The 11th Theatre in the Fortress, a theatre festival that this year brings lovers of site-specific theatre six plays, including one for the youngest audience, opened last night at the Smederevo Cultural Centre.
“Six centuries ago, Smederevo Fortress, or Đurađ’s Town, was a gathering place for artists of all kinds. The actors of that time performed in the Small Town. This year, the City of Smederevo is holding the ‘Theatre in the Fortress’ festival for the eleventh time; the festival promotes the fortress, and the fortress is synonymous with the City of Smederevo.
This festival is very important for the citizens of Smederevo, who through it have felt in the best possible way the significance of the Fortress and their pride in belonging to the City of Smederevo.
On the other hand, the Festival is equally important for Serbian culture and for the Serbian state, because every year theatres from Serbia and the region perform at our country’s only site-specific theatre festival, and in this way we prove ourselves as a country that shares the same values as its neighbours.
The Danube countries, as well as the countries of the region, deserve a festival like this, and it is a pleasure to organise it in Serbia, in Smederevo, right now, here and for ever,” the Mayor of Smederevo said at the festival’s opening ceremony.
After the opening, actors of the Novi Sad Theatre Újvidéki Színház performed Shakespeare’s “Richard III”, directed by Dejan Projkovski, on the stage of the Cultural Centre.
Until Saturday, 29 June, the programme features the plays “(Ur)Faust”, “The Feather Collectors”, “The Complete History of Theatre” and “The Chioggia Squabbles”, performed by the companies of the Belgrade Drama Theatre, the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, the National Theatre in Belgrade and the Bečej City Theatre in co-production with the Student Cultural Centre Novi Sad, as well as by the “Sanjalica” theatre, which will perform “Cinderella” for the youngest audience.
At the festival’s finale on Saturday, 29 June, the Belgrade Academic Accordion Ensemble will perform the “Danube Symphony” to mark International Danube Day.
