In June 2026, the Guildford School of Acting (GSA) participated in the 33rd edition of the International Festival of Theatre in Sibiu (FITS 2026), Romania, followed in July by the 2026 World Shakespeare Congress in Verona, Italy, which marked the International Shakespeare Association’s 50th anniversary.
These two opportunities to participate in the best of Europe’s theatre festivals gave 42 GSA students the chance to gain invaluable experience and insight into international touring, collaborating with new partners, connecting with new friends and sharing their work with new audiences.
FITS 2026, Romania
The festival spans 10 days and includes theatre, dance, music, circus, opera, street performance, talks, workshops and more. There is a PhD Forum at which academics and postgraduate research students meet and share their work, a forum for discussing theatre and architecture, led by the Therme Group; a universities festival strand with over 20 groups from around the world sharing their work and so much more.
As a result of the University of Surrey’s partnership with the Therme Group, GSA was invited to take a student performance to the festival in 2024 for the first time. That year, we took a group of 10 students from the BA (Hons) Actor-Musician programme who created a 45minute performance of Grimm's Tales re-told by master story-teller Phillip Pullman and adapted for the stage by Philip Wilson. In 2025, GSA’s MFA Acting 2nd year students took their production of Flying Ant Day, by Joey Ellis to the festival. This play was originally staged at GSA as part of the MFA Acting programme and since the transfer to the festival in Sibiu, has been performed at the Union Theatre, London and as part of the Lambeth Fringe Festival.
This year, 12 students from the BA (Hons) Acting adapted their production of Macbeth. Working with BA (Hons) Theatre Production student, Dan Silver, the group staged the play at the Lucian Blaga University’s Faculty of Letters and Arts in the Cavas Studio Theatre.
The group was welcomed so warmly by the FITS 2026 team led by Dr Luminița Bîrsan, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters and lead for the Universities strand of FITS 2026 and Professor Ion M. Tomus, Head of the PhD School in Theatre and Performing Arts, both at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. We were fortunate to have the support of Dr Robert Hanea, the CEO of the Therme Group and Elena Morariu, Strategic Cultural Advisor, Therme Group/Programme Manager for the Therme Forum too. Theatre reviewer Cristina Lordache said of the performance: What truly shines in this production is the actors’ work. Lady Macbeth, performed by Milena Ruiz Harrison, is the image of a manipulative woman, ready to sacrifice anything for power. Between her and Macbeth, the power dynamic seems to be reversed from the very beginning …Tobias Martin-Clarke plays a Macbeth who is far more restrained, more lucid, yet who ultimately moves in the same direction of a burdened conscience… A striking appearance is that of the trio of Witches, formed by Charlotte Bass, Molly Fischer-Jones, and Mabel Bowles, whose stage movement is designed to awaken fear in the heart of anyone who might cross their path. In counterpoint to the two protagonists, the other actors support their roles impeccably, building a vivid and coherent background that maintains the tension and rhythm of each scene. (unpublished review) One of the students from the BA (Hons) Acting programme said, upon returning: Every person I met who was involved in the festival was generous, caring, passionate, and proud of what they were creating. Their hospitality left a lasting impression on me. I know that I will return to Sibiu one day because this experience has left a permanent mark on my heart and soul. Thank you all once again for giving me an opportunity and a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Another commented: The opportunity to participate in the Sibiu International Theatre Festival was, and will remain to be, a very valuable and special moment in my career and life. To have been able to experience it now, as a young artist about to step into the industry, reminded me of the sheer breadth of creative opportunities that can be found and pursued in theatre and performance, and I came home completely invigorated and inspired. This week-long event marked the International Shakespeare Association’s 50th anniversary. Part of the week included the Shakespeare and the Mediterranean Summer School and the Verona Shakespeare Fringe, both run by the Skene Research Centre. GSA’s Dr Jaq Bessell leads the summer school each year, this year being her tenth. Twenty-nine undergraduate and masters level GSA students had the opportunity to participate. They travelled to Verona and met other students from Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Art (FDU), Serbia’s foremost conservatoire, and actors from a number of theatres in Italy. Together they spent one week devising an original, multilingual adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth directed by Jaq Bessell and Andrea Coppone, the renowned Italian actor based at the Piccolo Teatro Milano. They were supported by Marta Bjelica from the FDU. This led to a sharing of Turning the Green One Red – A Devised Adaptation of Macbeth on 25 July 2026 at the Teatro Fucina Culturale Machiavelli. The work incorporated live and recorded sound, movement, text and various physical theatre techniques. To learn more about this project, see here for a short film about the 2024 Summer School and another film about the 2023 project. One of the GSA students who participated said: I loved the opportunity to work with students from other countries and learn from the different ways in which we approached acting and Shakespeare. The movement work throughout the course was extremely liberating as I found a new sense of freedom and connection to others in such a short space of time. This year, for the first time, we were able to secure financial support to fund the flights to Verona, making the opportunity more accessible to more of our students. 
GSA students performing Macbeth at FITS 2026. Photo credit: Roxana Darie
2026 World Shakespeare Congress, Verona