The Shakespeare Festival in Craiova

Three theatre festivals that closely followed each other kept the curtains high in Transilvania – in Sibiu, SfOntu Gheorghe and Sighisoara. Time has come for Oltenia to shine through the third edition of the Shakespeare Festival in Craiova

The people in Craiova who had tickets for “Richard 3,” staged by the “Wybrzeze” Theatre from Gdansk, by Krysztof Nazar, saw… the match Romania-England! Not because they especially liked football but because the Polish actor who had the lead part was ill and unable to play. Beyond this charming incident, the audience in Craiova had plenty of things to see. Not just theatre plays but also book fairs, photography displays and plastic art shows, philately displays and much more. Everything was related the personality of great Will. The inaugural speech was delivered by actor Radu Beligan, whose words were followed by “Timon of Athens,” made by Mihai Maniutiu with his well-known professionalism. Day two of the festival was dedicated to “The Shakespeare-ology Session” organised by the Thetatre Critics International Romanian Association. The president, John Elsom, was present for the debates. The night was taken by “Macbeth,” a show directed by atefan Iordanescu at the National Theatre in TOrgu-Mures. The third day of the festival was given to a critic’s workshop and the shows of the previous nights were “dissected.” Also the volume “An actor in Hamlet’s court” was launched. D.R. Popescu wrote the book. The same day, the Romanians met with representatives of the Shakespeare Festival from Gdansk (Poland), including Andrzej Zurowski, vice-president of AICT and then they saw “A midsummer’s night dream” directed by Beatrice Bleont for the Summer Festival in Zsambek (Hungary).

The Shakespeare Festival continued the second day with the launch of “Ubu Rex with scenes from Macbeth – monograph of a show” by Patrel Berceanu, followed by “Playing Shakespeare” a complex dance, music and poetry recital held by Razvan Mazilu and organised by the Bucharest National Theatre with the collaboration of SMART. The last day, the volumes “Liviu Ciulei” by Ileana Berlogea and “The Elements of Drama” by Emil Sarbulescu were launched. The festival ended with a discussion on “Shakespeare and the movies” illustrated by the film “Shakespeare In Love.”