Workshops

The "Ion Sava" Theatrical Research and Creation of the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre organizes during the period May 30 – October 31 2022 a Playwriting Workshop coordinated by Mimi Brănescu Conditions of participation: 1. The workshop is open to all those interested. 2. Those interested should send a CV and a dramatic text (scene or monologue) of 2 - 4 pages to the email address centrulsavatnb@gmail.com by May 21 2022 and indicate in the title of the email "dramatic writing workshop". 3. Those selected will be notified by email. 4. There are a maximum of 15 places available for the workshop. 5. The workshop will take place at the TNB premises, according to the following schedule: - Every Monday from May 30 to June 30, from 11 am – 3 pm. - Every Monday from September 1 to September 30, from 11 am to 3 pm. - Every Monday from October 1 to October 31, from 11 am – 3 pm.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

The "Ion Sava" Theatrical Research and Creation Department of the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre organizes from June 20 to June 25 2022 the Theater Workshop on the secret power of words under the direction of Victor Ioan Frunză. Conditions of participation: 1. The workshop is aimed at professional actors with a maximum age of 40 years. 2. The selection of candidates will be made by the director Victor Ioan Frunză and will consist in two stages: - Stage I - candidates will submit a CV to the email address: centrulsavatnb@gmail.com by May 31 c.y. Please specify in the title of the e-mail "theatrical workshop". - Stage II – under the first stage, on June 10 c.y., the selected candidates will participate in an interview held at the T.N.B. headquarters, at a time that will be communicated to them by email. 3. There is a number of 8 places available for the workshop. 4. The workshop will be held at T.N.B.   Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu 

The ,,Ion Sava” Centre for Research and Theatrical Creation, in partnership with Piccolo Teatro di Milano and with the “I.L. Caragiale” National Theatre of Bucharest organises, in the time frame 21 – 31 March 2018, a masterclass on Commedia dell`arte given by Italian actor and director Stefano de Luca. The masterclass shall occur daily, from 10.00 – 14.00, respectively 15.00 – 17.00 in the Media Hall of the ,,I.L. Caragiale” National Theatre of Bucharest and aims at initiating and training actors in the commedia dell`arte. Stefano de Luca has graduated from the Piccolo Teatro di Milano Theatre Academy, under the guidance of Giorgio Strehler. Together with Ferruccio Soleri, he reconstituted the show Harlequin, Servant of Two Masters in the last vision for the stage, signed by Strehler. He was, furthermore, deputy manager of the International Commedia dell'Arte Academy at the famous Piccolo Teatro. The ,,Ion Sava” Centre for Research and Theatrical Creation is at its 11th workshop on the Art of the Actor, the first of this kind being held in 2006, through the presence of Ferruccio Soleri, who worked with actors on the methods of commedia dell`arte. Thus, the “Ion Sava” Centre had, as guests, throughout time: Ferruccio Soleri – The Masks of Commedia dell'arte, 2006, Radu Penciulescu - Shakespeare, 2007 and 2008, Yaemon Yamashina, Yoshito Sekine,Takashi Zenchiku, Noriyoshi Okura and Ryuhei Zenchiku - Japanese Nō Theatre, 2009, Andrei Șerban - The Itinerant Academies from Ipotești, 2011; Mogoșoaia, 2013; Arad, 2016; ARCUB, 2017, Yuri Kordonsky – Chekhov Workshop, 2017. At the end of 2017, the Centre has organized a meeting of the Theatre Academies of Romania – Around the Art of the Actor. Seven Days, Seven Lessons on Theatre, the workshop being a good opportunity for study and debate of the working method in the Art of the Actor. Invited for 10 days, Stefano de Luca shall work at a sustained pace with the participating actors, in order to deepen the notions of commedia dell’arte. The masterclass is, thus, a tribute paid by the ,,Ion Sava” Centre to the great artist Giorgio Strehler.   Graduate from the Theatre Academy of Piccolo Teatro din Milano, under the guidance of Giorgio Strehler, he finished his studies in 1990, earning the degree in acting and then direction. He participates in seminars held by Peter Brook, Ian McKellen, Cicely Berry (Royal Shakespeare Company), Carolyn Carlson (Piccolo Teatro) and Lev Dodin (Malîi Teatr, Sankt Petersburg). From 1995 to 1998, he is the directing assistant of Strehler at a series of shows, such as The Island of Slaves by Pierre de Marivaux, The Good Person of Szechwanby Bertolt Brecht, Harlequin, Servant of Two Mastersby Carlo Goldoni and La Grande Magia by Eduardo De Filippo. He further collaborates with Lamberto Puggelli, Carlo Battistoni, Guido Ceronetti. Together with Ferruccio Soleri, he reconstituted the show Harlequin, Servant of Two Masters in the last vision for the stage by Strehler.                                                                                             He was a deputy manager of the International Commedia dell'Arte Academy at the famous Piccolo Teatro.  The shows directed at Piccolo Teatro include: „Pinocchio, the Story of a Puppet” by Carlo Collodi; „Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; „Darwin...in the Clouds” by Luca Boschi, Stefano De Luca, Giulio Giorello; La Barca dei Comici by Carlo Goldoni. Other shows include: Platonov (Untitled play) by A. P. Chekhov, presented at the 8th edition of the UTE Festival; Orestes by Vittorio Alfieri, with Massimo Popolizio and Laura Marinoni, for Olimpico Teatro di Vicenza; Ubu King by Alfred Jarry, for the National Theatre of Timișoara, 1999 (in Romanian), where he also directed in 2014 White Nights after F. M. Dostoyevsky; The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, with Adriana Innocenti; Alcestis by Euripides (in Hungarian), for the Odry Theatre (within the framework of the Theatrical Arts and Film University) from Budapest; Oh, These Ghosts! by Eduardo De Filippo and Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello, at the Radnoti Theatre of Budapest;Baal by Bertolt Brecht and Three Sisters by A. P. Chekhov (in German), produced by the Wilhelma Theatre of Stuttgart. He founded the independent theatre company Lupusagnus, with whom he enacted the Family Trilogy of Italian playwright Aquilino, Mamma Mammazza (Ringhiera di Milano Theatre), Verginella (Filodrammatici Theatre, Milan), Canicani (Binario 7 di Monza Theatre, Teatro della Cooperativa di Milano).  At Piccolo Teatro, on the occasion of the Goldonian tricentenary, he stages in 2007, La Barca dei Comici and Darwin… in the Clouds, in 2009, a show for children created together with Giulio Giorello and Luca Boschi, in order to celebrate two hundred years since the birth of the English scientist. His most recent creations include Don Giovanni by Mozart, produced by the Social Theatre of Como and the As.Li.Co Association; the great success from the spring of 2010, The Lovers by Goldoni at Malîi Teatr (Moscow) and at the Piccolo Theatre (Strehler). Still at Malîi in Moscow he enacts, with equal success, Filumena Marturano by Eduardo De Filippo and The Slave of Two Masters by Goldoni. In 2013, he enacts Othello, created on the occasion of the bicentenary of Giuseppe Verdi, within the framework of As.Li.Co. (Pomeriggi Musicali), performed at Teatro degli Arcimboldi di Milano. He taught acting and direction classes at the universities of Moscow, Budapest, Stoccarda, Shanghai, as well Scala from Milan. He held courses of commedia dell’arte within the Berkeley, UCLA and GITIS (Moscow) Universities.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Edited by Monica Andronescu and Cristiana Gavrilă, Nemira Press (Yorick Collection), 2013 The book represents the written document of a remarkable accomplishment, the Andrei Serban Itinerant Academy, started by Corina Șuteu. The above mentioned work illustrates the workshop experience, a project supported, in Romania, by the director Andrei Şerban, at Plopi, Horezu, Ipoteşti and Mogoşoaia. The preface of the book is written by Horia Roman-Patapievici. Among the contributors who shared exclusive accounts of their experience are:  Corina Şuteu, Peter Brook, Tatiana Niculescu-Bran, Alice Georgescu, George Banu, Nicky Wolcz, Mircea Cantor, Sanda Manu, Ion Caramitru, Cătălin Ștefănescu, Marius Manole, Ana-Ioana Macaria, Andreea Bibiri, Lucian Maxim and Bogdán Zsolt. These are only a few of the numerous participants at the four Academies supported by Andrei Șerban in Romania. The book begins and ends with texts written by Andrei Șerban. ‘A special training is required in order for someone to be responsive to the person next to them. You can obtain it only in special, workshop conditions. We must remind ourselves that we are here to serve a greater purpose, something more important than ourselves, not only on the stage, but also in life - and I truly believe this.' If what I'm saying is true, then we are essentially the same and we should consider ourselves as such, each of us conserving our individuality, but striving together after setting higher and nobler goals in life. Through practice, I'm starting to feel that I, you, we are part of the same universe; I'm starting to perceive and understand the others as I perceive and understand myself: I - You - We. Andrei Șerban   Translated by: Zbarcea Bianca-Lidia MTTLC, The University of Bucharest

New York, 22 June 2012: the Romanian Cultural Institute and the RCI New York, in collaboration with the "Ion Sava" Centre for Theatre Research and Creation of the National Theatre from Bucharest and the Brancovan Palaces Cultural Centre, Mogoşoaia, will organize between the 8th and 11th July 2012 the 4th edition of the Andrei Şerban Itinerant Academy, which will take place at the Mogoşoaia Centre. The Andrei Şerban Itinerant Academy, the Romanian Cultural Institute's frame-programme, initiated by Corina Şuteu and coordinated by RCI New York, is conceived as a creative interdisciplinary laboratory around the artistic personality of the director Andrei Şerban, reuniting young actors, together with artists from other areas. The 4th edition of the Itinerant Academy will take place this year in Romania with a new series of residence-workshops, housed by the Brancovan Palaces Cultural Centre, Mogoşoaia and organized in collaboration with the "Ion Sava" Centre for Theatre Research and Creation and with the help of the MARA Society.

New York, 22 June 2012: the Romanian Cultural Institute and the RCI New York, in collaboration with the "Ion Sava" Centre for Theatre Research and Creation of the National Theatre from Bucharest and the Brancovan Palaces Cultural Centre, Mogoşoaia, will organize between the 8th and 11th July 2012 the 4th edition of the Andrei Şerban Itinerant Academy, which will take place at the Mogoşoaia Centre. The Andrei Şerban Itinerant Academy, the Romanian Cultural Institute's frame-programme, initiated by Corina Şuteu and coordinated by RCI New York, is conceived as a creative interdisciplinary laboratory around the artistic personality of the director Andrei Şerban, reuniting young actors, together with artists from other areas. The 4th edition of the Itinerant Academy will take place this year in Romania with a new series of residence-workshops, housed by the Brancovan Palaces Cultural Centre, Mogoşoaia and organized in collaboration with the "Ion Sava" Centre for Theatre Research and Creation and with the help of the MARA Society. The workshops held by the director Andrei Şerban will take place on the 8th and 14th July and, respectively 15th and 21st July 2012, and they will reunite more than 60 actors, directors, scenographers, choreographers, playwrights and musicians. The workshops from the previous years focused on the Tanacu case (2007), the work of Brâncuşi (2009) and Eminescu (2011), and this year's edition will focus on Shakespeare and Caragiale. "[...] I responded more than once to Horia Patapievici's and Corina Şuteu's (RCI New York) invitation to preside the creative workshops with students, actors, directors, artists, and musicians. They collaborated in extremely various areas, from the Romanian villages (where we worked on such subjects as Brâncuşi at and around Hobiţa, or at Ipoteşti, with a theatrical study on "Eminescu") to New York, where we presented Tanacu's Confession, the same subject that recently inspired Cristian Mungiu for the movie awarded at Cannes. These actions had a preponderantly educational purpose, because more than 100 young people benefited, on several occasions, of a high-class technical practice and they were provoked to extend the boundaries of their knowledge. [...] I eagerly await the Mogoşoaia workshop", declared the director Andrei Şerban.                    Translated by: Izabella Feher

Performers: the shite-kata specialists Yaemon Yamashina and Yoshito Sekine (leading actors - shite in the kanze style) and the kyogen-kata specialists Takashi Zenchiku, Noriyoshi Okura (kyogenactors in the Ohkura style) and Ryuhei Zenchiku (kyogen actor in the Ohkura style and Nō master)Participants: Alexandru Nedelcu, Eduard Adam, Florin Lazarescu, Axel Moustache, Răzvan Hîncu, Mihai Calota, Richard Bovnoczki, Relu Poalelungi, Vlad Logigan, Radu Iacoban, Adrian Nicolae, Radu Micu, Ioan Cortea, Şerban GomoiTime: between the 6th and 7th of February, 2009Location: The National Theatre of BucharestThe Nō theatre (with serious topics) and the Kyogen theatre (with humorous topics) were known until the Modern Age as sarugaku, while in the Japanese of today they are called nogaku. With roots that date back in the Nara Period (710-794), sarugaku became, in the Middle Age, an aesthetically valuable art with the help of Zeami (1363-1443), who was an actor, a playwright and a theoretician of the Yamato Sarugaku Company. From the beginning Nō and Kyogen were performed together. In the Middle Age, they were performed in temples, during the religious festivals but in the following ages, and especially in the Modern Age, they became a type of cult theatre, with secular character. The square stage with supporting poles for the roof is specific to the Nō theatre. On the left there is a bridge called hashigakari. Initially, the stage did not have a roof and the hashigakari was in the middle of the background. The current shape was adopted in the 16th century. During the Nō plays the choir was placed on the right while the instrumentalists in the background. The actors use the front and the left half of the stage, trying to avoid both the right one and the background. In Japan, the scene and roof are placed inside a normal hall with its own ceiling. The stage is separated from the audience's seats by a layer of white pebbles. The workshop held at Bucharest for two days, was an introduction to the structure and specificity of this type of theatre, with the purpose of making a demonstration and initiating the performers the techniques of the Nō actors. The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Romania.

Performers: Radu Penciulescu and Florin FieroiuParticipants:Ioana Calotă, Liliana Pană, Mihaela Mihăescu, Amalia Ciolan, Brânduşa Casandra Mircea, Victoria Dicu, Valentina Popa, Laura Creţ, Florentina Ţilea, Maria Obretin, Petronela Chiribuţă, Mirela Oprişor, Simona Popescu, Mihai Calotă, Alexandru Nedelcu, Eduard Adam, Ionuţ Caraş, Axel Moustache, Dan Tudor, Ovidiu Cuncea.Time: between the 11th and 23rd of August 2008Location: the Ipoteşti Memorial - "Mihai Eminescu" National Study Centre

Radu Penciulescu was Andrei Şerban’s mentor for stage directing, whom he convinced to change sections, from acting to studying the science of theatre, the same as he did with George Banu. In a way I expected their working style to be similar and probably the actors before Şerban expected that, too. I had previously seen many of Penciulescu's exercises, at the Purification rehearsals. The working atmosphere was similar to that from school for some of the former students of Sanda Manu, such as Ioana Calotă, Mihai Calotă, Alex Nedelcu and Maria Obretin. Both Sanda Manu and Penciulescu have a great sense of humour and their teaching examples are jokes most of the time or thousand-year old theatrical stories. Penciulescu is a very good story-teller but without presenting pure anecdotal (...)The Ipoteşti workshop comprises three hours and a half of daily practice and actual acting during the last ones, work on texts (Chekhovian plays and Harold Pinter's Celebration). There were multiple rhythm and coordination exercises but also presence, attention or trust ones. The purpose of the first ones is to make the participants aware of their own body, awareness which does not appeal to the intellectual analysis but to the corporal memory (which means working with objects including imaginary ones). The presence and attention exercises are meant to activate the "here and now" reflex, to empty the soul from the useless mental and emotional outside the stage feelings and to connect to the other stage partner; such a best known exercise is the "Mirror": the two partners are facing each other, one is moving and the other one has to mirror his movements, in a blind man's version of the "mirror", the two partners are back to back and each one feels the movements of the other and has to coordinate them. The trust exercises, which are inevitably attention ones too, are complicated till one of the participants allows himself to fall from a higher or lower height (for example, the height of a piano) and the other ones have to catch him. The story behind this exercise is fascinating: in Şerban's ancient trilogy, Priscilla Smith (Andromache from Troy) used to fling herself from the balcony, in the arms of the women from Troy, which received her as a divine gift, creating an image more powerful than any other monologue about the power of survival of Priam's ancestors. (...)Theatre means absolute simplicity: the truth about staging is the starting point of acting - just like Barthes' history of literature; the history of theatre is one of the types of interpretation (of the actors and of the director). Acting, this theatrical "writing", has become in its turn false evidence meant to hide the absence of reality, pretending to 'express' reality. The actor of today announces his own status in a demonstration of unhidden exhibitionism ('Look at me I am an actor and I am acting life'). Radu Penciulescu's pedagogy fights against this exhibitionism, against the style and for the return to the starting point of acting, humanity in its polyvalent trivial.The workshop was organised in collaboration with the "Mihai Eminescu" National Study Centre.Iulia Popovici, Observatorul cultural: THEATRE. The starting point of acting

Performer: Chris JaegerTime: between the 20th and 30th June 2007Location: National Theatre of Bucharest    The workshop was coordinated by Chris Jaeger, graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London and one of the most important specialists in this field.The workshop was held at National Theatre of Bucharest's Great Hall and had the logistical support of the stage - last generation Macintosh/Windows light and IT equipments.The two topics of the workshop were: play lights concept, design and placement and the initiation and enhancement in using the software for the improvement of theatre lights (VectorWorks 12).