Romania

Since 2016 we had been performing our mainstage productions of Shakespeare at the International Shakespeare festival in Craiova, Romania. After the pandemic, we were invited to return in 2022 with our new production of Pericles. I suggested to the festival that we also bring our specialised production for autistic people and that we would additionally perform that on stage, thereby opening the festival’s doors to an audience who had never set foot in the theatre before. They agreed and found ANCAAR, a local group in Craiova for autistic adults run by the extraordinary Luminita Sandu who quite literally greeted us with open arms, as well as freshly baked warm bread, sea salt and vodkas on our first visit to her centre. Our warm collaboration with ANCAAR has become one of the beating hearts of our company. Between 2022 and 2024 we have premiered three Double Shakespeare programmes at the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival, each time performing onstage with the autistic people of ANCAAR, transforming all of our lives.

Since 2018, we have also performed regularly at Teatrul Gong, Sibiu, performing in Romanian with their community of young autistic children.