The 14th edition of the International Shakespeare Festival that took place in Craiova, between May 16 and 26, brought together over 200,000 visitors at over 380 events in over 70 indoor and outdoor places, according to one of the organisers, the Marin Sorescu National Theatre House.
The event is said to have been attended by artists and audiences from over 30 countries, and this year's edition celebrated the 30th anniversary of the festival, "an edition as a journey into space and time, from 1600, from Shakespeare Village to the future, in Shakespeare Dimensions: a foray into virtual reality in a multimedia cube based on artificial intelligence."
"Online, over 5 million users in Romania and 93 other countries interacted with the International Shakespeare Festival, while the Shakespeare Caravan, held in 30 cities in Romania, drew over 1,200,000 people. The performance halls of Craiova became too small for the productions signed by the greatest theatre directors in the world - Robert Wilson, Peter Brook, Declan Donnellan, Robert Lepage, Philip Parr, Jesus Herrera, Christian Friedel and others," the theatre house says in a press statement.
Starting from the concept "communities build the festival," this year's edition of the International Shakespeare Festival transformed the city into a huge open-air stage and occasioned the intrinsic participation of the public in the Shakespearean show, in outdoor performances and performances built by an independent scene in the city around the pop-up concept. A Tiger Lilies concert in front of the National Theatre kicked off over 100 open-air performances joined by over 50 pop-up performances, built with the help of the audience.
Built from scratch on the Craiova Hippodrome, Shakespeare Village, a replica of a traditional English village from 1600, hosted theatre performances, workshops, activities for children and daytime activities, while evenings were dedicated to concerts and parties.
Organisers of this year's edition of the International Shakespeare Festival were the Shakespeare Foundation, the Marin Sorescu National Theatre House of Craiova, the I.L. Caragiale National University of Drama and Filmmaking of Bucharest, funded by the Craiova City Hall and the Local Council of Craiova, the Ministry of Culture, Dolj County Council, the Ministry of Education, and the Romanian Cultural Institute.
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