Twenty plays produced in ten countries will be presented in the eleventh International Festival of Scenic Arts “Biennale of Eugene Ionesco Theater – BITEI” that is held in Chisinau between May 21 and June 15 under the theme “Make Theatre, Not War”. Besides the three existing sections – Theater, Dancing, and Music – the festival this year will also include the section Personalities of the Romanian Theater. The plays of director Alexandru Dabija will be shown in this section, IPN reports.
The festival was opened in a news conference on May 21. BITEI starts with a premiere by director Petru Vutcarau – “Oscar and the Lady in Pink”, by the novel of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. It is about a ten-year-old boy who suffers from leukemia and who spends the last 12 days of his life in the hospital together with the Lady in Pink, an old nurse who teaches him to defy death, writing by a letter to God in each of those days.
The festival also includes a Moldavian Showcase with plays of “Eugene Ionesco” Theater and of “Ginta Latina” Theater. Among the famous names of the biennale is the Paris company BRAF that consists of two musicians – Paul Staicu from Romania and Laurent Cirade from France, who became famous all over the world with the performance “Duel Opus 2” etc.
Asked by IPN, the BRAF artists said they will present a burlesque frenzy. It will simultaneously be a performance of music of all kinds – classical, jazz, and hip-hop, said Paul Staicu. “A duel between two musicians. In the musical language, we cannot find words, if only several in Romanian,” said Laurent Cirade.
Owing to the political conjuncture, the Georgian theater will not come to Chisinau, said Val Butnaru, artistic director of “Eugene Ionesco” Theater. The famous English theater “Shakespeare's Globe” may be late because it is on a tour in Kiev.
The daily program of the biennale will end with musical soirees and informal discussions within the BITEI Club. Tickets are available from the booking office of “Eugene Ionesco” Theater for 80 to 200 lei. They can be also purchased on the website www.iticket.md.
Attending the news conference, Minister of Culture Monica Babuc said that despite the financial problems faced, they managed to contribute 1 million lei to organizing the festival.
By a Government decision this April, BITEI was declared a large-scale cultural event at state level and was conferred the status International Festival of Scenic Arts.
