A strong start for the first module

The first "act" of the Reflex5 International Theatre Festival has come to an end, but we are
already looking forward to the second one, which will take place in two months' time, at the
end of May. The first module saw some important productions, attended by nearly 1500
spectators, and the idea of splitting the event into three parts has proved a success for both
guests and organisers.
Financially, this event was not as demanding as the previous ones, and the division into
modules was also beneficial for those travelling from further afield, as it is easier to participate
in the festival if they do not have to be away from home for too long," said festival director
László Bocsárdi at the end of the event. "It's like good dramaturgy. A strong event has taken place, but we end these busy days not only with a sense of fulfillment, but also with
anticipation for the continuation," he said.

Presentations
The programme was structured in such a way that very different presentations were
juxtaposed, with no general theme or thought process being generally addressed in the first
module of Reflex5. We saw the horrors of war, violence and sexual repression in Andrei
Mureşanu Theatre's Blasted, but if we look at how the epidemic-economic and war crisis and
similar events bring so much horror to our daily lives, we can see that a gentler shake-up might
not make sense. The M Studio Movement Theatre's adaptation of Shakespeare's
romeo@julia.com, directed by Fren_Ák, was a soul-searching experience, which, like the
company's other productions, appealed to our senses rather than our intellect – conveying
impulses and impressions. Uncle Vanya by Slovenian director Tomi Janežič of the Small Theatre
of Vilnius was a very fresh, contemporary production based on a classic text, which managed to
appeal to professionals and the general public alike. Playful quips and wisecracks were as much
a feature of the production as were deep emotions, there were boisterous crowd scenes and
great theatrical silences, frenzy and restraint, naturalism and absurdism, grotesque and
dreamily airy scenes. Berlin's Rimini Protokoll's production of Uncanny Valley pushed the
boundaries of theatre, as we have seen before from this company, making the audience realize
that theatre is a means of communication that is not necessarily based on the living human
being, but rather on empathy. By putting a humanoid robot on stage, the creators have tried to
explore the relationship between man and machine, and the impact they have on each other in
this production. Based on Sławomir Mrożek's radio play, The Slaughterhouse at the Witkacy
Theatre in Zakopane was a production that spoke traditional theatrical language, but was
extremely conscious of and perfectly reflected the specific theatricality of Polish theatre. By
exploring the meaning of art in general and the question of human freedom, it showed how
little art can do to counteract the violence in the world, how easy it is to turn us into an
anonymous mass.

Accompanying events
There have been several opening concerts at Reflex Festival, but perhaps none of them felt as
fitting to the character of the event as the Jü Band's performance. The trio from Hungary played
music that was consciously composed, sometimes dissonant but with great character,
accompanied by visual effects that added a lot to the concert experience. Their play with
noises, their blending of different musical genres, their airy lightness and their booming musical
dialogues all contributed to making Jü's debut at Reflex, while not easy to take in, feel like a
true 21st century production.
The dance parties took place in the theatre's buffet after the performances and audience
meetings, where performers, organisers and audience alike could finally let off steam.
FlaCLoSSLeSS (Attila Kusztos), Barna (Barna Fazakas), Tengrila (Tamás Forró) and küb_beat
(Bence Kónya-Ütő) kept the audience dancing until the early hours of the morning, making
these parties a trademark of the Reflex Festival.
After all three performances from abroad, audience meetings were held, which also proved to
be exciting events and attracted a large number of visitors. They gave us the opportunity to get
to know the artists better and to make sure that all three shows had a place at the Reflex
International Theatre Festival.
Locations
The event was dominated by small-scale productions, a form of performance that successfully
competes with film and the wide range of 21st century media channels, and it is the immediacy
and intimacy of small spaces that can make theatre so attractive today. However, the
disadvantage of small-scale productions is that only a limited number of people can see them at
the same time, which is why each of these productions has been staged several times at
Reflex5.
To compensate for the studio productions, we also created a theatre space in the Sepsi Arena,
much larger than the Tamási Áron Theatre's stage and auditorium, to host the Lithuanian Uncle
Vanya, which put the well-known building in a new context, proving that the facility is suitable
for serious artistic theatre productions in addition to sporting events and giant concerts. The
performance could seat nearly five hundred spectators, yet it had the character of an intimate
space, with a good view of the stage, so that every gesture and sound could be perfectly
decoded from the very last rows of the auditorium. All this, of course, is a tribute to the work of
the sound technicians of the theatre and the Sound Studio.

The audience
All in all, the first module of Reflex5 was a success in every respect, as Stefan Kaegi, director of
the Rimini Protokoll company in Berlin, said that he has rarely seen such an atmosphere at a
theatre festival, and there are few places in Berlin where you can find such openness and such
a fun-loving audience at 4 o'clock in the morning. Speaking about the Reflex Festival audience,
Indrė Patkauskaitė, an actress from the Lithuanian company, said that although they had toured

a lot with Uncle Vanya and performed it several times in front of their home audiences, they
had rarely met such an understanding audience, which reacted so actively and well to every
little nuance of the performance. All this proves that the theatrical demand of the audience in
Sfântu Gheorghe has reached a level that is a rarity even by European standards.