26 DAYS

“26 DAYS” is an international theatre project about wars experienced by different countries, about people whose lives have been changed by occupation, repression and violence, and about the personal responsibility of each of us in times of global catastrophe.

The name of the project is connected to research by the Hungarian political scientist István Kende. According to his calculations, over the past hundred years, there have been only 26 days without a war anywhere in the world. This number became the starting point for the project.

Why does humanity keep returning to war? How do hatred and aggression emerge within society? Why do people support violence or remain silent when it happens around them? How does propaganda change the way we see others? And what can each person do to prevent the past from repeating itself?

We want to tell these stories through people’s personal experiences—their memories, family histories, fears, losses, and attempts to survive and preserve their sense of self.

We invite artists from different countries to share the history of their country as they know and feel it. Almost every country has experienced war, occupation, political terror, repression or other forms of violence. Behind major historical events, there are always real people and individual lives. These are the stories we want to hear and tell.

The central theme of the project is personal responsibility. Even during the most terrible events, we still have the power to choose how we act. At such times, it is especially important to remain human and not lose our ability to empathise with and support one another. Peace begins with how we treat the people around us and the choices we make every day.