The members of Savremena’s Drama Club spent the period from 20 September to 25 September in the Romanian city of Cluj, where they performed at the seventh STAGE Festival, an international theatre event that brings together acting troupes from the region to exchange experiences and demonstrate their acting skills.
Our “ISS team” performed their play “All we need is love”, and observed the performances of their colleagues from Romania, Slovenia, Moldova and Hungary.
The travel log
Going to Romania implied strenuous acting and music rehearsals. The new school year had just begun, but our actors immediately started work on re-rehearsing their lines, practicing their stage movement and recalling how exactly the songs go, since their last performance was in May. They didn’t have much time, but the chance to demonstrate their skills abroad seemed to be a great motivation.
On Tuesday, 20 September, when the very last piece of equipment had been packed in the mini-bus, our “ISS Team” headed to Romania. One traffic light away, the guitar was already playing, and the mood remained great throughout the journey.
On Wednesday, 21 September, after the opening ceremony, the team saw the last year’s winners, an acting troupe from Cluj, perform their award-winning play. It obviously deserved the first place, and the evidently high evaluation criteria set the scene for a set of excellent performances throughout the festival, which the students saw as an opportunity to learn from others.
ISS Team takes the STAGE
ISS Team’s performance was scheduled for Saturday, 24 September. As the charming young presenters were announcing the ISS Team, the audience was wondering how the music equipment would be used in the play. Seconds later, the first bars of the song “It’s My Life” rolled from the stage, getting the audience moving, while providing a bit of a surprise for the jury.
The dialog and the songs took their turns, the audience was enjoying, our actors showed their brilliance on the stage and did their best to convey their message with their acting, movement and gesticulation. It worked: the audience understood their music and acting, and awarded them with a thunderous applause.
Announcing the winner
On Sunday, 25 September, everything was ready for the return home. However, nobody could leave before learning which performances won the awards. For ISS Team, it came as a great surprise when they were called up to the stage to receive the award for the best experiment on the stage. The jury recognised the unusual combination of music and words as marvellous and gave the award to ISS Team.
In addition to the certificate, the president of the jury, the renowned Romanian novelist and playwright Radu Cukulesku, had a special gift for our students: his book translated into Serbian – a nice gesture to reward the effort that our students made in order to participate in the festival.
Visit to Transylvania College
What made the ISS students’ stay in Cluj complete was a visit to the best-known Cambridge school in Romania, the Transylvania College. The students wanted to see how another Cambridge school in their neighbourhood was organised, exchange experiences with other students, and get some ideas regarding what they could improve in their own school. A one-hour tour of the school left our students impressed by the numerous activities the school offered, as well as by its size and number of students.
Impressions from the journey
Amidst all those great performances, authentic costumes, interesting perspectives, hanging out with their peers, and the shared laughter, the students were especially charmed by the volunteers Alexandra and Tudor, the fifteen-year-olds who were there for them all the time and did their best to make our students’ stay in Cluj comfortable.
In the five days spent at the festival in Romania, Savremena’s students gained a valuable new experience that broadened their horizons, advanced their stage skills, and provided some lovely memories.
