Director Cătălin Mardale and playwright Andreea Tănase have worked in unconventional spaces before, but never in a bus. And that’s what they found challenging about Night Theater. Conceived exclusively for Lights On – The Night Art Festival, the play will take place in a moving electric bus and is inspired by the atmosphere of the city at night and the real stories of its inhabitants.

Initially we focused on determining the route the bus would take and the stops it would make, to reduce the number of uncertainties. The length of the route, the location of the stops, and more, are real elements that it was vital to take into account before we started creating the text of the show, at least in this case, added Andreea.

The director’s work is closely linked to the playwright’s, and vice versa, so the two experienced the challenges of the play’s location to the full in unison – in addition to setting and length of the route, they also struggled to find routes that a bus could travel and that would allow them to make a few stops at spots in the city that have or tell a story. So, they ended up running into several very practical questions: “How do we get to those places?”, “Does the bus fit on the streets leading to the places we want to stop?”, “Where do we park the bus?”

“At the same time, I also set myself another challenge: because the show takes place in a very concrete space, which does not necessarily require a set design, I decided to work and use only the elements that the bus offers me, without other devices or changes. The audience’s experience will be much more direct and immersive because a bus breaks the conventions that a theater often imposes,” Cătălin told us.

As the electric bus travels through the streets of Timișoara, the audience will be transported into a new world where unexpected, exciting things will happen. Come experience it yourself!

TICKETS HERE

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This project is part of the national cultural program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is financed through the Grow Timișoara 2023 program, carried out by the Project Center of Timișoara Municipality, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.

The Night-Art Festival is presented by George, the first smart banking.

Sponsors: Fan Courier, Iulius Town, ATP Motors, Pepsi

Project partners: Leeds City Council, In-Edu Association Timișoara, German Cultural Center Timișoara, Cluj Cultural Center, West University Timișoara, University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca, Polytechnic University of Timișoara

Communication partners: Getica OOH, Aushopping galleries, Kiss Fm, Euromedia, Pressone.ro, G4Media.ro, World Wide Print, Daisler Print House, Știri din România, Tion, Express de Banat, IQOOL, Zile și Nopți, Știri de Timișoara, NewsVest, Adevărul, TVR, Radio Timișoara, România Pozitivă, Best of Timișoara