Since its establishment in 2014, MITEM (Madách International Theatre Meeting) has developed into a major platform for dialogue between theatrical traditions and aesthetic approaches. The 13th edition, held in Budapest from 10 April to 11 May, opened with Richard III by William Shakespeare, directed by István Albu (Harag György Company of the North Theatre, Satu Mare), and concluded with another production of Richard III, directed by Itay Tiran (Gesher Theatre, Tel Aviv–Jaffa).

Every year, MITEM in Hungary brings together international productions that combine classical and contemporary works, favouring experimentation with theatrical languages and unconventional perspectives on the present, subjecting today's world to analyses that are anything but comforting.

This article offers a critical dramaturgical reading of selected performances presented at the Madách International Theatre Meeting (MITEM) in Budapest. Rather than functioning as a conventional festival report, it approaches the programme as a field of aesthetic and political tensions in which contemporary European theatre negotiates questions of identity, embodiment, and representation.