The ODEON Theatre, one of Bucharest’s leading theatre companies, was founded in 1946 as Giulesti Theatre. Inaugurated in 1974 the Majestic Hall of the theatre, in the very heart of the city, is the most elegant auditorium from Bucharest and the only one in Europe with sliding ceiling. In 1990, The Giulesti Theatre changed its name into The Odeon Theatre.
It has a stage a l’italenne and the capacity of the auditorium of 300 seats.

The Odeon Theatre is a repertory theatre with a permanent company of 38 actors, two stage directors, two stage designers and a technical team of about 50 persons. During the time, its performances had been invited to various international festivals and had many tours, like the one in Great Britain, with the director Mihai Maniutiu’s version of “Richard III” (1994) or the one to Bratislava, Slovakia with “The Barber of Seville”, directed by Dinu Cernescu (1996). “At the Gipsy Women”, directed by Alexander Hausvater was invited at Oldenburg, Germany (1996). “Saragosa- 66 days”, directed by Alexandru Dabija, was invited to the Theatre der Welt Festival, in Berlin, 1999 and at the World Exhibition, in Hanover, 2000. “Bios and Eros”, directed by Dragos Galgotiu, took part in the Experimental Theatre Festival, in Cairo, Egypt, “The Gossip Ladies” toured Canada and Alexandru Dabija’s “The Boss Grady’s Boys” was invited in Berlin, 2001. In 2003, "Why does the child boil in the polenta" participated at Journées théatrales de Carthage, in Tunis and in 2004 at New Plays from Europe Theatre Biennale in Wiesbaden. In 2006, „Thursdayparty" was presented in Hungary, in Budapest and Debrecen, while „The Picture of Dorian Gray" was showcased in Brussel, Belgium.

In 2007, „Un tango mas" was invited to Jerusalem, within the International Book Fair, at Budapesta, at Bassano del Grappa (Italy), for the OperaEstate Festival Veneto Festival, and in 2008 at Madrid during The Roumanian Theatre Week. Also in 2007, Ionesco – Five Sketches was presented in Paris at the La Huchette Theatre, Block Bach in Prague, in Paris, and in 2008 in Bruxelles and Athens. Also in 2008, The Presidents was presented at Madrid during The Roumanian Theatre Week, Hamletmachine was invited at the International Shakespeare Festival, Gdansk (Poland), Just la fin du monde was invited at Rennes, France during the International Theatre Festival “Mettre en scene”, and Confession at Tanacu was presented in Paris, at The Roumanian Embassy headquater. In 2009, the same play was invited at Lodz (Poland), at the International Festival of Pleasant and Unpleasant Plays.

Odeon's performances won a lot of awards: the Award for Best Performance, at the Arezzo Festival, Italy, 1979, The Award for Excellence in 1991 and 1992, The Theatre of the Year in 1993, The Best Performance Award at the National Theatre Festival, 1994, The Best Performance Award at the Romanian Comedy Festival, 1995. After 2003 won many prizes at the Romanian Theatre Festivals in Piatra Neamt, Galati, Timisoara, Brasov and UNITER Prizes.

As one of the purposes of  Odeon is to educate young spectators, every week there are organized tours behind the stage followed by workshops for children and teenagers, within the programme THEATRE AND SCHOOL.

Between 2001- 2005, the theatre presented the program TEXT ALIVE PERFORMANCES of contemporary Romanian drama followed by debates with the audience.

In October 2001, was initiated the programme DANCE AT ODEON, meant to present professional foreign and Romanian dance, in some Extraordinary Galas, that took place monthly. Following the big number of spectators and the enthusiastic reviews, this programme is still running with new openings. The most recent show is “Un Tango mas”, a performance of Argentinean tangos by Razvan Mazilu.

During the season 2001- 2002, was initiated the programme DANCE AT ODEON, in some Extraordinary Galas, that took place monthly. Following the big number of spectators and the enthusiastic reviews from the mass- media, this programme continued in the season 2003- 2004  with three premiers, followed by The Picture of Dorian Gray after Oscar Wilde, directed by Dragos Galgotiu, and then the show Un Tango Mas. In the period between 2007-2008, the programme continued with the premiers Block Bach, directed by Alexandru Dabija and Shadows of light.

In 2003, the project was continued with “Why does the child boil in the polenta” based on the novel by Aglaja Veteranyi, directed by Radu Afrim, and during the season 2003-2004, it continued with Marius von Mayenburg’s “Fireface”, directed by Felix Alexa.

In May 2006, Odeon Theatre initiated the programme ARTE (American – Roumania Theatre Exchange) in partnership with Lark Play Development Center. ARTE consists in a theatre exchange between the playwrights from Roumania and The Unitated States, offering them the possibility of upgrading the quality of the plays and translations trough the partcipation at joint work sessions, workshops, meetings and residentials taking place at Odeon Theatre and Lark Theatre, New York.

In 2006, was launhed a new international programme, ODEON.ART, dedicated to the culture of one country from the european space, which was initiated the same year with Hungarian Theatre Week and continued with the Czech Theatre Week, and in 2007 The Dutch Culture Week and in 2008 The Polish Theatre Days.

 

Odeon Theatre is a public cultural institution subsidized
by the General City Council, Bucharest, Romania