Programme

Ernesztó is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear. They took away his favourite role at the theatre, and they also took away what had always been his reliable crutch: the euphoria of football. Some crutch, right! But still, who took it away? Life? Fate? As always? Is it possible that he wasn’t even happy before? It’s time to pick up the scalpel! Our hero looks inside himself and sees that the threads lead all the way back to 1994, when, in the Italy–Bulgaria World Cup semi-final, Gianluca Pagliuca steps out in perfect timing to intercept Lechkov’s through ball… But the Grasshopper and the Ant also appear, the golden team of Șimian, a compensation of 50,000 euros, grandma’s leg ointment, and a birthday table bending under the weight of food. Everything is connected – that’s why healing is so difficult.

Somewhere on the back of the old Earth lives a curious, entirely ordinary teenage boy. Not far from him, in the shadow of a cemetery, dwells a young vampire of about the same age who—strangely enough—can’t stand hemoglobin: he has a food intolerance! Both of them are deathly bored of birthday parties and of relatives who bombard them with intrusive questions—it’s only natural they become friends. Why wouldn’t they? A vampire sister joins them, and as a trio they slip past parents, hungry vampires, and an overzealous vampire hunter, drifting from one adventure to the next: in the children’s room, around the coffin-home, amid the suffocating clouds of scent at a perfume competition. And together they imagine what a shared future might look like - one in which they no longer have to hide their friendship.“My Friend, the Vampire” is a puppet performance by MárkuszZínház and the Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre of Timișoara, created for younger audiences while equally addressing adults. In it, Timișoara appears through the eyes of teenagers and is constantly transforming: at times an old city steeped in secrets, at others a futuristic metropolis where puppets come alive through expressive movement set to contemporary music. The performance offers multiple perspectives: children discover adventure, while adults encounter a reflection of their own world.This play is recommended for children aged eight and above.

Who wouldn’t want to be rich, to earn lots of money with little effort, to wear beautiful clothes, and live in a bigger house? That’s all Jankó ever wanted, so he grabbed his walking stick and set off into the world. And because this was a world of fairy tales, he gained much more than he expected. In addition to riches, he also found the love of a real fairy. Is this the end? Is this the conclusion of the story? No, it is not over—it’s just the beginning. What comes easily goes quickly—and the fairy leaves. Only now does Jankó realize that all the wealth, beautiful clothes, and the big house are worthless without someone to share.So, he takes his walking stick and sets off once again. He no longer cares about treasures or richness, only if that beautiful fairy could be with him one more time. He would even fight the devil himself for her. (And he will.)

Inspired by the screenplay of "Festen” by Thomas Vinterberg, the performance starts from the premise of a festive family gathering: the birthday of the patriarch of a respectable bourgeois family. As they sit down to dinner, the eldest son raises a toast that shatters the celebratory convention and reveals a history of abuse and silence that runs through the entire family. From that moment on, the dinner table becomes a battlefield between memory and denial, between truth and the social mechanisms that repress it. The stage space becomes an ambiguous place, where the birthday guests are also spectators, and the performance turns into a ceremony of revelation, unfolding through a succession of show-like moments shaped by the seduction of entertainment and the violence of confession. In this way, the performance constantly moves between the intimacy of trauma and the political dimension of collective silence. "Festen" is not just the story of a family, but a radiography of how communities—whether familial, social, or institutional—protect their own secrets. The birthday becomes the context in which this complicity is exposed, and a space where the truth becomes impossible to ignore.Presented by agreement with Nordiska ApS - www.nordiska.dkBased on the film Festen by Thomas Vinterberg & Mogens Rukov, stage adaptation by Bo hr. Hansen.

Folk Dance Theatre Performance in One ActI looked into the mirror—it was the mirror of Beauty, love played within it, and so did returned love.I looked into my mirror—I didn’t see myself.I looked into your mirror—I saw us."One can only know a person's face, but the face is not the person.The person is behind the face. Invisible."How often have we lived by Gárdonyi’s words? How often do we invoke the descendants of Attila? How often have we asked: how should we love our Székely kin?What does the mirror reveal in the heart of a mirrored soul when we dance the Székely round dance?Our memories bloom beautifully when we think of you—old dancers, elders, kind-hearted souls of the past!In the performance entitled "Mirror", the Háromszék Dance Theatre brings to the stage a vibrant array of dances from Székely regions: Erdővidék, Sóvidék, Gyimes, the Mezőség Székelys, and the Gyergyó and Csík basins.Drawing on memories of old collecting journeys and significant encounters, Zoltán Zsuráfszky Jr. seeks a reflection of our present selves, breaking the usual structure of dance anthologies.He choreographs new steps for the future third generation of the folk dance house movement, to new compositions by Sándor Csoóri Jr., in collaboration with the excellent musicians of the Háromszék ensemble.For a few moments in the mirror, we glimpse choreographies by Anett Nagypál, Ignác Kádár, Endre Melles, and Attila Tókos as well.

Once upon a time, beyond nine seas and nine lands, there where the map hangs on a nail, where the pig roots about with its curly tail, there lived long ago a poor man by the name of Witty Pete. He was mischievous and forever up to tricks: he poked fun at people, teased them, and joked on and on. But not with just anyone, only with those who deserved it: the vain, the arrogant, the gloomy, the loud-mouthed, the conceited, the braggarts and, above all… Well now, it wouldn’t do to tell everything right from the start. Better you see it with your own eyes!

Once upon a time, beyond nine seas and nine lands, there where the map hangs on a nail, where the pig roots about with its curly tail, there lived long ago a poor man by the name of Witty Pete. He was mischievous and forever up to tricks: he poked fun at people, teased them, and joked on and on. But not with just anyone, only with those who deserved it: the vain, the arrogant, the gloomy, the loud-mouthed, the conceited, the braggarts and, above all… Well now, it wouldn’t do to tell everything right from the start. Better you see it with your own eyes!

“It is quite clear that the legacy of Cseh Tamás goes far beyond the actual songs and performances. Just think about it: people do not say, ‘Will you sing a Cseh Tamás song?’, they simply say, ‘Will you sing Csehtamás?’“In any case, I like to believe in a kind of continuity – that creative worlds are connected, that they influence and reflect one another.”Words by Beck Zoli from Sándor Fodor’s book Will You Sing Csehtamás?Something very similar is also the starting point of In all our Dreams. That is how we gathered. All of us would sing. And we will! One by one, together. We celebrate, because that is always possible. This time we celebrate the fact that we can sing, that we can sing Csehtamás, that our creative worlds can influence and reflect each other, that we have dreams, and that there is something that returns in all of them.This is what will happen in the jungle of the House with Lions.“I figured it all out in a laundry room, what it would be.” Cseh Tamás – Ten Years After----The performance was realized with the support of the Pro Teszt Association.

They live among us. We heard about their stories, we watched it over the news, we heard the neighborhood gossip. They are the ones sitting on the farthest bench in the park, the ones always apologizing, the ones never really looking in other people's eye, the ones with just too much makeup, and the ones we turn away from, because the look in their eyes just makes us uncomfortable. We see them but do we really know them? Have we ever asked them, about the choices they made, about the path they walked, about the battles they fought, about the lingering sadness around them, about the cuts and bruises? About their strength to keep going, to keep breathing, to keep longing for a better life, for a calm destination, for 12A Happiness Street.Let this text be their voices. The unspoken, uncomfortable truth of these women. The performance was produced within the framework of the European project “FemminiCity”, funded by the CERV programme.

Once upon a time, beyond nine seas and nine lands, there where the map hangs on a nail, where the pig roots about with its curly tail, there lived long ago a poor man by the name of Witty Pete. He was mischievous and forever up to tricks: he poked fun at people, teased them, and joked on and on. But not with just anyone, only with those who deserved it: the vain, the arrogant, the gloomy, the loud-mouthed, the conceited, the braggarts and, above all… Well now, it wouldn’t do to tell everything right from the start. Better you see it with your own eyes!

Ernesztó is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear. They took away his favourite role at the theatre, and they also took away what had always been his reliable crutch: the euphoria of football. Some crutch, right! But still, who took it away? Life? Fate? As always? Is it possible that he wasn’t even happy before? It’s time to pick up the scalpel! Our hero looks inside himself and sees that the threads lead all the way back to 1994, when, in the Italy–Bulgaria World Cup semi-final, Gianluca Pagliuca steps out in perfect timing to intercept Lechkov’s through ball… But the Grasshopper and the Ant also appear, the golden team of Șimian, a compensation of 50,000 euros, grandma’s leg ointment, and a birthday table bending under the weight of food. Everything is connected – that’s why healing is so difficult.

They live among us. We heard about their stories, we watched it over the news, we heard the neighborhood gossip. They are the ones sitting on the farthest bench in the park, the ones always apologizing, the ones never really looking in other people's eye, the ones with just too much makeup, and the ones we turn away from, because the look in their eyes just makes us uncomfortable. We see them but do we really know them? Have we ever asked them, about the choices they made, about the path they walked, about the battles they fought, about the lingering sadness around them, about the cuts and bruises? About their strength to keep going, to keep breathing, to keep longing for a better life, for a calm destination, for 12A Happiness Street.Let this text be their voices. The unspoken, uncomfortable truth of these women. The performance was produced within the framework of the European project “FemminiCity”, funded by the CERV programme.

There was a little girl from Szekely Land who, one day, noticed that she was no longer a little girl, but a divorced woman in her forties. She also had cute nicknames: Tiny, Squirrel, Puffy. She even had a portrait made for her. It's really a shame that it was never finished. Who will finish it? In fact, is she really the one in the painting? Is the story about her? Who knows how this fairytale ends? Dad always used to say: "Everything will fall into place."

Macbeth is the tragedy of disorder, a plunge into the depths of the human soul, but it is also the tragedy of power—a violent, anarchic power. The protagonist’s ascent to the throne is extremely rapid, as is his downfall. We thus witness the annihilation of a system of values, from whose ashes a new world will ultimately emerge. The staging is choral: the performers are always on stage, moving as a single body from which scenes and characters emerge. All die, yet none remain on the ground. Each is reabsorbed into the chorus in a continuous cycle, symbolizing power which, like life, renews itself again and again. The production of Macbeth is possible thanks to support from the Italian Cultural institute in Bucharest.

They live among us. We heard about their stories, we watched it over the news, we heard the neighborhood gossip. They are the ones sitting on the farthest bench in the park, the ones always apologizing, the ones never really looking in other people's eye, the ones with just too much makeup, and the ones we turn away from, because the look in their eyes just makes us uncomfortable. We see them but do we really know them? Have we ever asked them, about the choices they made, about the path they walked, about the battles they fought, about the lingering sadness around them, about the cuts and bruises? About their strength to keep going, to keep breathing, to keep longing for a better life, for a calm destination, for 12A Happiness Street.Let this text be their voices. The unspoken, uncomfortable truth of these women. The performance was produced within the framework of the European project “FemminiCity”, funded by the CERV programme.

Macbeth is the tragedy of disorder, a plunge into the depths of the human soul, but it is also the tragedy of power—a violent, anarchic power. The protagonist’s ascent to the throne is extremely rapid, as is his downfall. We thus witness the annihilation of a system of values, from whose ashes a new world will ultimately emerge. The staging is choral: the performers are always on stage, moving as a single body from which scenes and characters emerge. All die, yet none remain on the ground. Each is reabsorbed into the chorus in a continuous cycle, symbolizing power which, like life, renews itself again and again. The production of Macbeth is possible thanks to support from the Italian Cultural institute in Bucharest.

From the First to the Last is a performance in the intersection of art, history and sociological analysis that uses body, voice, object theatre, latest scientific research and subject history to open the space for a public discussion about menstruation - one of the most regular yet one of the most stigmatized daily occurrences in lives of half the humanity. Menstruation is not just a biological process, it is a historically and socially defined experience, full of paradoxes, myths, invisible aspects and control. It is not only a question of hormones and hygiene, but a question of power, societal norms, language, economy. Is menstruation just a bodily function - or is it a mean of classification that separates those that can be heard from those who must not be? That dictates when the woman is useful and when she becomes invisible? How to talk about the menstruation - through art, science, in school, at home? The performance was produced as collective research of the artistic team that understands menstruation as political and aesthetical fact and uses different performative means to appeal to redefine our relation and attitude towards female body, menstruation blood and circularity of time.

From the First to the Last is a performance in the intersection of art, history and sociological analysis that uses body, voice, object theatre, latest scientific research and subject history to open the space for a public discussion about menstruation - one of the most regular yet one of the most stigmatized daily occurrences in lives of half the humanity. Menstruation is not just a biological process, it is a historically and socially defined experience, full of paradoxes, myths, invisible aspects and control. It is not only a question of hormones and hygiene, but a question of power, societal norms, language, economy. Is menstruation just a bodily function - or is it a mean of classification that separates those that can be heard from those who must not be? That dictates when the woman is useful and when she becomes invisible? How to talk about the menstruation - through art, science, in school, at home? The performance was produced as collective research of the artistic team that understands menstruation as political and aesthetical fact and uses different performative means to appeal to redefine our relation and attitude towards female body, menstruation blood and circularity of time.

“I have this bag with everything… and I’m ready to go to war,” says one of Wrocław’s mothers. Why “to war”? Does the modern city truly see parents and their needs? Curbs are being lowered, restrooms are being adapted, and educational and cultural offerings are increasing. And yet—something still isn’t working. Why do mothers still feel unwanted in public spaces? Why is it acceptable for a father to reach into a stroller without asking and adjust whatever he deems necessary? Poland has the lowest fertility rate in Europe. So where does this hostility toward parents with children come from? Why do so many of them say they only feel welcome abroad? “Motherpolis. A Walk Through Lack” invites us to look at the city through the eyes of mothers and fathers. Eyes that sometimes gaze with fear at seemingly harmless manholes, sometimes with delight at their children, and sometimes—with shame—at a tram into which it’s hard to pull a stroller, and at the accompanying sense of guilt.

The Tót family lives somewhere in a Banat village. Their only son is on the front during the Second World War. At the boy’s suggestion, a major suffering from nervous breakdown arrives at the family home on leave. The parents and the boy’s sister receive the officer as if their son’s fate depended solely on their hospitality: they walk on tiptoe, adjusting to his every demand, even though it becomes uncertain whether the son and the major are still fighting on the same side of the front. At first, submission is guided by hope; later, faced with madness, obedience becomes the only remaining response. How long can vulnerability be endured when decisions are driven by love? When does fear take control, and how does this state come to be perceived as normal?In Horváth Hunor’s staging, The Tót Family becomes a memento marked by black humor: the disintegration of the world is not a single spectacular moment, but rather a small crack in the plaster that spreads slowly and insidiously.

“I have this bag with everything… and I’m ready to go to war,” says one of Wrocław’s mothers. Why “to war”? Does the modern city truly see parents and their needs? Curbs are being lowered, restrooms are being adapted, and educational and cultural offerings are increasing. And yet—something still isn’t working. Why do mothers still feel unwanted in public spaces? Why is it acceptable for a father to reach into a stroller without asking and adjust whatever he deems necessary? Poland has the lowest fertility rate in Europe. So where does this hostility toward parents with children come from? Why do so many of them say they only feel welcome abroad? “Motherpolis. A Walk Through Lack” invites us to look at the city through the eyes of mothers and fathers. Eyes that sometimes gaze with fear at seemingly harmless manholes, sometimes with delight at their children, and sometimes—with shame—at a tram into which it’s hard to pull a stroller, and at the accompanying sense of guilt.

D.R.I.F.T – Drive Real International Feminist Transition explores the profound crisis of democracy and the urgent need to develop political alternatives based on empathy and solidarity. The performance begins with a striking observation: despite a century of struggles for women's suffrage, no political party places equality and the rights of women and minorities at the heart of its platform. At the core of the piece lies a fundamental question: why should women participate in politics? This question guides the experience and opens a dialogue with the audience. The performance blends art and civic action to spark reflection and engagement, transforming the theater into a participatory and collaborative space. D.R.I.F.T offers an immersive experience where everyone can debate and imagine priority strategies and measures for building a more inclusive and egalitarian future. It aims to counter the despair and lack of current strategies, while inviting the public to envision concrete solutions for the future.

D.R.I.F.T – Drive Real International Feminist Transition explores the profound crisis of democracy and the urgent need to develop political alternatives based on empathy and solidarity. The performance begins with a striking observation: despite a century of struggles for women's suffrage, no political party places equality and the rights of women and minorities at the heart of its platform. At the core of the piece lies a fundamental question: why should women participate in politics? This question guides the experience and opens a dialogue with the audience. The performance blends art and civic action to spark reflection and engagement, transforming the theater into a participatory and collaborative space. D.R.I.F.T offers an immersive experience where everyone can debate and imagine priority strategies and measures for building a more inclusive and egalitarian future. It aims to counter the despair and lack of current strategies, while inviting the public to envision concrete solutions for the future.

The show discusses the relationship between misogynistic stereotypes and femicide and was created through a creative process involving a group of over 50 people from Novi Sad - from different generations, educational backgrounds and professions. "When we talk about femicide, we talk strictly about the consequences and how the perpetrator will be punished, and not about the causes, so this show talks about how culture, what we call culture, normalizes violence. We find this in songs on the radio, books and films that also promote certain attitudes and values ​​which are very questionable and normalize violence."

The show discusses the relationship between misogynistic stereotypes and femicide and was created through a creative process involving a group of over 50 people from Novi Sad - from different generations, educational backgrounds and professions. "When we talk about femicide, we talk strictly about the consequences and how the perpetrator will be punished, and not about the causes, so this show talks about how culture, what we call culture, normalizes violence. We find this in songs on the radio, books and films that also promote certain attitudes and values ​​which are very questionable and normalize violence."

Somewhere on the back of the old Earth lives a curious, entirely ordinary teenage boy. Not far from him, in the shadow of a cemetery, dwells a young vampire of about the same age who—strangely enough—can’t stand hemoglobin: he has a food intolerance! Both of them are deathly bored of birthday parties and of relatives who bombard them with intrusive questions—it’s only natural they become friends. Why wouldn’t they? A vampire sister joins them, and as a trio they slip past parents, hungry vampires, and an overzealous vampire hunter, drifting from one adventure to the next: in the children’s room, around the coffin-home, amid the suffocating clouds of scent at a perfume competition. And together they imagine what a shared future might look like - one in which they no longer have to hide their friendship.“My Friend, the Vampire” is a puppet performance by MárkuszZínház and the Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre of Timișoara, created for younger audiences while equally addressing adults. In it, Timișoara appears through the eyes of teenagers and is constantly transforming: at times an old city steeped in secrets, at others a futuristic metropolis where puppets come alive through expressive movement set to contemporary music. The performance offers multiple perspectives: children discover adventure, while adults encounter a reflection of their own world.This play is recommended for children aged eight and above.

A man lying in the sand. Washed up by the waves. There’s no knowing where he came from, where he is heading, what he wants or what he is fleeing from. Somewhere, in a distant land, he used to be king. The Prince of Tyre. But now he is only a man who has nothing but a story. This is Pericles’ story. But not only his.3h, one intermission