On Tuesday, November 10, the 10th anniversary edition of the Interferences International Theatre Festival kicks off, hosting outstanding artists and companies from the international contemporary theater scene in Cluj through November 22. Alma Mahler’s eventful life, Akram Khan’s dance theatre, János Pilinszky’s poetry, Emma Dante’s harrowing family history, and András Urbán’s absurd humor — all of this is on the program of the first three days of the Interferences International Theatre Festival.

On the first day of the festival, Tuesday, November 10, starting at 6:00 p.m., the opening of the exhibition titled Interferences: Nine Editions in Pictures will take place in the theater’s upstairs lobby, recalling memorable moments from the past nine editions of the festival. The exhibition will be open to the public throughout the entire duration of the Interferences International Theatre Festival.

The opening performance of this anniversary edition is the production Alma Mahler by the Theater and Music Production Center in Varna and the Stoyan Bachvarov State Theater, which the audience can see starting at 7:00 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj. Based on a script by Sasho Dimoski and directed by Dejan Projkovski, the production focuses on the extraordinary life of an extraordinary woman.

Alma Mahler was one of the defining figures of the early 20th-century Viennese art world, whose life was closely intertwined with the most significant artists of her time. Composer Gustav Mahler, painter Gustav Klimt, architect Walter Gropius, visual artist Oskar Kokoschka, and writer Franz Werfel all played important roles in her life. Known as the muse of these artists, however, she herself harbored ambitions as a composer. Her story revolves around questions of self-realization, creative freedom, and identity: must a talented woman be content with inspiring others, or does she have the right to shine in her own light?

On the second day of the festival, November 11, at 7:00 p.m., the audience can see the London-based Akram Khan Company’s performance titled Chotto Desh in the main hall of the Lucian Blaga National Theater in Cluj-Napoca.

Akram Khan is an internationally recognized figure in contemporary dance, whose distinctive choreographic language is defined by a fusion of the classical Indian Kathak dance tradition and contemporary dance. Cultural identity, memory, and the intersection of different traditions play a central role in his work.

Chotto Desh, whose title means “little homeland,” explores the cultural ties between Great Britain and Bangladesh through the dreams and memories of a young boy. The production addresses themes of family, the search for home, and the sense of belonging, while blending dance, storytelling, animation, and music. The original choreography is by Akram Khan, and the family-friendly version was directed and adapted by Sue Buckmaster. Recommended for ages five and up, the performance offers a special theatrical experience for children and adults alike.

Also on this day, Nighttime, a joint production by the Zentai Hungarian Chamber Theater in Vojvodina and the Magyarkanizsa Regional Creative Workshop, will be performed. Based on the poetry of János Pilinszky and directed by Kinga Mezei, the performance will be presented twice — at 5 p.m. and at 9 p.m. — in the theater’s Studio.

Drawing inspiration from the poetry of János Pilinszky, the performance seeks to speak in essence, in the language of poetry, about the spiritual and intellectual rootlessness of modern man, the struggle between the beauty and destruction of the created world, human unworthiness, and the alarming hopelessness of our times. Pilinszky confronts us with the fundamental questions of existence. The central themes of his poetry are loneliness and reckoning, the alienation of modern man, passing and letting go, self-examination and the search for self, salvation, hope, mercy, and grace but above all, the religiously rooted experiences of homelessness and finding one’s way home.

On the third day, November 12 at 8:00 p.m., Emma Dante’s production The Angel of the Hearth will be performed in the Main Hall of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj. The production by the Palermo-based Compagnia Sud Costa Occidentale was written and directed by Emma Dante.

Emma Dante is one of the leading figures in Italian and European contemporary theater, having created a significant body of work as a director, playwright, film director, and opera director. Recurring themes in her theatrical world include family relationships, the fate of people marginalized by society, violence, and vulnerability. Her productions are characterized by a distinctive, powerful theatrical language interwoven with often grotesque humor.

In 1999, she founded the Sud Costa Occidentale theater company in Palermo, with which she has earned numerous prestigious professional accolades. She has won the Ubu Prize — one of the most important awards in Italian theater — on multiple occasions, as well as the Gassmann Prize and the Italian Theater Critics’ Award. In June 2026, she was honored with the Golden Lion, the Venice Biennale’s lifetime achievement award for theater.

The Angel of the Hearth tells the harrowing story of domestic violence. At its center is a woman who is murdered by her husband, yet even after her death, she must return again and again to her daily chores. Housework, caring for family members, and enduring violence become an endless cycle. Emma Dante’s production examines how the daily humiliations and threats build up into the violence that ultimately leads to tragedy.

On the same day, the Kosztolányi Dezső Theater in Subotica will present Bill Is Back twice — at 5:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. — in the theater’s Studio. Based on the work by Béla Szegedi-Szabó, the production was directed by András Urbán, who is returning to Cluj-Napoca for the seventh time with his productions.

The story transports viewers into a truly peculiar world: Elvis Presley is alive and working for the U.S. government. Bill Sheridan, founder of the Church of Rabbit Lovers in Nevada, is thawed out of hibernation in Arizona to begin proselytizing in the Northern Great Plain. In the background, an extraordinary art heist is unfolding. The prophet’s journey leads him through a world of doubts, turkeys, angels, and local alcoholics, while the international situation continues to escalate…

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

The event is made possible with the support of the Office for Interethnic Relations, the Communitas Foundation, Energobit, the Cluj County Council, as well as 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 evening's last performance.

The theater reserves the right to make changes to the program!