The first day of this edition of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival brought back magical rhythms to the streets, inspired words and an overflow of talent to indoor spaces!

 

Conferences, shows, concerts, exhibitions, but, above all, re-encounters, applause and emotion enlivened yesterday, in Sibiu, over a hundred thousand spectators!

  

The Festival was officially opened by Mr. Constantin Chiriac, President of FITS and Director General of TNRS, in an event hosted at the new headquarters of NTT Data, technology partner of the Festival, and attended by E.S. Hiroshi Ueda - Ambassador of Japan in Romania, H.S. Emil Hurezeanu - Ambassador of Romania in Austria, Mr. Lucian Romașcanu - Minister of Culture, Mrs. Corina Bokor, Vice Mayor, Sibiu Municipality, Mr. Daniel Metz - founder of NTT Data, Romania, Mr. Kaz Nishihata, Representative Director and Senior Executive Vice President of NTT Data. Those present could also enjoy a short performance by artists from the Yamamoto Noh Theatre.

 

The exhibitions featured as part of the Visual Arts Platform (PAV) - a special program included within FITS - also await their visitors, starting yesterday, with a new edition of the Horizontal Newspaper - to be read at leisure on the TNRS Exterior Wall.

 

Children also enjoyed special moments yesterday at FITS. The Spanish company Toc de Fusta prepared for them in Sibiu’s Small Square an installation with 21 spaces that the little ones (and the big ones!) could explore to their heart's content. The performance "Shipwrecked on the island of childhood" takes place twice a day until June 27, in Sibiu’s Small Square, and on July 2 and 3 in Cisnădioara. Access is free.

 

Another event held yesterday at FITS was the launch of the volume "Revolutions - Polish contemporary theatre anthology". A unique moment of the day was marked by the performance of the Brits from NOCTURN & Spin Arts. The Festival of Drama Schools and Cultural Management, the most important event of its kind in Europe, offers the audience landmark performances of drama schools from all over the world. On the first day of FITS 2022, as part of this project, the audience could watch the performance "A Thousand Angels".

 

In the evening, FITS guests were able to watch some of the most anticipated performances of the festival: Mr. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran, a production by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt & Théâtre Rive Gauche, The Woman of the Sea, by the "Marin Sorescu" National Theatre in Craiova, directed by: Andriy Zholdak, The Need for Truth, by Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Chairs - Théâtre national du Luxembourg, 3Sisters - TR Warszawa, National Stary Theatre in Cracow, but also The King Dies, by Theater in der Josefstadt, directed by Claus Peymann, who this year receives a star on the Walk of Fame.

 

The day of indoor theatre ended with Love/Amore, Pippo Delbono's performance, which received standing ovations at the "Ion Besoiu" Cultural Centre, and which will be performed again today at 7 p.m.

 

 

Sibiu’s Large Square was not large enough for the audience that came to watch the French company CirkVOST, but also the concert of the Colombians from Puerto Candelaria - an event broadcast live on TikTok that enjoyed, online, an audience of almost ten thousand people.

 

The first day of FITS 2022 ended with a fantastic drone and laser show by EVSKY & KLS Lasers (Romania), to the music of the incomparable George Enescu. Tens of thousands of people applauded the performance, from Corneliu Coposu Street, which was closed to car traffic for the moment, but also from Sibiu’s Large Square or online, where the #findBeauty show was broadcast live.