class="">International Productions invited to the Romanian National Festival

Robert Lepage, Evgeny Mironov, Angelin Preljocaj, Juliette Binoche and the French pianist Alexandre Tharaud will participate at Romanian National Theatre Festival, October 20^th– 30^th, Bucharest. It is for the first time that Robert Lepage and Juliette Binoche accepted to come to Romania, whereas for Angelin Preljocaj it’s a first participation at the RNTF as a film director.

The following are the foreign performances invited to Bucharest this autumn:

HAMLET | COLLAGE, after William Shakespeare, adapted by the famous Canadian director Robert Lepage – a production of the State Theatre of the Nations, Moscow, Russia

ROMEO AND JULIET, ballet performance to Prokofiev’s „Romeo and Juliet”, choreographed by Angelin Preljocaj – a production of the Ballet Preljocaj, France

TO LIVE SOMEHOW (BARBARA) – a performance dedicated to the famous singer Barbara, produced by Les Visiteurs du soir, co- produced with L’Onde Théâtre Centre d’art de Vélizy-Villacoublay. Juliette Binoche and Alexandre Tharaud (piano) recall Barbara’s songs and writings.

„HAMLET | COLLAGE”, after William Shakespeare, is the first Russian production of the legendary theatre director Robert Lepage. It took over two years and over 20 technicians (stage managers, electricians, prop masters and sound and video engineers) to finalise the hi- tech one- man show.

Captive in a floating cube, representing his room in a mental asylum, Evgeny Mironov – Hamlet plays all Shakespearean characters. All the actions in the play take part in Hamlet’s imagination. Robert Lepage and Evgeny Mironov managed to create a large-scale tragedy of the mind, which turned out to be even more intimidating than the tragedy of real life.

“Ultimately, it is a play about madness, and a one-man Hamlet certainly asks of the performer to put himself in some kind of mad schizophrenic state in order to convey all characters of the play. Lending one’s flesh to all protagonists also gives them some kind of family resemblance (…) This collage is the result of a long series of reflections and conversations between an avid Russian actor and an eager French Canadian director who both had the desire to learn from each other about contemporary stage acting, modern storytelling and Shakespeare and I have to admit that through all this process I have been bedazzled and humbled by such demonstration of courage, generosity and sheer talent on the part of my main collaborator. “(Robert Lepage)

„HAMLET | COLLAGE” will open the National Theatre Festival, on October 20^th, at 20h, at the Grand Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest.

„HAMLET | COLLAGE”. Photo: Sergey Petrov

„Romeo and Juliet”, to the music of Sergey Prokofiev, after the play by William Shakespeare.

Bearing the stamp of his Albanian origins and culture, Angelin Preljocaj chose to set this universal love story in the totalitarian regime of an East European country. It is not a question of a fight between clans as tradition would have it, but of a confrontation between the militia responsible for keeping social order and the “family” of the homeless.

“In an improbable Verona, fictitious rather than futuristic, passably dilapidated, housing a favoured ruling class (Juliet’s family) and a miserable and exploited population (Romeo’s world), the meeting of two lovers is banned and outlawed; the omnipresent, muscled militia ordained by Juliet’s family to maintain social order is not only a Shakespearian image of fatality, it’s also the influence of power over one of the most essential individual freedoms: the freedom to love. Even if they comply at times, Romeo and Juliet each refute their imposed way of life in their respective social classes, which are closed to all communication as dictated by the militia of collective consciousness, hence the scandal of this love. Both want to be elsewhere, both aspire to what the other has. The passionate shock will permit them to move forward, to dare to escape the fate that was traced for them.” (Angelin Preljocaj)

  „Romeo and Julieta” is scheduled on October 29^th at 20h at the Studio Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest.

Romeo and Juliet. Photo: Jean-Claude Carbonne

With TO LIVE SOMEHOW (BARBARA), Juliette Binoche, will be for the first time on a Romanian stage, evoking, together with the pianist Alexandre Tharaud, the memory of Barbara (the image opening this article is credited to Gilles Vidal).

Barbara, a great name in the history of French music has accompanied both Binoche and Tharaud along their lives. A unique and deep bond developed over the years. Through this personal selection of the famous singer’s music and texts, the two pay a tribute to her, humbly mentioning her absence.

Barbara’s personal notes are mixed with Binoche’s and Tharaud’s souvenirs of her, with songs and fragments of text, be they un- or well-known, creating a sensorial space that tenderly evokes Barbara- a legendary figure, capable, as Juliette Binoche states, “to turn her shadows into light her dark velvets into suns”.

To Live Somehow (Barbara) is programed on October 30^th, at 20h at the Studio Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest.

During the festival days, we will also have the opportunity to see Juliette Binoche acting in Polina/ Polina, danser sa vie, directed by the couple Valérie Müller and Angelin Preljocaj. The film tells the story of a poor condition girl dreaming to become a famous ballerina and follows her path to a glittering career, which takes her from Russia all over the world.

The screening is scheduled for October 29^th and will be followed by a discussion with the three artists present at the festival.

The 27^th edition of the Romanian National Theatre Festival will take place between October 20^th-30^th.

Producers: UNITER- Romanian Theatre Union, ARCUB- the Cultural Centre of Bucharest Municipality and the National Theatre Bucharest.

Financers: The Ministry of Culture and National Identity and the Bucharest City Hall in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute.

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