The Craiova International Shakespeare Festival will take place from May 21 to 31, 2026, under the theme WILL matters – an invitation to discover will as a creative force in a city that, for eleven days, transforms into an open stage. Today, Shakespeare matters as a living energy, constantly renewed through performance and the eyes of the audience.
Shakespeare’s Apprentice is a platform for new writing in dialogue with Shakespeare – a programme inviting playwrights to interrogate, reimagine, and recontextualise his works for the contemporary stage.
This year’s selected texts will be presented as staged readings directed by Mihai Gligan, with assistant directors Patricia Ile, Ilinca Maghiari, and Alexandru Mirea – students in the Theatre Directing programme at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca – and performed in the presence of the authors.
The event is presented by the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA), partners of the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival.
Selected playwrights include:
- Dmytro Ternovyi (Ukraine) – Hamlet Show or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Live
- Olga Annenko (Ukraine) – CODENAME OTHELLO
- Maria Sawicka (Poland) – When Winter Stays
- Ștefan Iancu (Romania) – Don’t Get Married after Scene 1. Shakespeare Remix
At the end of the event, the audience will vote for their favourite play. The winning text will be produced for the 2028 edition of the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival.
We proudly support our Ukrainian playwrights and hope that the presence of Ukrainian dramatists at the Shakespeare Festival will continue in 2028. This year, for example, the festival’s main programme also includes the production “Ha*l*t”, written and directed by Tamara Trunova (Ukraine).
In addition, the ESRA jury selected six works for publication in a bilingual volume to be launched at the 2028 edition of the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival. Among them are two plays by the Ukrainian playwrights mentioned above – Dmytro Ternovyi and Olga Annenko.
Congratulations to the playwrights, and best wishes for inspiring performances and new international collaborations.