A Case Study:

Multiculturalism in Performing

Arts during Sibiu European

Capital of Culture, 2007. Radu

Stanca National Theatre

Perfromances

Ion M. TomusAssistant Professor, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, ROMANIA

multiculturalism in performing arts

•artistic implications

•multiculturalism belongs to postmodernism

•the need to emphasize multiculturalism’s artistic implications

Important advantages of Sibiu before 2007

• the city has always been multicultural

• the oldest theatre in Romania

• the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu - an event that gathers an impressive ammount of artists, with many multicultural implications

•very active - cultural and artistic

Theatre in Sibiu

•established in 1788, in The Thick Tower of the defense wall

• the German and the Romanian companies have always shared the stage

The Philarmonic

Radu Stanca National Theatre

Three types of productions

• indoor

•outdoor (public spaces)

•non conventional locations (old communist factory halls)

The Balldirected by Radu Alexandru Nica

•remarkable group of young actors, directed by an also young and bold director

•originally, the idea was Theatre du Campagnol’s, but was perfectly adapted to Romania’s culture and history

•everything is built on music and dance - there is no text

• there is no hero of the play

Time for Love, Time for Death, by Fritz Kater

directed by Radu Alexandru Nica

•the production gets immediate emotional and social reactions from the young spectators

•History is a good pretext for drama

The Nose, by Gogoldirected by Alexandru Dabija

• it casts two well-known Romanian artists: an actress and a rap performer

•the director aimed to deconstruct the comical mechanism in Gogol’s play

•strong and intense interaction with the audience

•brilliant example of subtle multiculturalism: hip hop music / classic Russian text / basic stage technology

The Seagull, by A. P. Chekhovdirected by Andrei Serban

•multicultural through the subtext and its implications

•the director used a series of yoga exercises during the rehearsals

•based on ‘theatre within the theatre’

• it questions the meaning of art, especially in a society with different cultures and preocupations

Othello?!, based on W. Shakespearedirected by Andryi Zholdak

•by the book postmodernism on stage

•the text itself has a multicultural aspect (Othello is a stranger in Venice, where he was accepted)

•the production was made by an international team

Life with an Idiot, based on Victor Erofeev

directed by Andryi Zholdak

•multicultural aspects of consumerism

•moques TV and reality shows, amplifying their impact on people

•by the book postmodernism on stage

Metamorphosis, based on Oviddirected by Silviu Purcarete

•based on a text written by Ovid when he was in exile, with deep mythical and multicultural meanings

•extremely spectacular

•visual metaphors of the human condition

Faust, based on Goethedirected by Silviu Purcarete

•Sibiu’s most important production

•mixture of postmodernism and classic theatre

•mythical and religious implications

•multicultural in sound (classic, choirs and hard rock music), image and acting techniques