Octavian Saiu Explained

Birth Date:1977
Occupation:Professor, Theatre critic
Nationality:Romanian
Education:PhD
Awards:The Critics' Award 2010

The Award of the Union of Theatre Artists (UNITER) 2013

Knight of the Order of Cultural Merit, awarded by the President of Romania, 2020

The Honorary Award of The Ministry of Culture of Romania, 2024

Octavian Saiu (born 1977) is a Romanian scholar and theatre critic.

Education

Octavian Saiu received his PhD in Theatre Studies from National University of Theatre and Film (NUTF) in Romania and completed another PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Otago in New Zealand.[1] His Romanian doctoral thesis focused on the concept of theatrical space; the New Zealand one analysed the European reception of the theatre of the absurd. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the English Department of the University of Otago, and has received his Habilitation in Theatre and Performing Arts.[2]

Career

Saiu is a teacher in the Postgraduate Programme of NUTF[3] and a PhD supervisor in the Doctoral School of "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu.[4] He was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, School of Advanced Study – University of London, and has been visiting professor at various universities in Europe and Asia, as well as the Grotowski Institute.[5]

He chaired sessions in the "Talks and Workshops Series" of Edinburgh International Festival[6] and has been the Chair of the Conferences of Sibiu International Theatre Festival since 2004.[7] Since 2014 he has been the Chair of the Shakespeare Studies Conference in the context of the biennial Craiova International Shakespeare Festival.[8]

He is a collaborator of Wuzhen Theatre Festival and a Founding Member of the International Theatre Town Alliance in Shengzhou.[9]

Saiu is Adjunct Secretary General of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC)[10] and President of the Romanian Section – Theatre Studies of IATC.[11] He has authored eleven books on theatre, as well as numerous refereed and nonrefereed journal articles. He is the recipient of the Critics' Award (2010)[12] and the Award of the Union of Theatre Artists (UNITER) in 2013.[13]

One of Saiu's constant activities involves public talks and dialogues. In 2019 in Hong Kong, he spoke about the global perception of Chinese culture, beyond the usual clichés of commodification and cultural diplomacy.[14] One of the recurrent themes in Saiu's talks is performative space,[15] a notion he links with the idea of creative energy.[16] As affirmed in his book on this topic, Saiu considers Hamlet a character whose madness is not merely feigned, but real.[17] As a promoter of critical thinking in theatre and performing arts, he organised a keynote panel in the context of the ASSITEJ congress in Cape Town on the values of criticism and value judgment in children's theatre.[18] More recently, he spoke about the role of critical thinking in theatre pedagogy during a plenary address at the Conference of the ITI/UNESCO Network for Higher Education in the Performing Arts (2018).[19] At the Academy of Arts in Berlin, as invited speaker at a conference organized to celebrate Hans-Thies Lehmann's Postdramatic Theatre, he spoke about the dangers of employing cultural concepts as "umbrella terms" for contemporary theatre, with specific reference to the title of Lehmann's seminal essay.[20]

Throughout the years, he has hosted cultural conversations with Tim Robbins,[21] John Malkovich,[22], Mikhail Baryshnikov,[23] Jin Xing,[24] Neil LaBute,[25] Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt,[26] Ohad Naharin,[27] Jaroslaw Fret,[28] Mao Weitao,[29] Laetitia Casta,[30] Stan Lai,[31] Stanley Wells,[32] Robert Lepage,[33] Robert Wilson, Sasha Waltz, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker,[34] Thomas Ostermeier, Ivo Van Hove,[35], Jan Fabre,[36] Declan Donnellan, Akram Khan, Israel Galvan, Andrei Serban and many others.

On the occasion of the Day of the National Culture, the 15th of January 2020, the President of Romania awarded him the title, Knight of the Order of Cultural Merit. The distinction was offered "as a sign of appreciation for his important activity dedicated to theatre criticism, and for the professionalism that he has shown in promoting Romanian theatrical creation".[37]

In 2024, Saiu received The Honorary Award of The Ministry of Culture of Romania as a sign of recognition for his transformative role in theatre leadership, as well as for his “extraordinary contribution to promoting the art of dialogue between artists, performing arts professionals and audiences alike”. This distinction marked his 20 years as the host of the Dialogues of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival - [FITS].

During the pandemic, Saiu was very active as a conference chair and public speaker, promoting the idea that "theatre is not a commodity, but a cultural necessity".[38] He held events in both English and Romanian: talks, conferences and dialogues with artists and scholars for his Bucharest seasonal series, for Sibiu International Theatre Festival, for International Theatre Institute (ITI-UNESCO), for Tokyo Festival,[39] for IATC Hong Kong[40] etc. After a conversation with the leaders of International Theatre Institute (ITI-UNESCO), ASSITEJ, and UNIMA, he launched the Manifesto for Theatre and Performing Arts.[41] As the chair of the international conference 'This and That and That: the Multiple Roles of the Theatre Artist – the Double Meaning of Performative Criticism', he was described by Jason Hale as "one [of] the greatest connectors in the world of theatre".[42]

In July 2022, Saiu founded the International Association of Theatre Leaders [IATL], an entity that gathers some of the most prominent figures from the field of performing arts with a proven leadership track record:

„What the world of theatre and the theatre of the world need now is leadership – in other words, the vision, the energy, the talent, the ability, the expertise of those who can help everyone else fulfil their goals and live their dreams. In the face of so much adversity, it is only through such values that theatre can regain its strength.”[43]

Books

Articles and chapters

External links

  1. Book Review: In Search of Lost Space in Critical Stages
  2. Book Review: Hamlet and the Madness of the World in Critical Stages
  3. Book Review: Hamlet and the Madness of the World
  4. Book Review: The International Reception of Samuel Beckett
  5. Book Review: European and Universal Dimensions of the Theatre of the Absurd
  6. Interview for Performing Arts Review
  7. Interview for ARTiSM Magazine
  8. Interview for Adevarul Live
  9. Interview for Cotidianul
  10. Interview for Caiete Silvane
  11. Interview for Apollonia TV
  12. "Waiting for Godot" in Wuzhen

References

  1. Web site: Exceptional PhD Theses. Humanities. Division of. www.otago.ac.nz. en-nz. 2019-08-25.
  2. Web site: TEZE DE ABILITARE. unatc.ro. 2019-08-25.
  3. Web site: Octavian SAIU. Teatrolog.ro. ro-RO. 2019-08-25.
  4. Web site: Domenii și conducători. ro-RO. 2019-08-25.
  5. Web site: Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego – The Performative Body in Contemporary Romanian Theatre. www2.grotowski-institute.art.pl. 2019-08-25.
  6. Web site: Edinburgh International Festival 2013 Brochure. Issuu. en. 2019-08-25.
  7. Web site: conferences. www.sibfest.ro. 2019-08-25.
  8. Web site: CaietProgram SHAKESPEARE.pdf. Dropbox. en. 2019-08-25.
  9. Web site: ITTA Main Body. eng.cnitta.com. 2019-08-25.
  10. Web site: AICT-IATC . en-US. 2019-08-25.
  11. Web site: Board – Asociatia Internationala a Criticilor de Teatru. ro-RO. 2019-08-25.
  12. Web site: Criticii de teatru ii premiaza pe Radu Beligan si Alexandru Tocilescu. A1.RO. RO. 2019-08-25.
  13. Web site: Câştigătorii şi premianţii Galei Premiilor UNITER, ediţia 2013 UNITER. ro-RO. 2019-08-25.
  14. Web site: Chinese Culture in the Global Context International Conference 2019. CCGC Conference 2019. en. 2019-09-01.
  15. Web site: Contemporary Drama and Performative Space: from Playwriting to Immersive Theatre. Slovenské centrum AICT. en. 2019-09-01.
  16. Web site: Forum on The Cultural Politics of the Performative Space CUHK Communications and Public Relations Office. www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk. en. 2019-09-01.
  17. Web site: National Arts Festival Program.
  18. Web site: ASSITEJ Congress.
  19. Web site: Conference – ITI/UNESCO Network for Higher Education in the Performing Arts.
  20. Web site: Postdramatic Theatre Worldwide. www.adk.de. en. 2019-12-17.
  21. Web site: Tim Robbins: Prefer să fiu aici, la București, decât pe platourile de filmare pentru un proiect mediocru. News.ro. ro. 2019-09-01.
  22. Web site: FITS 2024 - Octavian Saiu indialog with John Malkovich and Ingeborga Dapkunaite . 2024-08-15 . FITS . en.
  23. Web site: FITS 2024 - Octavian Saiu in dialogue with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jan Fabre . 2024-08-15 . FITS . en.
  24. Web site: DANSUL CHINEZ PE SCENA LUMII @ Sibiu. VinSiEu.ro. ro. 2019-09-01.
  25. Web site: NEIL LABUTE, IN DIALOGUE WITH OCTAVIAN SAIU. www.sibfest.ro. 2019-09-01.
  26. Web site: FITS 2022 - Octavian Saiu în dialog cu Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt . 2022-07-21 . FITS . ro.
  27. Web site: Octavian Saiu in dialogue with Ohad Naharin. www.sibfest.ro. 2019-09-01.
  28. Web site: Theatre as a Medium of Memory Theatre Olympics 2016. www.theatreolympics2016.pl. 2019-09-01.
  29. Web site: Octavian Saiu in dialogue with Mao Weitao. www.sibfest.ro. 2019-09-01.
  30. Web site: AGERPRES . Comunicat de presă - Festivalul Internaţional de Teatru de la Sibiu . 2022-07-21 . www.agerpres.ro . ro.
  31. Web site: Octavian Saiu in dialogue with Stan Lai. www.sibfest.ro. 2019-09-01.
  32. Web site: Evenimentul teatral al primăverii: Festivalul Internațional Shakespeare, Craiova-București 2012 Revista "Teatrul azi". www.teatrul-azi.ro. 2019-09-01.
  33. Web site: Programul complet al Festivalului Internațional Shakespeare 2022 – Teatrul National Marin Sorescu . 2022-06-06 . en-US.
  34. Web site: FITS 2024 - Octavian Saiu in dialogue with Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker . 2024-08-15 . FITS . en.
  35. Web site: Tokyo Festival 2020 International Online Meeting (streaming only) . 2024-08-15 . TOKYO FESTIVAL 2020 . en.
  36. Web site: FITS 2024 - Octavian Saiu in dialogue with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jan Fabre . 2024-08-15 . FITS . en.
  37. Web site: Distinctions offered by the President of Romania.
  38. Web site: 'This and That and That' Online International Conference. .
  39. Web site: 芸術監督　国際オンライン・ミーティング（配信） 　 東京芸術劇場. www.geigeki.jp.
  40. Web site: IATC | 網上講座：製作英國紙偶影畫《馬克白》. www.iatc.com.hk.
  41. Web site: Toamna fără teatru: despre prezentul și viitorul artelor spectacolului.
  42. Web site: 'This and That and That' Online International Conference. .
  43. Web site: International Association of Theatre Leaders . About . 2022-07-21 . IATL . en-US.

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