{"id":96,"date":"2015-12-21T19:11:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T19:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cs2.enl.auth.gr\/12\/?p=96"},"modified":"2023-06-03T08:38:21","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T08:38:21","slug":"caramitru-prospero-and-the-apocalypse-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/12\/caramitru-prospero-and-the-apocalypse-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Caramitru-Prospero and the Apocalypse Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ludmila Patlanjoglu<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tempest <\/em>by Shakespeare, directed by Alexander Morfov, set by Nikola Toromanov, lights by Chris Jaeger, costumes by Andrada Chiriac, choreography by Florin Fieroiu, soundtrack by Alexander Morfov, musical training by Lucian Maxim. Bucharest National Theatre, premiere April 27, 2014.<\/p>\n

The Bucharest National Theatre\u2019s production of The Tempest<\/em> by Shakespeare had all the ingredients for success. The manager of the theatre, Ion Caramitru, is an actor with a vocation for Shakespeare. Throughout his long career he has left his mark on roles created under the guidance of several great Romanian directors: Romeo, Ferdinand, Feste, the anthological Hamlet, which\u2014after a triumphant UK tour\u2014propelled him among the world\u2019s ten best Hamlets of all time.<\/p>\n

Caramitru had previously approached Shakespeare on the stage of Bucharest National Theatre in two experimental productions\u2014the world premiere of Edward III<\/em> and the experimental staging of Macbeth<\/em>. The shadow of the Great William Shakespeare also followed him as a director\u2014he staged two remarkable productions of Macbeth <\/em>by Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco at Theatre du Synge in Japan and at the Macedonian National Theatre.<\/p>\n

\"Caramitru-Prospero-Einstein.
Caramitru-Prospero-Einstein. Photo by Augustin Bucur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The director of the audacious project of The Tempest<\/em> is the Bulgarian Alexander Morfov (born 1960), an acclaimed artist of international repute. For The Tempest<\/em>, staged in Saint Petersburg, he was awarded the most prestigious distinction in the Russian theatre, The Golden Mask. The Tempest <\/em>(1611) is Shakespeare\u2019s testament play, but also a testament text for the year 2015.<\/p>\n

Alexander Morfov explores two Shakespearian themes: the world as stage<\/em> (\u201cThese our actors \/ As I foretold you, were all spirits\u201d) and life as a dream <\/em>(\u201cWe are such stuff \/ As dreams are made on\u201d). The way he approaches them is striking: pop culture and entertainment. He opts for a style voluptuously cultivated in today\u2019s theatre, a \u201cshredded, na\u00efve, nonlinear\u201d style. Morfov creates a performance reflecting a world hungry for spectacle, diseased by images, tempted to live a virtual life, a world contaminated by postmodernism and the New Age spirit that has cast God from creation.<\/p>\n

\"Director,
Director, Alexander Morfov. Photo: Augustin Bucur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The actors welcome the audience even as they enter the venue. In an ambiguous set suggesting an island, a ship, an Elizabethan stage, they choose their roles and, directed by Prospero\u2019s magic wand unleash the mysterious power of drama. The Tempest<\/em> becomes a sui generis libretto for words, movement, singing and dancing. The exiled Prospero, the Duke of Milan, his daughter, Miranda, and their usurpers are confronted with the challenges of ignorance, greed, selfishness and vanity. We witness an exuberant, explosive performance. Backstage devices go into action: multi-coloured lighting, smoke special effects, machines unleashed in full view. Magic is forged, it pervades all the events of the play, daily life situations, present-day behaviour clich\u00e9s and taboos are humorously caricatured.<\/p>\n

In this avalanche of signs there are cultural reminiscences, quotes and references that delight the audience. The island bringing together victims and executioners is not a shrine for atonement. Prospero\u2019s image is striking: a homely appearance in ragged clothes, with fuzzy hair and moustache and a stack of books in his hand, resembling Einstein. It is the marketing image of a scientific century, over which the spectre of the atomic bomb and the Apocalypse loom. Ion Caramitru says: \u201cMorfov and I agreed to suggest Prospero\u00b4s resemblance to . . . Einstein. The line All shall dissolve <\/em>is premonitory, somehow prefiguring the creation of the atomic bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alexandru
Alexandru C\u0103lin (Ferdinand) and Crina Semciuc (Miranda). Photo: Augustin Bucur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shipwrecked on the island, the heroes are looking for \u201csomething\u201d but, as St Peter would say: \u201cThey seek their own, and not the things of God.\u201d This is the picture of a world sliding on the surface of existence, in which drama was trivialised. In this heavenless no man\u00b4s land there are nonetheless moments in which they are able to contemplate their inner heaven in the search for love, that is for God: in Prospero\u00b4s maternal care for Miranda, in murderous Alonso\u00b4s despair at losing his son, Ferdinand, in malefic Caliban\u00b4s desire to have a protective master whom to serve, in Ariel\u00b4s need for freedom and flying, in Ferdinand and Miranda\u00b4s love vows, in their superb wedding that envelops both the venue and the stage. However, Prospero\u00b4s magic \u201chas not set eternity in their heart\u201d (Ecclesiastes<\/em>, 3.11).<\/p>\n

When the magic of the show vanishes, it is emptiness that replaces it. We can feel it at the end of the performance when the three characters\u2014Miranda, Ariel and Caliban\u2014released from their masks feel their freedom as a burden. Prospero\u00b4s famous monologue is treated in a serious note. The island becomes a cell in which Prospero-Einstein confronts the Universe and the Divinity.<\/p>\n

\"Mihai
Mihai C\u0103lin (Caliban) and Istv\u00e1n T\u00e9gl\u00e1s (Ariel). Photo by TNB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In orchestrating this concert of visual and acoustic expressions, Alexander Morfov is inventive, rigorous and vigorous, stimulating the actors\u2019 creativity and vitality. Pathetic, burlesque, eccentric, picturesque, they truthfully portray the characters in group scenes or foreground scenes: Andrei Fin\u0163i\u2014Alonso<\/em>, King of Naples, Mihai Calot\u0103\u2014Trinculo<\/em>, Marcelo Cobzariu\u2014Stefano<\/em>, Alexandru C\u0103lin\u2014Ferdinand<\/em>, Vitalie Bichir\u2014Gonzalo<\/em>, Ioan Andrei Ionescu\u2014Antonio<\/em>, Gavril P\u0103tru\u2014Sebastian<\/em>. The couple Crina Semciuc\u2014Miranda <\/em>and Alexandru C\u0103lin\u2014Ferdinand <\/em>delights us with their exuberance, grace and sensuality. Dreamlike and nightmarish creatures contaminate the stage with their playful, comic bursts: Istvan T\u00e9gl\u00e1s\u2014Ariel, <\/em>embodying a glamorous \u201cairy spirit\u201d and Mihai C\u0103lin\u2014Caliban, <\/em>who creates a surprising role by blending together the grotesque and the gracious, a truthful picture of ugliness.<\/p>\n

\"Pop
Pop culture and entertainment in The Tempest<\/em>. Photo: Augustin Bucur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Great actors and directors were destined to approach the role of Prospero: from Kean, Michael Redgrave, John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave, to Peter Brook, Giorgio Strehler and the Romanian Liviu Ciulei. Ion Caramitru was also destined for his part. Blending colloquial and confidential tones, lyricism and lucidity, melancholy and self-irony, he naturally creates Prospero-Einstein<\/em> with simplicity and sophistication. A secret force flows through the words of Caramitru\u2019s speech. We can feel \u201cShakespeare\u00b4s enchanted and heart-breaking dreaming.\u201d Master of ceremonies and raisonneur of the show, the actor astonishes us as he takes off his moustache when receiving the applause. The concealed restlessness, as a foreboding of the tempest<\/em> that is to come, vanishes. In confusing, violent times, drama becomes a privileged space of reconciliation and light for a world threatened by the specter of the Apocalypse.<\/p>\n

\"Ion
Ion Caramitru, manager of the National Theatre in Bucharest, and Attila Vidny\u00e1nszky, manager of the National Theatre in Budapest, at MITEM Festival 2015. Photo by MITEM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A tour to MITEM (M\u00e1dach International Theatre Meeting), the elite festival organised by Budapest National Theatre, also confirmed the international success of this production. In this competitive theatre context, the postmodernist blending of The Tempest <\/em>in Alexander Morfov\u2019s vision conquered us all. From among the best productions of the festival it is worth mentioning: Chronic Life<\/em> directed by Eugenio Barba; Apollo Cinema<\/em> directed by Matthias Langhoff; Inner Voices<\/em> by Eduardo de Filippo, directed by Toni Servillo; Flagellum Dei <\/em>after Mikl\u00f3s B\u00e1nffy, by direcor Attila Vidny\u00e1nszky; The Brothers Karamazov<\/em> by Dostoyevsky, directed by Luk Perceval; Harlequin, refined by love<\/em> by Marivaux, directed by Thomas Jolly; Shakespeare\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>, directed by David Doiashvili; Towards Medea <\/em>after Euripides, directed by Emma Dante; Gorki\u2019s The Night Asylum,<\/em>directed by Viktor Ryzhakov.<\/p>\n

The Tempest <\/em>at Bucharest National Theatre is a production that mirrors our tempestuous<\/em> world.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ludmila-Patlanjoglu\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>*Ludmila Patlanjoglu<\/strong> is a Romanian theatre critic and historian, as well as University Professor (PhD) and Head of the Theatre Science Department at the \u201cI. L. Caragiale\u201d National University of Drama and Film Arts in Bucharest. Former President of IATC\u2014Romanian Section (1999-2008) and Member of IATC\u2019s Executive Committee (2001-2007). She is currently honorary member of the IATC\u2014Romanian Section board (2008-present) and a member of the Romanian Theatre Artists\u2019 Association (UNITER). She directed the 2002 and 2003 editions of the I. L. Caragiale National Theatre Festival in Romania and the 21st Congress of IATC organized in Bucharest (November, 2003). She launched the IATC\u2019s THALIA Prize (designer Drago\u015f Buhagiar).<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2015 Ludmila Patlanjoglu
\nCritical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This work is licensed under the
\nCreative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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