2021 Sibiu International Theatre Festival

Sibiu plays host to the 38th International Theatre Festival

Ştefan Stoica, 20.08.2021, 14:00

Starting Friday, Sibiu, the
Transylvanian city with the most visible Saxon legacy on Romania’s territory,
is for ten days an international capital of performing arts. More than 2000
artists from 38 countries will create hundreds of events at the 28th
International Theatre Festival. The program is rich and diverse, including
theatre, dance, music and circus performances, which bring together famous
names and world premieres.

The festival, whose theme this year
is We build hope together, is a
celebration of performing arts and enjoys the participation of famous names,
such as Charlotte Rampling, Israel Galvan, Denis O’Hare, Helmut Sturmer and
Yoshi Oida. I don’t want to use big words, but this year’s edition is close to
heroic, because we’ve organized it with extreme joy, but also with huge efforts,
actor Constantin Chiriac, the president of the Festival, told us. The fact
that we can think together of a different type of normality, through which we
can carry on our dreams and hopes, the power to create, to believe, and the joy
of seeing beauty in so many forms is the motivation for all that we do, the
actor also said. He thanked all those who participated in this effort and
understood what commitment to such a
project entailed.

The 600 events that make up the
festival program will be hosted by
historical sites, which are quite a plenty in Transylvania in general, and in
the Sibiu area in particular. The festival will be held both onsite and online,
as well as in hybrid format.

Here is Constantin Chiriac with more:

The halls will be 70% occupied. We will
also use a hybrid format, already used by many theatres around the world, which
means that some guests will be playing for us from their own home. I’m talking
here about Tokyo Metropolitan, Batsheva, Deutsche Theatre, Israel Galvan, etc.
We will also have online events, which will give the audience the possibility
to watch more than 100 performances from anywhere in the world, provided there
is internet connection. So, in total, there will be more than 600 events, and
2000 artists from 38 countries coming to Sibiu.

The festival will be attended by big
Romanian directors, such as Silviu Purcărete, Alexandru Dabija or Eugen
Jebelean and will enjoy the participation of major Romanian artistic institutions,
including the National Opera of Timisoara, the Little Theatre, the Drama
Theatre in Galati and the local Radu Stanca Theatre. The international theatre
festival played a major role in designating Sibiu a European Capital of Culture
in 2007, the year when Romania joined the European Union. (MI)