Kumanovo opens the 29th "Days of Comedy" on September 23, and for the next two weeks the NUCK Trajko Prokopiev becomes the richest stage in the country. Eleven plays, six countries, one ticket for 300 denars. That is the price of a pizza, and the line-up includes theatres from Sofia, Pristina, Nis and East Sarajevo.

The festival starts at home. "Death at a Funeral" by Theatre Kumanovo opens the programme on September 23, and the same house closes it on October 5 with Dario Fo's "Can't Pay? Won't Pay!", a text that has refused to go out of date for forty years, every time prices climb faster than wages. In between: "The 39 Steps" from the National Theatre of East Sarajevo on September 24, "A Flea in Her Ear" from the Drama Theatre of Skopje on the 25th, and "Pokondirena tikva" from the National Theatre of Pristina on the 26th - Sterija's classic that has spent two centuries laughing at people pretending to be something they are not.

October brings the second half. "Kljukana dinastija" from the National Theatre of Nis on September 28, "A Bed for Two" from the Aleko Konstantinov Satirical Theatre of Sofia on the 29th, "Ice Cream for Women" from the NUCK Aco Sopov in Stip on the 30th. Then "The First Gentleman" from the Albanian Theatre in Skopje on October 1, "Sextet" from the National Theatre of Bitola on the 2nd and "Amateurs" from Theatre Komedija in Skopje on the 3rd. Every performance starts at 20:00.

What makes the festival worth it is the shape of that list. Pristina and Nis in the same programme, Sofia and East Sarajevo next to each other, Albanian and Macedonian theatre in the same week - and nobody holds a press conference about it. Comedy is still the only genre that gets everyone into the same room without asking anyone's permission first.

Tickets are 300 denars per play through karti.com.mk and at the NUCK Trajko Prokopiev box office in Kumanovo. In Skopje that sum does not get you into a single concert - here it is eleven nights with theatres from six countries.