{"id":626,"date":"2021-12-18T09:16:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-18T09:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/?p=626"},"modified":"2023-03-15T11:10:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:10:26","slug":"romanian-theatre-waiting-for-the-present-to-take-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/romanian-theatre-waiting-for-the-present-to-take-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Theatre: Waiting for the Present to Take Shape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Kinga Boros<\/strong><a href=\"#end\" name=\"back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#e3c7ca\">Piatra Neam\u021b&nbsp;Theatre Festival, 32nd edition, 3\u201312 September 2021, Romania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Romanian theatre at the end of summer 2021 was marked by two deaths. Voicu R\u0103descu, the founder of the Romanian independent theatre movement, passed away first, and Ion Caramitru, director of the Bucharest National Theatre shortly after him. The passing of these two determining personalities seems to give a special connotation to the curatorial concept of the 32nd Piatra Neam\u021b Theatre Festival, organized by the local Theatre of Youth: POST-PRESENT.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con2.jpg?resize=800%2C534&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con2.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con2.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The facade of Moscow Bolshoi Theatre projected on the facade of the Piatra-Neam\u021b theatre. Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>As the manager of the Green Hours jazz-caf\u00e9 in Bucharest, R\u0103descu (1955\u20132021) opened his venue to several young theatre-makers from the millennium on. He offered them the chance to try themselves out as autonomous creators, free from any constraint or restriction. Seen from today, it is clear that, thanks to R\u0103descu, Green Hours functioned as the nursery of a generation that eventually brought a new voice to Romanian theatre. Directors like Radu Afrim, Ada Milea, Ana M\u0103rgineanu, Carmen Lidia Vidu started their careers here, only to become award-winning artists later. And it was here, in 2003, that Gianina C\u0103rbunariu created&nbsp;<em>Stop the Tempo<\/em>, the performance that introduced her as the most innovative director of the post-communist Romanian theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-future1.jpg?resize=800%2C534&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-703\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-future1.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-future1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-future1.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Spectators are guided from one location to another and through the local history of the twentieth century. Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Caramitru (1942\u20132021), leading actor in some of the most famous performances before the Romanian revolution such as Alexandru Tocilescu`s&nbsp;<em>Hamlet&nbsp;<\/em>(1985), was also one of the faces announcing the fall of the Ceau\u0219escu regime on television in December 1989. In the 1990s, he led the Ministry of Culture. In 2005, he became director of the National Theatre in Bucharest, a position he took up again in 2021, contracted for the following five years. Under his leadership, the National Theatre was not considered to be particularly progressive, and he didn`t seem to seek its reformation. While president of UNITER, the union of theatre workers that organizes the UNITER prizes, Romania&#8217;s theatre Oscars, he had a determining role in making the union widely known and acknowledged but also in preserving a conservative value system in Romanian theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To qualify this statement, we should look at the UNITER prizes from the perspective of Gianina C\u0103rbunariu, a director who writes her own texts. C\u0103rbunariu&#8217;s plays\u2014translated, staged and published in many languages throughout the world\u2014cannot participate in the competition for the best new play of the year because the criterion for this category is that the given play has never been staged. Neither was she awarded the UNITER prize for best director:&nbsp; it was only when she entered the state theatre system that the jury chose her performance,&nbsp;<em>Typographic Capital Letters&nbsp;<\/em>(2013),<a href=\"#end1\" name=\"back1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a>&nbsp;to be the best show. One might argue that Romanian theatre represented by UNITER does not appreciate or does not even recognize many of its assets.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"598\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-2.jpg?resize=400%2C598&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-2.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-2.jpg?resize=201%2C300&amp;ssl=1 201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actress Nora Covali evokes the memory of the &#8220;Lew-Echod&#8221; Jewish emigration from 1900. Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>When bidding farewell to Voicu R\u0103descu and Ion Caramitru, we cannot help but wonder what the next era will be about. Or, as director Daniel Chiril\u0103, artistic consultant of the Theatre of Youth, affirms in the Piatra Neam\u021b&nbsp;festival catalogue: &#8220;We live in a post-present in which the present does not exist, being merely a buffer zone between what was and what is to follow.&#8221; His words, of course, refer to the pandemic situation but received a much wider meaning with the passing of these two great figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organized by the Theatre of Youth, an institution led by Gianina C\u0103rbunariu since 2017, this venerable festival was one of the first live ones in Romania since March 2020. In accordance with the slogan chosen by the theatre for its 2020\u201321 season, \u201cSee you outside,\u201d ten of the fifteen invited Romanian productions were designed to be played outdoors. This guaranteed to some extent that the event could take place even if the protective hygiene measures were in place at the time the festival started. The risk was considerable, since Romania&#8217;s vaccination rate continues to stay depressingly low.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-3.jpg?resize=800%2C533&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-3.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-3.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-Future-3.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Encounter of the younger actress (C\u0103t\u0103lina B\u0103l\u0103l\u0103u) with the shadow of her older self (Maria Hibovski).&nbsp;Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The outdoor criterion, as neutral and practical as it seems at first sight, automatically excluded many theatres, those that did not succeed in creating live shows adapted to COVID restrictions. It is revealing that only five theatres in the festival&#8217;s national section were state theatres. Independent artists and companies, while struggling to have a venue to play, were much more inventive in perceiving constraining measures as new possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naturally, the mere fact of physically stepping out of the&nbsp;<em>Guckkastenb\u00fchne<\/em>&nbsp;box (the fourth-wall stage) does not automatically take theatre aesthetics outside that box. Nor do socially relevant themes, like the capitalist exploitation of nature, of our fellow humans and of ourselves, very well represented at the festival. Of the ten shows I had the privilege to see in Piatra-Neam\u021b, only two, I could say, took aesthetic risks. Both of them happen to have been produced by the Theatre of Youth itself. You will not be able to see them at other festivals as both are site-specific performances inseparable from Piatra-Neam\u021b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sense and experience of time is the theme of&nbsp;<em>Future of the Past<\/em>. Director Clemens Bechtel, who also wrote the documentation-based script, introduces the audience to the city of Piatra-Neam\u021b in the form of an audio-walk. With headphones and with the actors showing us the way, we leave from the inside of the theatre building, heading out to a quiet and elegant residential area built in the interwar period. The sight of people from the early 1900s or from 1940 is not even surprising in this architectural context. Only the passing cars remind us that we are in the twenty-first century. Our guide, actor Florin Hri\u021bcu, carries a huge backpack on his shoulders. A hundred years ago, many Jewish men left these houses, their homes, sometimes on foot, in search of a better life. It feels like we are stepping in their footprints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, in the monument-building of the Palace of Children, we continue our itinerary in the most intimate, personal histories of the twentieth century. Among others, a scene of a little girl meeting her future self makes a powerful impression. In a ballet studio, between two parallel mirrors indefinitely multiplying their figures, the two women engage in a stirring disputation. Her parents have just died, she has to move into an orphanage, and her sister will soon pass away, too. The older self\u2014in Maria Hibovski&#8217;s moving presence\u2014wisely, lovingly, but also inexorably, prepares her younger self for what is ahead. The young girl\u2014the very energetic and refined C\u0103t\u0103lina B\u0103l\u0103l\u0103u\u2014defiantly argues with her. The sentiment of being trapped between an unchangeable past and an inevitable future is shattering. It is of great virtue that the performance, though emotionally very loaded, does not become kitschy.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con1.jpg?resize=800%2C534&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con1.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con1.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Planet Mirror occupying the Piatra-Neam\u021b Theatre of Youth. Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>If&nbsp;<em>Future of the Past<\/em>&nbsp;is an immersion in the parallel dimensions of time,&nbsp;<em>To Be Continued. On the Planet Mirror&nbsp;<\/em>by Gianina C\u0103rbunariu plays with the idea of a parallel planet, better than ours. Planet Mirror arrives to Piatra-Neam\u021b&nbsp;to offer a new home to all the creatures wiped out from Earth because they were non-essential to humans: animal species, fresh air, ideological values, arts . . . Non-essentials\u2014the term alludes to the categorizing of Romanian citizens when the COVID vaccination campaign started: theatre-makers could not enter the first rounds of vaccination because decision-makers considered them non-essential members of society. The performance starts as a dystopia, citing Nina&#8217;s monologue from Chekhov\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Seagull<\/em>, only to quickly evolve into an overwhelming audiovisual essay about society, use of power and theatre. Performed in front of the Theatre of Youth, using the rich, three-storey facade as an interface, the show transmits as many thoughts through C\u0103rbunariu\u2019s text as it does through the images created by her and her excellent team of co-artists: Dorothee Curio, the set designer; Cristian Niculescu, the lighting designer; and Andrei Cozlac, the video designer reshape the facade with grandiose and thought-provoking video-mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con3.jpg?resize=800%2C533&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-633\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con3.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con3.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con3.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President of Planet Mirror, Alba, the transgenic bunny, on the balcony of the theatre. Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The twelve actors play in every window, balcony and on the front steps, in some scenes even among the audience placed opposite on the roadway (closed to cars at the weekend when the show is on). Their inch-perfect, unfailing work reveals a devoted, highly professional company. Colorful, cartoon-like costumes cover their heads and faces as well, making them indeed look like creatures from another planet. Hardly ever can we see in Romania a theatre performance using contemporary visual culture so boldly and intelligently. It is equally important that the masks and the separation of voices from bodies (sound and music were prerecorded) make the actors search for a completely different performing language from the one they would normally use. With headphones on and surrounded by all the visual and sound elements of the show, the acting seems perfectly in harmony with the whole of the performance. However, quite a different show reveals itself to passers-by, who without the text and the music (soundtrack by Alex Halka) perceive an extravagant choreography (by Sink\u00f3 Ferenc) and a frenetic multimedia spectacle. Both versions are equally valid. This is twenty-first century&nbsp;<em>Volkstheater<\/em>, a theatre shaped to reach all generations, every niche, regardless of education and economic background, including townspeople who perhaps have never been to the theatre before.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con4.jpg?resize=800%2C534&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con4.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con4.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con4.jpg?resize=768%2C513&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Members of the audience sit at a proper distance from one another, following the hygiene measures imposed by the pandemic situation<strong>.&nbsp;<\/strong>Photo: Marius \u0218umlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Fascinated by this universe, I remember that very first performance by C\u0103rbunariu, made in the small underground venue of the Green Hours, with only three flashlights to create the effects. It has been a long journey since&nbsp;<em>Stop the Tempo, <\/em>but she has never stopped being the most exciting Romanian theatre director of her time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Endnotes<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><a name=\"end1\" href=\"#back1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a> The show was a co-production&nbsp;between dramAcum (Romania) and the International Theatre Festival Divadeln\u00e1 Nitra (Slovakia), in partnership with Odeon Theatre (Romania) in the framework of the project&nbsp;<em>&#8220;Parallel Lives\u201420th Century through the Eyes of Secret Police.\u201d<\/em><a name=\"end\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/Kinga-Boros.jpg?resize=150%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-705\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>Kinga Boros<\/strong> (b. 1982) is a Hungarian theatrologist currently working as assistant lecturer at the University of Arts&nbsp;T\u00e2rgu-Mure\u0219 (Romania). She has worked as a stage dramaturg and was the editor of the theatre journal&nbsp;<em>Sz\u00ednh\u00e1z<\/em> (Hungary). She completed her PhD in 2014 on the topic of social responsibility in contemporary Hungarian and Romanian theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2021 Kinga Boros<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png?w=800&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-PiatraN-To-be-con3.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":335,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/ion-caramitru-an-artistic-guiding-force-1942-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":0},"title":"Ion Caramitru &#8211; An Artistic Guiding Force (1942-2021)","author":"Kinga Boros","date":"November 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Maria Z\u0103rnescu* Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Shakespeare, Hamlet They say a man is not dead as long as another still remembers his voice. Ion Caramitru has not died, nor has he retired to take a rest.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;In Memoriam&quot;","block_context":{"text":"In Memoriam","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/in-memoriam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image10.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":614,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/buenos-aires-to-bucharest-piazzollas-maria-travels-through-the-ages\/","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":1},"title":"Buenos Aires to Bucharest: Piazzolla\u2019s Maria Travels through the Ages","author":"Kinga Boros","date":"December 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Maria Z\u0103rnescu* Maria de Buenos Aires. Music: Astor Piazzolla.\u00a0Book: Horacio Ferrer. Translated by Albert\u00a0Denn. Lyrics: Alex \u0218tef\u0103nescu. Direction, choreography and costumes: R\u0103zvan Mazilu. Set:\u00a0Drago\u0219 Buhagiar. Lighting design: \u0218tefan Vasilescu. Cast: Ana Bianca Popescu (Maria), Gheorghe Visu (The Spirit), Lucian Ionescu (The organ-grinder, The dreamer, The old thief, The first analyst,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Performance Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Performance Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/performance-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-Maria-de-Buenos-5.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-Maria-de-Buenos-5.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-Maria-de-Buenos-5.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/PER-Maria-de-Buenos-5.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/20-groundbreaking-directors-of-eastern-europe-30-years-after-the-fall-of-the-iron-curtain\/","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":2},"title":"20 Groundbreaking Directors of Eastern Europe: 30 Years After the Fall of the Iron Curtain","author":"Kinga Boros","date":"November 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Edited by Kalina Stefanova and Marvin Carlson247 pp.\u00a0 Palgrave Macmillan\u00a0\u00a0 Reviewed by Ian Herbert* Recent years have seen a growing interest in the theatres of those Eastern European countries who stepped out from under the stifling cultural influence of Soviet Russia after 1989. In this book, Kalina Stefanova and Marvin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/Ian-Herbert-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/franchised-recycled-performance-as-a-theatre-of-ecology\/","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":3},"title":"Franchised\/Recycled Performance as a Theatre of Ecology","author":"Kinga Boros","date":"December 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ivan Medenica* Abstract There could be different manifestations of a \u201ctheatre of ecology\u201d: from new versions of a so-called poor theatre with the use of reduced and\/or recycled materials, including set design, props and costumes, to the concept of an eco-dramaturgy with stories that are not centred only on human\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Conference Papers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Conference Papers","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/conference-papers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/12\/image6-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/endangered-theatre-a-philippine-notebook\/","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":4},"title":"Endangered Theatre: A Philippine Notebook","author":"Kinga Boros","date":"December 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Katrina Stuart Santiago* Abstract This is a critical assessment of Philippine theatre in Manila based on ruptures in its status quo of silence over fundamental divides based on language and privilege, as well as important issues of neo-coloniality, inequality, and injustice. The essay argues that the surfacing of these crises\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;National Reports&quot;","block_context":{"text":"National Reports","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/national-reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image6b-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image6b-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image6b-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image6b-1.jpeg?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":286,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/the-access-point-in-st-petersburg-interview-with-filipp-vulakh-yulia-kleiman-and-alexei-platunov\/","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":5},"title":"The Access Point in St. Petersburg: Interview with Filipp Vulakh, Yulia Kleiman and Alexei Platunov","author":"Kinga Boros","date":"November 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Nikolai Pesochinsky* The seventh Access Point festival in St. Petersburg during the summer of 2021 has been described as a \"forum for site-specific and immersive art.\" Simply put, the festival performances placed game events in non-theatrical spaces and engaged the spectators in active participation. Experimenting with urban space, these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image7-1.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image7-1.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image7-1.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2021\/11\/image7-1.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":958,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}