Ten editions, countless encounters — Anniversary year for the Interferences International Theatre Festival

Between November 10 and 22, the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj will host the Interferences International Theatre Festival for its tenth edition.

Over the course of 13 days, this anniversary edition will welcome companies and artists from 14 countries to Cluj. The festival program features 23 theater and dance performances, as well as two concerts; in addition, audience meet-and-greets, professional roundtables, book launches, and exhibitions await visitors.

Gábor Tompa, the festival director, said at a press conference preceding the event that the name “Interferences” also expresses the festival’s underlying concept, as Cluj is itself a meeting point of different cultures, where diverse traditions and worldviews coexist and influence one another.

From the very beginning, the festival has strived to bring leading artists and theater companies from the international theater scene to Cluj-Napoca, creating opportunities to explore different artistic perspectives and foster dialogue.

In 2023, the Romanian Theatre Association (UNITER) recognized the festival’s work with the Ion Caramitru Award for Excellence. This anniversary edition both looks back on the festival’s history to date and offers a glimpse into the diverse world of contemporary theater.

This year’s festival program features the work of numerous leading directors from the international theater scene. Among others, audiences can experience productions directed by Emma Dante, Silviu Purcărete, Dejan Projkovski, Josef Nadj, Gábor Tompa, Frank Hoffmann, András Urbán, Luk Perceval, Kinga Mezei, Sue Buckmaster, Jarosław Fret, and Dragoș Galgoțiu.

The festival begins on November 10 with a performance of Alma Mahler by the Stoyan Bachvarov State Theater in Varna, directed by Dejan Projkovski. In the following days, London’s Akram Khan Company will bring its dance performance Chotto Desh to Cluj-Napoca, directed by Sue Buckmaster, while the Zentai Hungarian Chamber Theater from Vojvodina and the Magyarkanizsa Regional Creative Workshop will present the production Nighttime, directed by Kinga Mezei.

The program places special emphasis on artists who, through their unique theatrical language, have become defining figures in contemporary European theater. The festival will feature Italian playwright and director Emma Dante with her production of The Angel of the Hearth, Josef Nadj — who leads the French company Atelier 3+1 — with the production of Dialogues in the Dream, and Belgian Luk Perceval with the Kraków-based Stary Teatr’s production of Once Upon a Long Day.

Other key figures in the international lineup include the Polish Jarosław Fret, whose production The Maids. Materials will be presented, as well as the Luxembourgish Frank Hoffmann, who is bringing his production Dream Story — based on Arthur Schnitzler — to Cluj-Napoca.

Two leading directors from the Romanian theater scene are also featured in the program of this anniversary edition: Silviu Purcărete with his production of The Incompatable Story of Abul Hossein the Yemeni and His Flight into the Desert from the Radu Stanca National Theater in Sibiu, and Dragoș Galgoțiu with a stage adaptation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Death and The Fool, which he directed at the Tony Bulandra Theater in Târgoviște.

The festival’s geographical and genre diversity is further enriched by Snow, Snow, Snow, directed by South Korean Park Ji-hye, starring Lee Jaram— an internationally recognized performer of the Korean pansori genre — who is returning to Interferences for the fifth time. The program also features Filip Grinvald’s performance Warm from Montenegro, as well as the production The Seagull, Open Rehearsal by Santiago Cortegoso and Neto Portela from Galicia. Belgrade’s Yugoslav Drama Theater, directed by Nataša Radulović, will present the production The Picture of Dorian Gray, while Barcelona’s Festival Temporada Alta & Teatre Nacional de Catalunya will participate in the festival with the production Greed by Pau Matas Nogué and Emmy Award-winning Oriol Pla Solina. In addition to the opening performance, another significant figure in Bulgarian theater — and a returning guest of Interferences — Margarita Mladenova is also featured in the program of this anniversary edition. This time, the director is coming to Cluj-Napoca with the Sofia-based Sfumato Theatre Laboratory’s production The Face of the Neighbor, based on a work by Dostoevsky.

Hungarian-language theater productions also feature prominently in the program. Kinga Mezei’s two productions, Nighttime and the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj’s I Am Not Here, are joined by three productions directed by Gábor Tompa: the Northern Theater of Satu Mare – György Harag Company’s production of The Bald Soprano, as well as the Cluj-Napoca company’s productions of Exit the King and I Am the Wind. The latest production by the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, Dead Souls, directed by István K. Szabó, is also included in the festival program.

The festival’s program is further enriched by the Székesfehérvár Ballet Theater’s production of Don Quixote, directed and choreographed by Attila Egerházi, Iratxe Ansa, and Igor Bacovich.

In addition to the performances, the program also features two special musical events.

Lucian Ban, a New York-based artist originally from Cluj-Napoca, and the Elevation quartet will present their new album titled RUSH, while on the festival’s closing day, Tibor Kováč, a violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic, and pianist Evgenia Votanopoulou will give a chamber music recital.

Once again this year, Interferences is not solely about the performances. In addition to the stage productions, attendees can meet numerous artists at audience meet-and-greets, which provide an opportunity to reflect together on the themes and artistic approaches of the performances. The accompanying program also features book launches, exhibitions, theater education workshops, and professional discussions. As a special event, Constantin Chiriac and Gábor Tompa will discuss Transylvania’s major international theater festivals.

This anniversary edition also provides an opportunity to look back on the festival’s history to date. The exhibition titled Interferences: Nine Editions in Pictures offers a selection of defining moments from recent years.

The festival is co-organized by the Corvineum Foundation, with the Ministry of Culture, the European Theater Union, and the Mayor’s Office and City Council of Cluj-Napoca serving as its main sponsors.

The event is made possible with the support of the Office for Interethnic Relations, the Communitas Foundation, Energobit, the Cluj County Council, the Government of Hungary, and the Bethlen Gábor Fund.

Transportation partner: RMB Inter Auto.

Institutional partners: Cluj-Napoca National Theater, Cluj-Napoca Romanian Opera, the Cluj-Napoca Museum of Art, Babeș-Bolyai University, the Cluj-Napoca Transilvania State Philharmonic, and MOME.

The detailed program of the festival can be found on the official website of the Interferences International Theatre Festival, at interferences-huntheater.ro/2026/.

All performances feature Hungarian, Romanian, and English subtitles!

Tickets for the performances in the festival program can be purchased online at huntheater.biletmaster.ro, as well as at the theater box office, which will be open from November 10–22 on an exceptional basis from 10:00 a.m. until the start time of the day's last performance.

Please note that the theater reserves the right to make changes to the program!