Troupe

Radu Afrim (b. 1968) is one of the most talented and sophisticated European theatre directors, but also one of the most controversial Romanian directors. After University degree in Letters (1995) and Theatre (2000) at the University Babeș-Bolyai in Cluj, he began directing and his work was awarded, two years running, the Grand Prix du Festival Grange de Dorigny in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was named Best Director for three times, by UNITER, the Romanian theatre guild, for Tranquilityafter Attila Bartis (“Tompa Miklós” Company, National Theatre Targu-Mures, 2015), for Katalin Thuróczy’s joi.megaJoy at Odeon Theatre in Bucharest (2007) and for Vasili Sigariov’s Plasticine at “Toma Caragiu” Theatre Ploieşti (2006). In 2008, Radu Afrim also won the "Coup de Coeur de la Presse" (prize discerned by the Press) at the "Off" Avignon Festival, for his play Mansarde à Paris. Les détours de Cioran by Matei Visniec.

A great defender of contemporary writing, loved by the young audience for his colourful, original, nonconformist and provocative revisionist style shaking dramatic traditions, Radu Afrim is the one who managed to bring "the Underground" at the National Theatre of Bucharest. After he successfully staged here The Avalanche by Tuncer Cücenoğlu, Scourge by Ion Luca Caragiale and Thieves by Dea Loher, Afrim returned in 2015 on this stage with No Matter How Hard We Tried by Dorota Masłowska — a performance acclaimed by the auditorium and also by the theatre critics (At the UNITER Gala Awards 2015, the actor Marius Manole was awarded the prize for Best Actor in a Supporting Part and the actress Dorina Chiriac was nominated for Best Actress in a LeadingPart).

A new performance based on Liviu Rebreanu’s novel Pădurea Spânzuraților / The Forest of the Hanged, a script written by the director himself, was premiered in December 2018, to celebrate the Great Union Centenary of the Romanians. This remarkable show received multiple nominations at the UNITER Gala Awards 2019 (Best Actor in a Leading Part, Best Set Designer, Best Performance) and an award for Best Supporting Actress (Natalia Călin ‒ Mrs Bologa). The director continues the series of surprising stagings at Bucharest National Theatre with Three Sisters, a play reimagined for younger audiences, an (Un)usually free script based on Chekhov (2019).

Radu Afrim was for 3 years director of the Young Actor's Gala (Gala HOP) between 2013 - 2015. His name is also linked to the following remarkable performances: A Chance-Child is Telling a Story in Front of a Blue Background, a contemporary play based on Molnár Ferenc’s; The Glass Slipper, The Retro Bird Hits the Building and Falls on the Hot Asphalt by Radu Afrim, Tales of Common Insanity by Petr Zelenka, No Mom`s Land, Why the Child Is Cooking in the Polenta by Aglaja Veteranyi, It's Only the End of the World by Jean-Luc Lagarce, The Beach byPeter Asmussen, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, Blind spot by Yannis Mavritsakis etc.