, through their access to institutions and to plays, challenging them at the same time to a show competition. The theatres reopen their season for another 150 students, including members of the theatreensembles, from 5 other high schools in the capital. Everyone will watch free shows from the season of each of the 5 partner theatres in the project dedicated to young people, 5 high schools - 5 theatres: the Small Theatre, the IL Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest, the Jewish State theatre, the Ion Creangă theatre and the Nottara Theatre. The new schools in the capital participating in this edition are: Nicolae Tonitza High School of Fine Arts, CA Rosetti Theoretical High School, Mircea Vulcănescu Technological High School, Stefan Odobleja Theoretical High School and Gheorghe Asachi Technical College. The project will run between October - December 2019 and will end with the 5 High Schools - 5 Theatres Gala, when the representations, the judging and the awarding of the five plays performed by the high school students will take place. High school students will then have the chance to get on a major stage in Bucharest, to perform in front of a jury of theatre professionals and to be applauded by a large audience. On Wednesday, at the launch event of 5 High Schools - 5 Theatres, we intend to find out what are the stages of this edition and we will draw the working groups at short shows.  Since the first edition started in 2011 at the initiative of ECDL Romania, 1,200 students from 35 different high schools in Bucharest have participated in this project. They will be joined by the 150 students from the new 5 high schools selected for the 9th edition. Alternative education is of crucial importance for the development of young people, who must continue to be directed towards real and fair values, including cultural values. ECDL initiatives promote the balanced development of young people, who pursue international IT&C careers and certifications, but also understand the act of culture, as a complement to the knowledge and skills accumulated in school. You can find more information about the project 5 High Schools - 5 Theatres on www.ecdl.ro or on www.facebook.com/5licee5teatre.  ECDL - the international standard for digital skills certification.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Culture and artistic genres, diversity and summer (but also cultural) debate met under the open sky, at the very km 0 of the Capital, up on the National Theatre, at 24 meters above University Square. This summer, the NTB Amphitheatrecame to life from the energy of many young artists, but also through the presence of great names: Oana Pellea, Maia Morgenstern, Rodica Mandache, Gigi Caciuleanu, Razvan Vasilescu, Mircea Rusu, Marian Ralea, Marius Manole, Medeea Marinescu, Richard Bovnoczki, Emilian Oprea and many others. Together with them, a varied and compelling theatrical program was outlined, which managed to fill the spaces of the Amphitheatre, the audience appreciating the quality of the performances, but also the novelty and the spectacularity of the space. The music as well was at home, up on stage: the Bucharest Jazz Orchestra, Luiza Zan, Tiberian / Dahlgren / Betsch, Bucharest Manouche Jazz Festival, Remember Florian Pittis, Nicu Alifantis, Flavia Hojda & Pavel Ulici, Aylin and the Lucky Charms.Whereas in August and September, the open air amphitheatre also turned into a cinema, together with Tiff Unlimited presenting the latest foreign and Romanian film productions, many of them followed by discussions between artists and the audience. Thus, film viewers were able to talk to Horatiu Malaele and Stere Gulea about Morometii 2, with Tudor Giurgiu and Mihai Smarandache about Parking. La Gomera, Romania's proposal for this year's Oscar, opened the White Night of the Romanian Film at the Amphitheatre, in the presence of actors Rodica Lazar, Istvan Teglas and George Pistereanu. If in the month of May, we promised you an unforgettable summer, up on the NTB, at the outdoor Amphitheatre, now, at the end of September, our summer can boast as follows:  95 summer nights101 events59 theatre performances15 concerts13 dance shows14 films1 premiere signed by Gigi Caciuleanu especially for the Amphitheatre: On the Roof27 independent partners294 artists Over 22,000 spectators We are waiting for you next summer up on the theatre, at the open air Amphitheatre! We promise you will have reasons to do so! The NTB Amphitheatre is an ENEL supported project.Created with the support of the Magdalena Foundation and Ovidiu Buluc   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

The I.L. Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest announces the premiere of The Merchant of Venice  by William Shakespeare, which will take place on September 20th and 22nd, 2019, from 7.30 pm, in the Studio Hall. A new Shakespearean enactment at NTB, a new collaboration between the Bucharest National Theatre and Bulgarian director Alexander Morfov. Seconded in this endeavour by lighting designer Chris Jaeger (England), choreographer Inga Krasovska (Latvia), Gabi Albu (sets) and Liliana Cenean (costumes), Alexander Morfov is already at his fourth collaboration with NTB, after TheVisit by Fr. Dürrenmatt, The Tempest by W. Shakespeare and No Man's Land by Danis Tanovic. Written at the end of the sixteenth century, The Merchant of Venice is still an extremely topical play about money, greed, love and inter-racial tensions, about discrimination and revenge. The most controversial Shakespearean writing, "The Merchant of Venice" has imposed one of the most fascinating characters of universal drama, Shylock, the Jewish loan shark consumed by the desire to take revenge against his rival, the Christian merchant Antonio. The great controversy surrounding this writing, on the grounds that literary exegesis has given contradictory opinions, is whether the text is antisemitic or not. Well-known literary critics have accused the play of powerful antisemitism, while for others, the immortal Will does nothing but describe a profound human drama.  "The Merchant of Venice" - One of the darkest Shakespearean comedies, in which the love story of Bassanio, the man who lost his fortune and who has to borrow money in order to be able to woo the woman he loves, integrates into the much more dramatic story of the Jewish loan shark Shylock and his desire to get a pound of the meat of the Venetian merchant Antonio. In the NTB show, drama and comedy, farce and romantic entanglements intertwine with absolute moral dimensions, in an impressive cast, with Ion Caramitru in the role of Shylock, and with a scenography that takes us directly to the heart of Venice. A captivating enactment, with dynamic rhythms, which showcase Shakespeare's extraordinary creative power. In the cast, alongside Ion Caramitru: Richard Bovnoczki, Ada Gales, Alexandru Potocean, Cosmina Olariu, Siviu Mircescu, Flavia Giurgiu, Ciprian Nicula, Emilian Marnea, Mihai Calota, Petre Ancea, Florin Calbajos, Mihai Muntenita, Stefania Circu, Cristina Simion, Shahbazimoghadam Mohammad Jawad, Dragos Dumitru. The following performances are scheduled for: October 4th and 13th, 2019, from 7.30 pm and, in the morning, on October 5th, from 11.00 am. Tickets areavailable at the NTB Box Office, as well as online on www.mystage.ro.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

As every year, in mid-September, the I.L. Caragiale National Theatre of Bucharest announces the season opening. The first shows are scheduled for the weekend of September 13th - 15th, 2019, and the tickets have been put up for sale online and at the Theatre’s box office. Since the first weeks of the new season 2019-2020, some of the most appreciated performances of the repertoire will be seen. To the NTB stages shall return, one by one, titles that have reaped meaningful applause and appreciation, such as: "Exit the King", "All My Sons", "The Dinner Game", "The Idol and Ion Anapoda", "The Man Who Saw Death ", "Little Hell" , "Shadows", "Mouse Trap"," Titanic Orchestra ","The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", "Powder Keg", "Sentimental Tectonics", as well as the recent premieres: "The Nouveau Criminals", "The Door Mat", "Class", "50 Seconds". In the next period, the summer season on the rooftop, from the Amphitheatre, unfolded throughout the summer season under the title Summer Nights, on the Theatre Rooftop, continues to seduce the spectators at late hours of warm and clear evenings, announcing shows until the end of September. After the theatre halls went on vacation, the audience retreated to the welcoming and comforting atmosphere of the theatre space above the Grand Hall, where these summer evenings were animated, for the first time after the NTB reconstruction and the inauguration of this new space, by theatre, music, dance or film. The Hop Young Actor’s Gala had a prologue here, through the premiere of the show On the Roof, a project coordinated by the exceptional artist Gigi Căciuleanu and welcomed with great enthusiasm by the public and critics. In September, the performance based on the play, designated at the UNITER Awards Gala "The best Romanian play of the year 2017", 50 Seconds by Daniel Oltean, was invited to attend the Festival Days and Nights of Theatre in Braila. Towards the end of September, one of the most recent premieres, production of the past season, the enactment of the play The Nouveau Criminals by Edna Mazia, will have two performances on the stage of the "Mihai Eminescu" Theatre in Kishinev, on the occasion of the Romanian National Theatres Reunion. The NTB conferences will have a new format this autumn, being organized in October, in partnership with Dilema Veche, in November, with România literară and in December, with Revista 22. The first conference within the new season series is scheduled for September 29th, 2019. Afterwards, in spring, the threshold of the 18th birthday having passed, the programme for children, the National Children's Theatre, co-produced by the Abracadabra Foundation and NTB, is preparing to commence the 19th season in which the youngest of the theatre spectators will continue the Theatre Game under the guidance of the beloved Magician of Stories, Marian Râlea and his team. The "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre of Bucharest announces, for the new season, two enactments aftercornerstone titles of universal dramaturgy, under the signatures of two successful directors and with winning casts. The first new enactment on the National stage for the autumn season is in an advanced stage of rehearsals, at which the Bulgarian director Alexander Morfov is working. With three previousNTB productions, The Visit, The Tempest and No Man's Land, a director with an internationally acclaimed originality, Morfov has returned to the Bucharest National Theatre for a new Shakespearean challenge. This time, his choice is the play The Merchant of Venice, with Ion Caramitru in the role of Shylock and with  Ada Galeș, Richard Bovnoczki, Alexandru Potocean, in other lead roles, assisted by an extensivecast. Sets: Gabi Albu, Costumes: Liliana Cenean, Choreography: Inga Krasovska, Light Design: Chris Jaeger. Written at the end of the 16th century, "The Merchant of Venice" is still an extremely topical play about money, greed, love and inter-racial tensions, about discrimination and revenge. Shakespeare remains "our contemporary," as Jan Kott stated more than four decades ago. The first performances are scheduled for September 18th and 19th, and the premiere on September 20th and 22th, 2019, at the Studio Hall. Also in September, at NTB, the rehearsals for a new show will commence, directed by Radu Afrim. Three Sisters by AP Chekhov, to be premiered in December 2019. The constantly updated information, schedule of shows and events held at NTB and all details about the various activities of the theatre, as well as new interactive communication possibilities and an online questionnaire open to viewers on the page Your Opinion can also be found during the new season on www.tnb.ro and on our social media pages. So we are waiting for you to join us! The 2019-2020 Season opens at the National!   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On the NTB, until the end of September, cultural and artistic genres, diversity and summer (but also cultural) debate meet under the summer night sky, at the very km 0 of the Capital, in an exciting night program. From May until the end of July, the NTB Amphitheatre offered 50 most diverse events: theatre and dance performances, jazz, rock, folk concerts etc. Young artists or established names encountered on the theatre a large, open, enthusiastic audience. August will be a full month at the Amphitheatre, as well. 31 events are ready to fill the halls and summer nights up on the theatre. And from August 4th, we invite you to the Open-Air Cinema. The Amphitheatre programme - summer nights up on the theatre will be complemented with movie evenings: award-winning films, previews, news, guests and discussions with filmmakers, all on the roof of the National Theatre until September 30th. The project is created in collaboration with TIFF Unlimited, the streaming platform of the Transilvania International Film Festival, and will include a selection of the best films from TIFF 2019. The first screening of the NTB Amphitheatre (Sunday, August 4th) is the documentary Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation, launched 50 years after the festival that would change the world. Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation has had a unique and successful projection within TIFF. Among the titles offered are award-winning films, popular films and premiere films, such as: Monos (directed by Alejandro Landes), a story about survival, power and anarchy, the winning film of the Transylvania Trophy; A Faithful Man / L'homme fidèle, the romantic comedy directed by Louis Garrel, with Laetitia Casta and Lily-Rose Depp, which won the Special Jury Prize and will run in preview, due to enter the cinema on September 20th. Other titles from the TIFF selection of the 2019 edition of TIFF Unlimited, such as Woman at War (directed by Benedikt Erlingsson), is an impressive story of a woman determined to fulfil her plans, available on unlimited.tiff.ro, Double Lives / Double vies, a well-dosed comedy with Guillaume Canet and Juliette Binoche signed by Olivier Assayas, recently launched in cinema, The Bra, by the multi-award-winning director, writer and producer German Veit Helmer, with Maia Morgenstern in one of the lead roles. The cost of a ticket that offers access to a movie is 30 lei. Tickets can be purchased on www.mystage.ro   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

I hereby address people - generally the spectators - especially friends and those who are not friends. When I debuted in the role of Eminescu in 1964 at NTB, director Sică Alexandrescu wrote to me a dedication on the book given at the premiere: "Dear Caramitru, who has talent and many enemies, you have a lot of talent, I wish you as many enemies! " I can tell my master that his wish is fulfilled. I have enough enemies both in the theatre, in the Parliament, in the Government and even in the street. We have reached maturity, beloved master! I have nothing to reproach myself, neither about my civic conduct, nor about my professional or material one. I have to reproach my trust in people and the naivety of forgetting what the Romanian always knows that the major, dramatic and sometimes even tragic surprises come from those for whom, in one way or another, one has only done good in life and career. From here to the media lynching I am experiencing, it is just one step. I have to defend myself, prove myself, undress in front of the world to show where it hurts and what I am going to do. Just as it was in communism. We have been through this. I am ready. I feel obliged, for the third time in the past twenty years, to save my honour. In 2001, at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, I decided to compromise myself, in connection with UNITER. Eventually, I won in court a libel trial that ended with the criminal conviction of State Secretary Ion Antonescu, nicknamed "the Marshal". We then asked for moral damages of 1 Leu, because I was not interested in the material gain, but for the truth to come to light. Between 2015 and 2017, I was investigated in all the hypostases of a civil servant, by the well-known ANI body. In 2017, the file was closed. Today, I am preparing for the third trial. The accusations are pouring, I am already an offender, the land is almost flooded. But today, my cause is mainly the rescue from inactivity and bankruptcy of the National Theater of Bucharest and the main national institutions of Romania, in direct connection with the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, which is de facto responsible for our work. Alongside, another route to be approached, starting from the criminal charges and untruthfulness of some unscrupulous colleagues. I am ready for this too. I want to assure my friends that I do not need help, that I have the truth on my side and that I will fight to prove it. I just ask them to follow me in everything I do.  That is all.   Ion Caramitru 08.07.2019