site.btaArt Performance on Wheels Showcases Challenges for Truck Drivers in Eastern Europe

A refrigerated truck converted into a theatre on wheels is driving through the streets of Timisoara. Its purpose is to bring to light the stories of Romanian drivers who cross Europe on different routes and often encounter difficulties, not least because the country is not yet part of the Schengen area.

The first performance of this kind was staged in Sofia in 2006, now it is done in Romania. Some 46 people take their seats and become the "cargo" carried by drivers Denis and Dalian.

The two men are part of a total of more than six million drivers in the European Union who look out at the world from two metres high, know cities mainly by their road signs, and work for days on an area of two square metres in the front of a 40-tonne car. 

"Because we're two drivers, we could be back home in two days. But because Romania is not yet a member of the Schengen area, it will take us three days to get to Timisoara," Denis says.

The performance depicts the journey that Dennis and Dalian make from Berlin to Timisoara. The stops are loading docks, warehouses, checkpoints, and gas stations. The drivers communicate with the audience through wireless microphones. Spectators look through the 10-metre high glass wall and all the time listen to the two men who reveal the challenges of freight carriers in Europe.