Caliban and the Witch

"Caliban and the Witch is a rewriting of Shakespeare's The Tempest, a title inspired by Silvia Federici's book of the same name and the revolutionary texts and speeches of Frantz Fanon, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Ghassan Kanafani. Set in a fictional reality where the power dynamics between white Europeans and people of colour are reversed, the show challenges audiences to confront the deep-rooted legacy of colonialism, slavery and systemic oppression. In this reimagined world, the Roma people, who historically never had a nation of their own, rise to power and colonise Western Europe. Prospero, a Christian Roma ruler creates an empire built on the subjugation of white Europeans. Prospero's mission to spread Christianity and civilise 'barbarian' Europeans mirrors the historical justifications used by colonial powers to motivate the enslavement and exploitation of the natives.

The witch Sycorax, a character who has no voice in Shakespeare's play, is given 'justice' and becomes a key character in revealing how colonialism and patriarchal structures have used the witch-hunt as a tool of control and oppression. At the centre of the action is the character of Caliban, a European slave who represents the oppressed masses fighting against the tyranny of Prospero's regime.

The show is a co-production of Giuvlipen and the "Marin Sorescu" National Theatre in Craiova

Giuvlipen is the first Roma theatre company in Romania, founded in 2014 by artists Mihaela Drăgan and Zita Moldovan. "They are the vanguard of the Roma revolution, a counter-attack - through art and activism - to centuries of oppression." (Reuters Agency) In the absence of a Roma State Theatre in Romania, the independent theatre company Giuvlipen has collaborated and co-produced over the years with the Jewish State Theatre, the Andrei Muresanu Theatre, the Romanian Playwrights' Theatre, the National Dance Centre in Bucharest and the Marin Sorescu National Theatre and in 2020 was awarded the British Council Prize at the UNITER Gala. With numerous participations in national and international festivals, Giuvlipen has written history in contemporary Romanian theatre, their art being challenging, experimental and highly performative. The themes of the performances are diverse, but they have one thing in common: they openly discuss topics that sometimes history, sometimes mentality and social or political constraints have silenced. "In each performance we aim to reclaim Roma art, history and cultural identity through stories told by us, the Roma artists themselves."

Mihaela Drăgan is a multidisciplinary artist with a degree in acting who lives in Bucharest and works professionally in several other countries. In 2014, together with other Roma actresses she founded the Giuvlipen Theatre for which she is an actress, director and playwright. In Berlin she has collaborated as an actress with the Maxim Gorky, Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg and Heimathafen Neukölln theatres. In 2017 she was one of six finalists for the Gilder/Coigney Theatre Award in New York. In 2020 she was again nominated for this award and received the League's Special Award. In 2018, in residency at the Para Site Contemporary Art Centre in Hong Kong, she developed Roma Futurism - an art movement that intersects Roma culture and history with technology and witchcraft. That same year, she was recognized by the PEN World Voices International Play Festival in New York as one of the ten most respected playwrights in the world. In 2022, under the pseudonym Kali, she released TehnoVrăjitoarele with Niko G, the first feminist trap music album in Romania. Her plays Del Duma, Vorbește-le depre mine, Romacen as well as those co-written with Giuvlipen, Who Killed Szomna Grancsa?, Kali Traś and Sexodrom, are published in various theatre volumes in Romania and abroad.

Nominations and/or director awards: 

Gilder/Coigney New York Theatre Award, 2017 and 2020