Silviu Purcărete, born in Bucharest in 1950, is one of the most famous Romanian theatre directors, having an impressive career that has brought him appreciation beyond the borders of his native country. The multitude of national and international awards or his presence at many of the major theatrical events and festivals of the world stand out for this fact.
After graduating the Theatre and Film Academy in Bucharest, Silviu Purcărete was, starting from 1974, theatre director in Piatra Neamț, Constanța, Bucharest, Craiova and Sibiu, professor at the Academy of Theatre and Film in Bucharest and manager of the “Bulandra” Theatre in Bucharest. In 1996, he became director of “Théâtre de l’Union” – Centre Dramatique National du Limousin (France), where he created a school for young actors.
He also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Nottingham Playhouse (England), Burgtheater (Austria), Det Norske Teatret (Norway), São João National Theatre (Portugal), “Katona József” Theatre in Budapest, National Theatre of Budapest and Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen (Hungary), La Comédie de Saint-Etienne (France), Vakhtangov Theatre of Moscow and Baltic House Theatre Company of Sankt Petersburg (Russia), Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre (Japan), as well as for the Opera houses in Bonn, Glasgow, Cardiff, Vienna, Nancy, Essen.
Awards received include the Critics' Prize and the Hamada Foundation Award for Artistic Excellence (Edinburgh International Festival, 1991), the Golden Globe Peter Brook Prize for Best Theatre Direction in 1995, the Special Jury Prize at the International Shakespeare Festival, Gdansk (2006) and the Europe Prize for Theatre - Special Award, Craiova 2016.
Renowned for his special style that turns any performance into a powerful and cathartic experience, Silviu Purcărete shows a real interest especially for the “classical” literary repertoire, approaching various patterns that consist of ancient tragedies (“Miles Gloriosus”, after Plautus, “Phaedra”, after Seneca and Euripides; “Danaids” and “Oresteia”, both after Aeschylus; “Oidip”, after Sophocles), Shakespearean plays (“Titus Andronicus”, “As You Like It”, “Measure for Measure”, “A Winter’s Tale” and “The Tempest”), or other great literary masterpieces of humanity (“Decameron 645”, after Boccaccio; “Three Sisters”, after Chekhov; “The Mountain Giants”, by Luigi Pirandello; “Exit the King”, by Eugene Ionesco; “Pantagruel’s Sister-in-law”, after François Rabelais; “Faust”, after Goethe, etc.). At the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre of Sibiu, Silviu Purcărete created “Pilaf Rice and Scent of Donkey” (after “Arabian Nights”), “Lulu” (after Wedekind), “Metamorphoses” (after Ovid), “Gulliver’s Travels” (after Jonathan Swift), “Carnival Stuff” (after I.L. Caragiale), “Oidip” (after Sophocles), “Waiting for Godot” (after Samuel Beckett), as well as the famous “Faust” (after Goethe), which has already become an indisputable performance of the Romanian and international stage in the last decades. The most recent performances bearing his signature for the Sibiu National Theatre is “The Scarlet Princess”, which reinterprets the kabuki convention in a Brechtian key, and “Games, words, crickets…”, a poetic praise highlighting the most distinctive visual features of the director.
Constantin Chiriac:
''Theatre, opera and film director, director of Bulandra Theatre, director of the Limoges National Dramatic Center, founder of the theatre school in Limoges, France, Silviu Purcărete receives a star on the Sibiu Walk of Fame for the great creations staged at the National Theatre of Craiova, the National Theatre of Sibiu, Katona Jozef Theatre Budapest, Royal Shakespeare Company, the Scottish Opera, Nottingham Playhouse, Bonn Opera, Dramatic Centre Limoges, Wiener Staatsoper, and the triumph recorded by his creations at several important festivals: Edinburgh, Tokyo, Melbourne, Avignon, Wienner Fest Wochen, Montreal, Glasgow and Sibiu.''
Star offered with the support of: Banca Transilvania
