The number seven is mythical, and it is almost like a fairytale that the Independent Theater Hungary has organized the European Union’s first international Roma theatre festival seven times since 2017. The Roma Heroes International Theater Festival welcomed audiences in Budapest from 7 May 2025 to 11 May 2025 at its co-organizer venue, the Eötvös10 Cultural Center.
From 1 October 2025 to 5 October 2025, multi-camera, full-length performance videos of the five shows in this year's festival will livestream on this page via HowlRound TV. English subtitles and captions will be available. Recordings of these shows will not be publicly available after they steam in this week.
These five days celebrate theatre, paying tribute to independent theatre artists, their dramatic heroes, and Roma communities.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger—so the saying goes. Some say it's a lie embedded in a cliché, but for Roma communities in Europe it is very much a reality," says Rodrigo Balogh, director of the Roma Heroes International Theatre Festival. "Looking at the Roma past, there is no reason to still be here. Yet we live, we create, we tell stories. We see ourselves not only as survivors, but as heroes—just like the independent Roma theatre initiatives that create new works year after year without institutional support. At the same time, we, the people who live here on Earth today, are all survivors in a sense."
The festival in May 2025 featured performances from Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Ireland, presented in their original languages with English and Hungarian subtitles. After each performance, audience members had the opportunity to meet the creators in post-show discussions, which were streamed live and archived via HowlRound.
The Festival was a part of the European Roma Theater Festivals project with the support of Perform Europe and with the support of Trust For Mutual Understanding and HowlRound Theatre Commons. We also thank the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest and the Embassy of Ireland, Hungary for their support.
Perform Europe, supported by the European Union, is a funding scheme for the European performing arts sector. It facilitates international networking and supports inclusive, diverse, and eco-friendly touring projects across the forty Creative Europe countries. Perform Europe emphasizes practices rooted in sustainability and inclusivity, aiming to transform the performing arts sector and ensure a balanced distribution across the continent.
Perform Europe is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union and implemented by a consortium of six organizations: International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM), European Festivals Association (EFA), Circostrada, European Dance Development Network, Pearle *-Live Performance Europe, and IDEA Consult.
Wednesday 1 October 2025
Giuvlipen Theatre Company (Romania): Caliban and the Witch
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 18:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 19:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2)
After William Shakespeare.
A spectacular, futuristic performance that radically rethinks Shakespeare's The Tempest. The power balance is reversed: The Romani people conquer Western Europe, and Prospero, as a Romani Christian ruler, subjugates white Europeans in the name of "civilization." Sycorax, the witch displaced from the original play, finally gets a voice, while Caliban, as the oppressed European slave, becomes a symbol of rebellion.
A provocative and thought-provoking story about issues of power and injustice.
Text and artistic direction: Mihaela Drăgan
Translated into romani: Izabela Tiberiade
Set design: Lia Dogaru
Costume design: Adelina Galiceanu és Zita Moldovan
Music: Andrei Horjea
Choreography: Răzvan Rotaru
Thursday 2 October 2025
Traveller Wagon Wheel Theatre Company (Ireland): Magpies on the Pylon
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 18:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 19:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2)
This two-person play, set in the Irish Traveller community, tells the heartbreaking story of a father and son. Jim does everything he can to provide for his family, but his greatest struggle comes when his son Tommy gradually withdraws from the world and eventually commits suicide.
Suicide is alarmingly common among Irish Travellers—the play explores the pain of social exclusion and loss. A performance that will make you cry and laugh at the same time—and one that will keep the viewer thinking about for days to come.
Writers and performers: Michael Collins, Johnny Collins
Friday 3 October 2025
Rampa Prenestina Theatre Company (Italy): Waiting for Bo
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 18:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 19:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2)
A performance in the spirit of Beckett, which depicts the struggle of two young Roma people looking for work.
Failures, misunderstandings, and prejudices drive them further and further away from their dreams. A shocking yet human theatrical experience about vulnerability, hope and survival, presented with the self-forgetful humor and movement of commedia dell’arte.
Actors: Roberto Djordjevic, Erik Nikolic
Musicians: Mattia Alberghetti, Sebastiano Spinella
Sound: Claudia Sorrentino
Playwright: L. Ruocco, I. Talarico, C. Sorrentino, S. Spinella
Director: Claudia Sorrentino
Technician: Yonas Aregay Kidane
Saturday 4 October 2025
Independent Theatre Hungary: Cannibals
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 18:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 19:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2)
The butcher has disappeared.
131 Roma were convicted.
No bodies. 41 Roma were publicly executed.
Still no bodies, no evidence.
Only confessions extracted under torture.
The new performance of the Independent Theater of Hungary, Cannibals commemorates a story reminiscent of the Dark Ages.
The project is co-financed by the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia through Visegrad grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The Fund's mission is to promote ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Writers: Barnabás Boda-Novy and Emília Boda-Novy, The life and everybody else...
Actors: Dávid Csányi, Nóra Nemcsók
Assistant director: Tamás András Szegedi
Playwright: Tímea Éva Bogya
Music: Dávid Varga
Lyrics: Kristóf Horváth
Director: Emília Boda-Novy
Producer: Rodrigó Balogh
Sunday 5 October 2025
RS9 Theatre (Hungary): Life of Mariella Mehr
10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 18:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 19:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2)
A theatrical performance about the tragic fate of the Yenisei people of Switzerland, which commemorates the community that became victims of biological genocide in Switzerland. The story is brought to life through the works of author Mariella Mehr, presenting a silenced past and the fight for survival. A poignant piece about the search for identity and the importance of memory.
Based on Mariella Mehr's works The Stone Age and Messages from Exile.
Director: Katalin Lábán
Előadó: Magdi Rácz
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