With a history of 175 years, the National Theater "Marin Sorescu" in Craiova is the second longest among national theaters, after the one in Iași (founded in 1848). A member of the European Theater Convention (CTE) since 1995, the National Theater of Craiova is the first from a Central and Eastern European country to join this international trade association. Since its foundation, a number of 37 directors (including interim directors, some of whom have 2-3 mandates) have led one of the flagships of the Romanian theater, a theater that has gone through three centuries (1850-2025).

The memory of the theater remembers this symbolic date: the "Romanian Herald" announced under the signature of Gheorghe Chițu, former liberal minister and mayor of Craioveo, that "the day of June 29, 1850 was marked in the annals of Craiova with the opening of the Theater [...] Finally, the time came when Craiova to move to a sweeter life... and once it is announced that the National Theater has opened its doors." The event consisted of two performances, The Duel and Piatra din casa, by Costache Caragiali and Vasile Alecsandri, respectively. History will remember that the founders of the National are three: Costache Caragiali - the uncle of the future great playwright, Ion Luca Caragiale -, Costache Mihăileanu and Constantin Serghie. The fusion of Caragiali's troupe of actors with the local troupe of amateurs led by a certain Alecu Corcoveanu gave birth to a team and a program that crossed 175 years of history, not always smooth. There were several stages (and offices) in becoming an institution that performed at the national and, later, the world level, but we can accept that Emil Boroghină's mandate is the one that opens a path to the universal: together with Silviu Purcărete, the director born in Corabia wrote one of the most beautiful and incredible pages in the history of the National Craiove and Romanian theatre. With a stable headquarters, since 1973, one of the most elegant and reliable in the country, created by the outstanding architect Constantin Iotzu, the Craiova National reached its peak in the period 1990-2000, becoming a reference center of Romanian and European theater.

The big shows of 1988 and 1989 were called "Furniture and pain" directed by Cristian Hadjiculea, "Uncle Vanea" by Mircea Cornișteanu, "Dwarf from the summer garden" directed by Silviu Purcărete, "Arca Bunei Hopes", edited by Aureliu Manea. The period 1990-2000 meant the imposition of the Craiova National Theater in the foreground of the Romanian theatrical movement and then of the European and even world one. The exceptional performances of Silviu Purcărete, "Ubu Rex with Scenes from Macbeth", "Titus Andronicus", with the great actor Ștefan Iordache in the main role, and "Phaedra", "Danaidele", "Orestia", "As you wish or Night from breaking the fair", "Measure for measure", "A storm", bearing the signature of the same great director, meant as many international recognitions, participation in the most important festivals of the world.

An important moment in the recent history of the Craiova theater is the founding of the International Shakespeare Festival in 1994 (director-founder, Emil Boroghină). A milestone in the history of Shakespeare festivals, the one from Craiova is now regarded as one of the great genre festivals in the world, where exceptional performances by Declan Donellan, Eimuntas Nekrosius, Peter Brook, Silviu Purcărete, Gábor Tompa, Mihai Măniuțiu, Vlad Mugur have been played , Lev Dodin, Eugenio Barba, Pippo Delbono, Yoshihiro Kurita, Oskaras Korsunovas, Robert Wilson, Thomas Ostermeier, Yuri Butusov, Max Webster, Yukio Ninagawa, Robert Lepage, Elizabeth LeCompte, Kelly Hunter, Romeo Castellucci, Krzysztof Warlikowski. The scientific dimension of the International Shakespeare Festival is established by the international relevance of the Shakespeareology sessions, the translation seminars and the theatrology workshops, carried out in collaboration with the International Association of Theater Critics. On the occasion of these events, the presence in Craiova of some of the most important Shakespearean scholars and theater critics is notable: Stanley Wells, Paul Edmonson, Michael Dobson, Andrej Zurowski, Paul Taylor, John Elsom, Ian Herbert, George Banu, Maria Shevtsova, Boika Sokolova, Michel Vais, Yun Cheol Kim, Octavian Saiu, Lawrence Guntner, Michael Hattaway et al.