Apollo 111 – Bucharest’s new private theatre

Today's feature looks at the private theatre sector in Romania

Luana Pleşea, 21.01.2017, 14:00

A new private theatre opened in Bucharest at the end of November 2016. Called Apollo 111, it was initiated by actor Bogdan Dumitrache, who is best known for his leading role in the award-winning film Child’s Pose. He was joined in his efforts to found a new theatre by filmmaker Calin Peter Netzer, creative director Catalin Rusu and film producer Dragoş Vîlcu. The project for a new theatre was born at a time when the independent theatre scene has been steadily growing in Bucharest. Here is Bogdan Dumitrache, giving us details about his management strategy on this crowded market:

“My idea started from the fact that many independent spaces have appeared in recent years and that many independent productions are looking for a venue to be staged. At the end of the day, I believe all these factors have led to the emergence of a new public and have created an interest in this area. This public now has higher expectations. They can no longer settle for unsuitable venues. Hence the simple and natural idea was born that a space was needed that would be more than a bar staging theatre performances, but a more suitable venue with more than a table and some lights for a stage.”

Bogdan Dumitrache therefore looked for a venue that could also be financially sustainable. He found a big hall with a surface area of 850 metres located in the centre of Bucharest, in the Universul Palace, a building already hosting a number of independent artistic projects. The space used by the new theatre was divided into separate multi-purpose areas. The area used for theatre performances has an auditorium with 127 seats, a foyer and dressing rooms for the actors and occupies half of the entire venue. Bogdan Dumitrache explains:

“There are three main separate areas: a performance area, with all the needed equipment, and a second area divided in two hosting the cafeteria and the administrative spaces, including the offices, the rehearsal rooms and the casting studio. The office area also hosts the office of the casting agency I founded a few years ago and which I had relocated here so that I can have everything in one place be able to keep an eye on things.”

The repertoire of Apollo 111 is different from everything you find on the Romanian theatre scene at the moment. Bogdan Dumitrache tells us more about the concept behind the theatre’s evening performances:

“For a 6-week run, a new performance will be staged as often as there is a demand for it, which is also good for the production in question because it allows it to grow from one staging to the next and we can eliminate downtime, when actors may start thinking about other projects. A production develops when it is staged more frequently. It becomes a well-functioning machine. Everybody works well with everybody else, everybody knows what they are supposed to do and we become efficient. I run a theatre with four employees and I have no plans of hiring more people. I have two employees working in the technical department, one in charge of the stage and the producer. We run everything and that’s how it should be.”

Each year there is a different artistic director responsible for the season’s programme. In the first year, the artistic director is the initiator of the project himself, actor Bogdan Dumitrache, while director Radu Afrim will be the theatre’s artistic director in the 2017-2018 season. Bogdan Dumitrache once again:

“In a world where so many things happen and where staying focused on one single project means missing out on a hundred other projects, I believe topicality can be achieved through diversity. Only by tackling the areas of interest of as many creators as possible can we become topical. The artistic director who chooses the five productions staged that season must make sure that they reflect a single idea. For example, we may stage musicals the entire season and each of the five productions reflect this idea, or embrace a subject such as war and treat it historically, from the 1920s until 2016, by means of five different texts of five different historical periods, or we find a different concept and subordinate all the five productions to this idea.”

The concept proposed by Bogdan Dumitrache for the opening season at Apollo 111 is the encounter between theatre and film. The first production of the season is Ali: Fear Eats the Soul directed by filmmaker Radu Jude, the director of Aferim and Scarred Hearts. The show is an adaptation for the stage of a film script by the famous German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Work has also begun on a staging of Sergi Belbel’s After the Rain by Alex Maftei, the director of such films as Hello! How Are You? and Miss Christina. The season’s third production will be Sieranevada, based on the film of the same title by Cristi Puiu. The film was Romania’s submission to the Oscars Awards for best foreign film this year. The director who will be staging Sieranevada is yet to be established. The newly-founded Apollo 111 theatre will also have a programme for children with morning performances and a programme for young directors, set designers, chorographers and musicians under the age of 35. (Translated by E. Nasta)