The Hungarian Theatre of Cluj awaits its audience with a varied line-up during the first week of the 20th Festival of the Union of European Theatres: in addition to the theatre's repertoire, there will also be several guest performances presented by international companies.

Between November 6-12 the latest performances of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj will be part of the HTC230/STUDIO15/UTEFest20 international theatre festival's programme: on Monday, November 6, at 8 pm, the production of Elektra, based on the tragedy of Sophocles - director Botond Nagy - will be presented in the theatre's studio hall; on Thursday, November 9, at 7 pm, the festival will present László Bocsárdi's stage adaptation of Zsigmond Móricz's realistic novel Relatives in the studio space set up on the main stage, while on Saturday, November 11, at 7 pm, festival audiences will be able to attend the highly popular production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Attila Vidnyánszky Jr., which has been a hit for four seasons also on the main stage of the theatre, in the specially designed studio space.

On Saturday, November 11, at 5 pm, the new book by Adrienne Darvay Nagy titled Az idő lenyomata: Tompa Gábor Hamletjei és az erdélyi reteatralizációi [The Imprint of Time: Gábor Tompa's Hamlets and the Retheatralizations of Transylvania] will be presented in the upstairs lobby of the theatre. Dramaturg Katalin Demeter will be in conversation with Adrienne Darvay Nagy.

On Tuesday, 7 November at 7 pm, the Szolnok Szigligeti Theatre will present a guest performance of Molière's well-known comedy The Miser, directed by Máté Szabó and starring Zoltán Mucsi, Jászai Mari Prize-winning actor.

"What and how this work is confronting us is very complex. There is a fixed, unchangeable factor represented by a person who is dominant in a certain medium, and within that medium, a community whose lives are definitely influenced and limited by it. The question is how they can relate to it. By desperation, opportunism, complicity, deceit, apparent submission, rebellion, freezing. The structure of the juxtaposition of love and obsession with money is quite masterful. And it's all happening in front of us, like on a surgical table, presented with plenty of humour." - Máté Szabó, director of the production.

On Wednesday, November 8, at 8 pm, the Luxembourg National Theatre's production of The Chairs, directed by Gábor Tompa, will be shown in the theatre's studio. Based on the play by Eugène Ionesco, the production stars French actor-director Patrick Le Mauff and Romanian actress Oana Pellea.

“A text spoken in French, broken into a thousand dimensions, echoes, phrases and accents by the huge 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 production.

On Friday, 10 November, from 5 pm and 9 pm respectively, festival audiences will be able to see Nina Šorak's staging of The Children in the studio of the theatre, performed by three outstanding actors of the Slovenian National Drama Theatre in Ljubljana.

“The trio of actors portraying different characters is extremely well-coordinated among themselves, their collective expression is meticulously crafted, yet also remarkably performance-natural and relaxed. This, despite the clearly established fourth wall, continues to create an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy.” – stated Kaja Novosel about the performance.

On Sunday, November 12, from 5 pm and 8 pm respectively, the final performance of the festival's first week will be Terribly Funny based on Terribly Sad, directed by Ewa Kaim. The Polish-language production is a guest production of the Helena Modrzejewska National Theatre (Stary Teatr) of Krakow.

“We built a totally new world around Fred Apke’s play. It served us as an ironic close-up on two people grappling with the tragedy of loss. We posed questions about the possibility of forging bonds, closeness, sensitivity, all over again. Through comedy we speak of a very difficult moment in their lives, maybe the most difficult.” – said director Ewa Kaim about the production.

After each performance - and after the second performance in the case of two consecutive studio performances - there will be an audience meeting with the creators in the upstairs lobby.

All performances are available with Hungarian, Romanian and English surtitles.

The programme of the HTC230/STUDIO15/UTEFest20 festival is available on the website of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, huntheater.ro.

Tickets for the festival's performances can be purchased at the theatre's box office or online at www.biletmaster.ro. During UTEFest, between November 4-19 the theatre's box office is open daily from 10 am until the beginning of the day's last performance.

HTC230/STUDIO15/UTEFest20 ticket sale for the main hall performances of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj:

• Audience members who buy tickets for 3 main stage performances will have to pay 100 lei for the 3 tickets in total.
• For groups of more than 10 people, a group ticket of 30 lei each can be purchased.
• Student tickets are 30 lei per person.

The 3-ticket offer and group tickets are only valid for tickets purchased in person at the theatre's box office.

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The festival is co-organized by the Corvineum Foundation and the Union of European Theatres, 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 Office for Interethnic Relations, Energobit, the Communitas Foundation and UNITER. Transportation partner: RMB Inter Auto.

The festival organizers reserve the right to change the program.