Poignant homage on stage to multi-ethnic Transylvania and a call for peaceful coexistence in the face of today's international situation ... Fifth mini-season of the German Theatre in Sibiu, Romania

Together with the international theatre festival in Sibiu, Romania, including the theatre school and cultural management training, the National Theatre ‘Radu Stanca’ has been making a decisive contribution to the development of Transylvania's cultural landscape since the Capital of Culture year 2007.

The partnership with the German community to promote cultural heritage and a high-quality cultural offering is significantly supported by the theatre's German-speaking ensemble. Not only young and old from the German minority use the theatre's offerings, but other ethnic groups and above all Romanians also regularly fill the house, especially as every performance is dubbed into Romanian.

In spring 2025, the German section of the National Theatre held its fifth mini-season in front of numerous international German-speaking guests from the worlds of culture, politics and journalism, who were enthusiastic about the quality and cultural significance of the theatre.

 

The Trial after Kafka

In his scenic realisations of explicitly classical works, Hungarian-born director Botond Nagy likes to make use of several periods and epochs. His bizarre protagonists appear in a wide variety of acoustic and visual styles, with music being an essential element of his visual productions.

This Kafka showed for the first time a Nagy, as close to the text as rarely before, who had hit a note that he had not yet been able to explore. ' ... a piece with a lot of movement, with a lot of physicality, ... a show that developed into an album of our daily absurdity'.

A theatrical mixture of Kafka's world of thought, Nagy's imagination and the extraordinary acting talent of Gyan Ros in the role of Josef K. .

The theatre installation ‘Simply the End of the World’ by Eugen Jebeleanu, based on texts by J.-L. Lagarce, once again demonstrated the important commitment of the young German department of the Sibiu National Theatre to diversity. (At the same time, the crew proved their acting skills - with some excellent actors from the Sibiu ensemble - and nonchalantly overcame all the adversities that the unused hall of a shopping centre brings with it in terms of acoustics.

 

 

Federico Garcia Lorca called ‘The Blood Wedding’ a ‘lyrical tragedy’, which is based on a true story and has challenged new generations of directors. Hunor von Horvath has also taken on this task and realised the play.

This time, the tragedy took its course against the backdrop of a Romanian, multi-ethnic wedding. Visually, musically and in the play of the actors, there was no lack of a rustic, sometimes coarse attitude. Director Horvath succeeded best in skilfully incorporating comedic aspects into the tragic play, which culminated in an expressive, masterfully choreographed duel.

Here, the otherwise rather one-dimensional actor of the groom, Richard Hladik, was finally able to shine alongside Gyan Ros's strong Leonardo. Olga Török as the bride was convincing across the board and Johanna Adam as the mother gave the audience a classically characterised performance.

 

A continuous text ran across the stage backdrop like the credits of a film: ‘Whether you are Romanian, Hungarian or German, we are “Made in Romania”. Whether you are Moldavian, Transylvanian or Oltener, we are ‘Made in Romania’. This ‘Garcia Lorca made by Horvath’ delivered a moving homage to multi-ethnic Transylvania and a call for peaceful coexistence. Thank you!!! That's what we need on stage and in life, given the current international situation.

 

A theatrical pas-de-deux ‘Stones in His Pockets’ by Marie Jones was the glamorous finale to the mini-season.

In this version, a Transylvanian village was invaded by a film crew shooting a major Hollywood epic. We met Jake and Charlie, two locals who were hired as extras for the film and spent three weeks discovering the world of film for 40 euros a day.

'Stones in His Pockets’ showed the creation of a film in which the 15 roles of the set were interwoven, played by two actors who switched from one role to another in a tenth of a second, supported and rhythmised by Romulus Cipariu's cymbal. We discovered the secrets of cinema and, above all, how two extras played the actual leading roles.

Daniel Plier had directed this fast-paced piece and also played one of the protagonists. Ali Deak impressed with his beautiful Romanian accent and a German language and expression technique that revealed a profound knowledge of the language. I had never seen anything like this from an actor who normally performs in Romanian theatre and it was inspiring.

 

The collaboration with the German state theatre in Timișoara highlighted in the mini-show was and is good, right and important given the political (and economic) situation. 

 

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