IONESCO EVENT AT THE 2009 RNTF

This year, on the 100th anniversary of Eugene Ionesco’s birth, the National Theater Festival attempts to recreate the world of his plays, very present on world stages.

Thus, Bucharest audiences may choose among three staged versions of The Bald Soprano, one of which, directed by Jean Luc Lagarce, a production of Les Intempestifs company in Besancon, France, will open the National Theater Festival. The participation of this show in the 2009 NTF was made possible by the Embassy of France to Bucharest and the French Institute. The show will be hosted by Odeon Theater Saturday, October 31, at 19.00, and Sunday, November 1, at 16.00.

The other two performances of the famous The Bald Soprano were produced by the National Theater in Cluj (stage director: Tompa Gabor) and the German State Theater in Timisoara respectively (stage director: Alexandru Dabija). The latter comes to Bucharest with support from the Embassy of Germany to Bucharest and is presented in the German Culture Days.

The Romanian shows are included in the second Romanian Showcase, supported this year by the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Aside from the shows, the famous playwright will be present at the NTF in related events. Thus, the basement of Carturesti bookstore on Verona St. will host Friday, November 6, 16.30 the launching of a NTF Collection book published by UNITEXT: Theater of the Absurd by Martin Esslin, translated by Alina Nelega. In Theater of the Absurd, first published in 1962, and revised by the author in 2001, Martin Esslin first used this term to define the writings of four dramatists: Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter. The following will attend: the playwrights Alina Nelega and Vlad Zografi (co-author of the most recent translation of Ionesco’s works into Romanian) and the theater critic and researcher Marian Popescu.

The goal of the NTF Collection is to have essential books about world theater translated and published in Romanian, while it endeavors to enrich research and knowledge in Romanian theater at this level.

Furthermore, the 2009 NTF complemented the festival program by a partnership with Radio Romania Cultural. Between November 1-8, RRC will broadcast, daily from 19.00, radio shows based on Ionesco’s writings: The Bald Soprano, The Killer, Rhinoceros, Victims of Duty, The New Tenant, Frenzy for Two or More, and more.