GSA at the International Festival of Theatre, Sibiu
In June 2024, The Guildford School of Acting participated in the International Festival of Theatre in Sibiu (FITS 2024), Romania.
The festival spans 10 days and includes theatre, dance, music, circus, opera, street performance, talks, workshops and more. There were over 800 events included in the program and 5000 artists from 82 countries participated. In addition to the performance programme, there is a
- PhD Forum at which academics and postgraduate research students meet and share their work,
- a forum for discussing theatre and architecture, led by the Therme Group,
- a universities’ festival strand with over 20 groups from around the world sharing their work and so much more.
As a result of the University of Surrey’s partnership with the Therme Group, GSA was invited to take a student performance to the festival and to participate in the PhD Forum.
Grimm’s Tales
A group of 10 students from the BA (Hons) Actor-Musician programme created a 45-minute performance of Grimm's Tales re-told by master story-teller Phillip Pullman and adapted for the stage by Philip Wilson. These Grimm Tales were first performed as immersive storytelling experiences underneath Shoreditch Town Hall, London, in 2014, and Bargehouse on the South Bank in 2015. For FITS 2024, we selected Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and the less well-known, The Three Snake Leaves.
GSA’s Niall Bailey and Rachael Kerridge were musical director and direction/choreographer for the piece. Together with Abigail Lockyer (MA Stage and Production Management student) who was stage manager for the production and GSA events technician Charlie Hester, the 14-strong group spent 10 days experiencing the festival, the city and the surrounding area. They rehearsed at the Lucian Blaga University, in the Faculty of Arts and Letters studio space which was kindly arranged by the festival team.
Gong Theatre
GSA was allocated the beautiful Gong Theatre as their venue. The Gong Theatre opened in in 1949 and the theatre quickly became one of the leading establishments of performing arts for children and young people. During the communist era, the plays that were permitted we very restricted. Only after the fall of communism in 1989, with the political changes that took place, did the theatre expand its permanent repertoire to house over 88 shows ranging from live performances and puppet theatre.
The show was performed on Saturday 29 June to a full house and the audience was extremely generous with their energy and applause, giving a standing ovation!
PhD Forum
Professor Robert Shaughnessy and PhD student Evey Wilde presented at the Phd Forum strand of the Festival on 21 and 22 June, having the opportunity to meet peers from other universities from Europe and beyond. The PhD Forum was a meeting of leading international theatre scholars, practitioners and PhD researchers, and the theme was ‘Visual Theatricality/Performative Visuality’.
FITS 2024
Collectively, the GSA delegation saw a wide range of theatre and performances from around the world throughout the 10-day trip, including the highly acclaimed In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès, performed by John Malkovitch and Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Afrique en Cirque by Cirque Kalabanté, a company from Canada with a high energy and outrageously skills show that is coming to London and Edinburgh this summer (we highly recommend it!), and Beauty Beyond Words by Yang Yang, directed by Hu Huaibei and performed by the Beijing Dance Academy.
Professor Catherine McNamara (Head of GSA) and Pippa Treharne (GSA’s Operations and Engagement Manager) were fortunate to spend time with Dr Robert Hanea, the CEO of the Therme Group and Elena Morariu, Strategic Cultural Advisor Therme Group/Programme Manager for the Therme Forum. The delegations was welcomed so warmly by the FITS 2024 team led by Dr Luminița Bîrsan, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the Lucian Blaga University/lead for the Universities strand of FITS 2024.
Picture shows Dr Robert Hanea and Professor Catherine McNamara
“I had a wonderful time throughout the trip and rehearsal process, and feel as though it has enhanced my training by giving me a glimpse of global performance pathways. I loved meeting so many different performers from across the world, all in the same stage of training, and sharing our experiences… I feel honoured to have represented GSA at this event, and I hope it has opened up similar opportunities for other students in the future.”
BA (Hons) Actor-Musician studentOne of the students from the BA (Hons) Actor-Musician programme said, upon returning:
“I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to travel to a new place and be surrounded by creatives from all the over the world, and connect with like-minded people and see and hear about the incredible work they’re doing. I learnt so much from the whole process, from putting together the show so quickly to facing the reality of performing in a whole different country. I also feel so privileged to have been able to share our work, and get the word out about what actor-musicianship is. It feels really exciting to have met all these people and it really feels now that by pursuing this art as a career and taking on this trade that we are part of something much bigger. That’s something I think I’ll carry with me on into the rest of my life.”
Professor Catherine McNamara added:
“So many people welcomed us to the city of Sibiu and supported us during our visit. We are grateful for the amazing experience of participating in such an incredible, world-renowned theatre festival, performing, presenting and meeting so many wonderful creative artists from around the world. Sibiu is a beautiful city and we would return to the festival next year in a heart-beat!”
We were delighted to see that The Stage picked up our presence at the festival:
"These young actors, brought together by the festival, are gaining a unique opportunity for cultural exchange. It illustrates that creative growth must not simply be about economic investment but also talent development. At a time when Europe may seem more divided and the impacts of Brexit continue to bite, the fact that many of these young participants – who will soon enter the global theatre industry – can come to FITS as artists in their own right to listen, learn from each other and meet other experienced practitioners, instils in them the principles and art of cross collaboration." Richard Jordan, The Stage
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