The German Theatre invites the audience to four performances of Sidy Thal, a production by Thomas Perle & Clemens Bechtel, directed by Clemens Bechtel. The show is a co-production with the Jewish State Theatre Bucharest, and is performed in both cities.



The first two performances will take place in Bucharest on 26 and 27 January 2024, at 19.00, on the stage of the Jewish Theatre, and the following ones on 30 and 31 January 2024 in Timișoara, in the GSTT hall, at 19.30. The meeting point for the Timisoara audience is the entrance to the Palace of Culture at 2 Mărășești Street, next to the ticket office of the Mihai Eminescu National Theatre.



The touring show, which marked the premiere in 2023, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the 1938 terrorist attack in Timișoara, tells the story of those involved in the events of those days, aggressors and victims. The legionary attack, which took place in the Palace of Culture and in which four people lost their lives and 70 others were injured, took place in the context of the troubled times of the interwar period, when the far right became one of the most influential political and social movements in Romania.

The event, little known in the city of Timisoara, European Capital of Culture in 2023, was researched by playwright Thomas Perle and director Clemens Bechtel with the help of Maria Mădălina Irimia from the Centre for the Study of Jewish History in Romania "Wilhelm Filderman". After a horrific pogrom in Bucharest in early 1941, Romanian security forces, together with the Wehrmacht, killed some 13,000 Jews in Iasi that same year. Those from the east of the country were deported to Transnistria, while Jews from areas that had previously belonged to Hungary were killed in extermination camps. According to researchers, about 350,000 Jews died violent deaths in areas of Greater Romania by mid-1942.



The play and production are an attempt to reconstruct the 1938 attack and the period when anti-Semitism and fascism became part of everyday life in a multicultural society, leading to the horror of World War II and the Shoah, the systematic extermination of more than six million Jews in Europe.

What interests me in particular in this approach are two questions: How do we reconstruct the past? From what perspectives? I am even more concerned with examining the value of theatre. Why do we want to continue to perform while the world is collapsing around us? What value does culture actually have at such times? For us as artists, but also for others: for the perpetrators of violence and for the victims of violence. When would it be better to stop, to be silent? - Clemens Bechtel, director Sidy Thal



Tickets for the Timisoara performances can be purchased here: https://www.entertix.ro/evenimente?s=sidy+thal or at the German Theatre ticket office.



We look forward to seeing you at the theatre!

With: Enikő Blénessy / Viorica Predica / Maia Morgenstern, Silvia Török / Katia Pascariu, Daniela Török, Olga Török, Oana Vidoni, Radu Brănici, Rareș Hontzu / Mircea Dragoman, Richard Hladik / Mihai Prejban.

Ensemble of 'Motl the Cantor's Son' by Scholem Alejchem and the voices on the audio-walk: Enikő Blénessy, Viorica Predica, Maia Morgenstern, Silvia Török, Katia Pascariu, Daniela Török, Olga Török, Oana Vidoni, Radu Brănici, Rareș Hontzu, Mircea Dragoman, Richard Hladik, Mihai Prejban, Isolde Cobeț.

Instrumentalists: Serena Voaideș (guest), Alina Talianu (guest), Mihai Pintenaru.

Sets and costumes: Șteff Chelaru (guest), Ioana Groza (guest) • Music: Dan Simion (guest) • Documentation: Maria Irimia (guest) • Dramatic collaboration: Dan Druță guest) • Assistance Direction : Isolde Cobeţ • Make-up: Bojita Ilici, Aurora Spasinovici • Technical Direction: Ovidiu Radu, Aurel Cristea • Recordings for the audio-walk & Video Design: Alex Halka (guest) • Musical training: Roxana Ardeleanu (guest).