The official opening of the 8th Interferences International Theatre Festival will take place on Thursday, November 17, at 6 pm in the upstairs foyer of the theatre, which will be followed by two exhibition openings at the same location. The first is Eternal Yorick - Life Book Csaba Antal, an exhibition of set and costume designer Csaba Antal's life work, about whom Georges Banu said: "...Csaba Antal belongs to a family of artists who believe in the power of theatre to create the world. And this exhibition confirms it beyond any doubt."

This will be followed by the opening of Les Loges, an immersive installation by Joris Mathieu and Nicolas Boudier, in collaboration with Haut et Court, also in the upstairs foyer of the theatre. Produced by Théâtre Nouvelle Génération - Centre dramatique national de Lyon. Presented by the French Institute of Romania - Cluj-Napoca.

“The installation uses an optical theatre device that makes the actors and actresses seem eerily real. The performers appear virtually in 3D, facing the viewer, in a space that feels like it has true depth. Our goal is to bring together each viewer with an actor or actress and a play by a contemporary author.” – reads the description of the installation.

The Eternal Yorick - Life Book Csaba Antal exhibition and Les Loges installation will be accessible throughout the festival.

This year's edition of the festival entitled Fear / Hope opens with a series of national and international performances, starting with Gábor Tompa's staging of Hamlet, performed by the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, starring Miklós Vecsei H. The performance will take place on Thursday, November 17, at 7 pm on the theatre's Main Stage.

“Gábor Tompa's Hamlet is spectacular primarily because of the spectacular quality of his directorial solutions. One feels behind what one sees the joy of creation, the endless playfulness to which an ever-young, available and surprising creator indulges. A play that opens up, not infrequently, into serious discourse... The direction is everywhere in this show, sometimes, yes, in excess, but how adorable this excess is!” – wrote Călin Ciobotari about the performance.

A discussion with the creators of Hamlet will also take place the next day, November 18, from 10 am at TIFF House.

On Friday, November 18, the second day of the festival, from 6 pm, the adaptation of Oedipus by contemporary English author Robert Icke will be presented. Directed by Andrei Șerban, the production premiered at the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj within the 2021/2022 season.

"We travel back in time with Oedipus to find out the truth, to discover who he is. At first he arrogantly thinks he knows everything, that he will give people the solution to the past and the future, yet in the end he realizes he knows nothing. It was all an illusion and a lie, and that somehow makes us all wonder who we are, what our identity is, why we were born, where we are going. These are questions that, like Oedipus, we can all ask ourselves... " – notes Andrei Şerban, director of the production.

On Friday, November 18, at 9 pm and on Saturday, November 19 at 7 pm, the Luxembourg National Theatre will present The Chairs, directed by Gábor Tompa, in the theatre's Studio. The two leading actors of the play are actor-director Patrick Le Mauff and Romanian actress Oana Pellea.

"A text spoken in French, broken into thousands of dimensions, echoes, phrases and accents by the enormous talent of the two actors, with Oana Pellea in top form, perfectly mastering a language that suits her so well. A masterclass in acting, directing and set design, a higher level of understanding of one's role in decoding and recoding Ionesco's text." – wrote Dan Boicea about the performance.

An audience meeting with the creators of Oedipus and The Chairs will take place the next day, November 19, from 10 am at Tiff House.

On Saturday, November 19, at 12 noon, two book launches will take place at TIFF House, in collaboration with the Camil Petrescu Cultural Foundation and the Teatrul Azi magazine. The recently published Camil Petrescu - Interviuri [Interviews], edited by Florica Ichim and Alexandru Buican, and the anthology Federico García Lorca: Teatru [Theatre], edited by Ioana Anghel, will be presented by Oana Borș and Irina Zlotea.

Also on Saturday, November 19, at 9 pm, on the theatre's Main Stage, the world-renowned choreographer Josef Nadj will present a co-production of the Parisian company Atelier 3+1, entitled Omma.

“Josef Nadj has embarked his artists on a voyage to the roots of dance that might reveal the equilibrium of our universe. Echoing the circle of life, this new choreographic piece looks into something essential: our ability to look at what’s in front of us so we can better see what lies deep within us, in a common destiny. Hence, omma’s ancient Greek meaning shines new light: ‘eye’ but also ‘what is seen or looked at’. There lies an invitation to keep our senses awake so we can better capture this dance, dedicated to the genesis of humanity.” – stated the creators of the performance.

An audience meeting with the creators of Omma will take place the next day, November 20, at 10 am at Tiff House.

The festival is co-organised by the Corvineum Foundation, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Government of Hungary and the Bethlen Gábor Fund, as well as the Cluj-Napoca City Hall and City Council. The event is supported by the European Theatre Union, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Office for Interethnic Relations, Energobit, the Communitas Foundation and the Cluj County Council. Its main partners are TIFF House, Transit House, Romanian Opera of Cluj, UNITER. Mobility partner: RMB Inter Auto.

Tickets for the performances featured in the festival are available online at www.biletmaster.ro and at the theatre's ticket office.

The theatre's ticket office will be open from 10 am to 10 pm daily during the festival, between November 17 and 27.

The theatre reserves the right to alter the programme!