HolnapUtán Festival Begins in a Week

HolnapUtán Festival, to be organized between 6–9 April, will offer guest plays by the most important theatres in the region, an exhibition, concerts, and a workshop by acting students from the Carpathian Basin.

The event series, first organized in 2013 by Szigligeti Theatre, has a new profile this year. “We have based the schedule of HolnapUtán Festival's fifth edition on a strong theatre program. Our long-term goal is for our event series to grow into a prestigios theatre festival” – main organizer Márta Fazakas has said. “Szigligeti Theatre considers it its mission to promote debutant artists, and so, when making the schedule for this year's festival, we have aimed to include as many young talents as possible” – she added.

The opening act of the festival will be the play Homemade, by Hungarian State Theatre Cluj, to be performed on the stage of Arcadia Theatre. The first big stage show of the festival will be  Naive, Completely Frivolous Details in the Life and Death of the Audience, presented by Csiky Gergely Hungarian State Theatre Timişoara, on 6 April, at 8 pm.

On the second day of the festival, 7 April, students of the University of Arts Târgu Mureş and the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest will take the stage. The former will perform at 4 pm, on the stage of Arcadia Theatre, with their semi-improvised play Kiadjamagát, while the third year acting students from Budapest will present their musical show titled George&Cole on the big stage of Szigligeti Theatre. In the performance that will start at 7 pm, they will tell the story of composers George Gershwin and Cole Porter in a playful manner. After the shows, at 10 pm, acting students from Budapest will take the stage of Szigligeti Studio, with their band called Pink Mojos and The Fuckfaces.

On 8 April, at 5 pm, an exhibition opening will take place in the White Room of Szigligeti Studio. Graphic artist László Németh will exhibit his theatre posters, after which, at 6 pm, Szigligeti Theatre will present its play Casting, before the concert by the actors' band of the theatre.

On 9 April, at 5 pm, Várad Cultural Magazine presents its second and third editions, related to theatre genres and Oradea Live. Then, a performance will take place presented by 14 acting and directing students in Szigligeti Studio, who, during the four days of the festival, will make up an impromptu play based on the work of seven Oradea debutant authors. The festival's closing show will be The Bourgeoise Gentleman by Tamási Áron Theatre Sf. Gheorghe, beginning at 7 pm, on the big stage of Szigligeti Theatre.

For all three big stage shows, festival tickets are available at a discount price, whereas regular tickets are available at the theatre's booking office (open Monday to Friday 2—7 pm, or one hour befor the start of the shows, and also online, at www.biletmaster.ro. For the concerts, the exhibition, the magazine launch and the performance, entrance is free.