{"id":678,"date":"2024-12-04T20:12:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T20:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/?p=678"},"modified":"2024-12-09T16:34:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T16:34:29","slug":"romania-make-room-for-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/30\/romania-make-room-for-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Romania, Make Room for Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Irina Zlotea<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

C\u0103t\u0103lina Buzoianu Directing Festival for Female Directors. 1st edition, 7\u201311 September 2024, Ia\u015fi (Romania).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024\/25 theatrical season in Romania started with a novelty: the C\u0103t\u0103lina Buzoianu Directing Festival, organized by the National Theatre of Ia\u015fi \u2013 NTI; a long-awaited cultural context dedicated to women theatre directors. New because it is the first of its kind in our cultural space, and long-awaited since the Romanian cultural infrastructure barely keeps up with the evolution of the artistic fields, in terms of not only trends, topics or aesthetics but also work practices and ethics, involving ideas such as diversity, sustainability or . . . feminism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In creating a festival dedicated to female empowerment, the general manager Cristian Hadji-Culea\u2014theatre director and manager of the Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre of Ia\u015fi \u2013 NTI\u2014decided to choose a worthy spiritual patron of the event, and C\u0103t\u0103lina Buzoianu (1938\u20132019) is truly one of the best. Theatre director, writer and professor, C\u0103t\u0103lina Buzoianu started her directing career at the NTI in 1970 with The Seagull<\/em>, followed by a number of other performances that established her as a young artist in demand by theatres in the country, and especially in Bucharest. She remained memorable for her paradoxical personality\u2014dreamy and fierce, ardent and profound\u2014that could be traced in every one of her creations, and she is one of the key names of modern Romanian theatre directing. Some of her iconic performances were based on her own stage adaptations of novels such as Bulgakov\u2019s The<\/em> Master and Margarita, <\/em>Dumas\u2019s The Lady of the Camellias, <\/em>Nabokov\u2019s Lolita <\/em>or The First Man <\/em>by Camus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this strong female figure on her mind, theatre critic Oana Bor\u015f\u2014curator of the first edition\u2014chose ten performances by ten female directors premiered in the 2023\/24 theatrical season. Diversity<\/em> is what defined the end result: a collection of different themes, plays, aesthetics and noticeable personal styles, also adding some cultural representation by having two minorities among the producers, and hence the casts: the German State Theatre of Timi\u0219oara and the Hungarian Szigligeti Theatre of Oradea. An apparent common thread within the productions might be the daring drive to tackle stories with thorny themes. The ten female directors range from the internationally known (some also acknowledged playwrights) to those just starting to build a name in the artistic field: Gianina C\u0103rbunariu, Carmen Lidia Vidu, Nicoleta Esinencu, Catinca Dr\u0103g\u0103nescu, Leta Popescu, S\u00e2nziana Stoican, Irina Popescu Boieru, Teodora Petre, Irisz Kovacs, Diana Mititelu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival opened with the charming one-man show I Am My Own Wife <\/em>by the multi-award winner Douglas Wright, directed by Teodora Petre for the Small Theatre in Bucharest. Accused by the LGBTQA+ community of lack of inclusivity (since the actor cast in the role of the iconic Charlotte von Mahlsdorf is not a transgender woman but a cisgender man), the performance faced a notable scandal at its premiere. However, the general public and the critics absolutely loved it. Rightfully so, since Gabriel Costin not only brings in an absolutely gentle and charismatic Charlotte but also smoothly crosses multiple characters as the play develops without losing his focus on the main heroine.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Delicate Charlotte von Mahlsdorf gliding into memory and attentively carrying her beloved collection of antiquities (scenography by Ioana Pashca). Gabriel Costin in I Am My Own Wife<\/em>. Photo: Andrei G\u00eendac \u2013 Two Bugs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Probably the most heartbreaking performance is The Fragile Feeling of Hope\/Sentimentul fragil al speran\u0163ei<\/em>, created by Carmen Lidia Vidu. In her fearless inquiring style, Vidu searched within the hidden world of teenage experience, selecting the most representative and striking stories published in Gen, revist\u0103<\/em> (a printed and online magazine for teenage and young adult writers and readers). In creating this show, she mindfully navigated real experiences of abuse, mental disorder, distorted self-image, migration and belonging, all brought together in the same humane need for acceptance, love, thriving for a better self and a better life. Obviously a winner for the young public, but a strong recommendation for the mature one that feels left out from the world of their own children, this documentary-production from the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest is performed by the younger actors of the company in a seemingly dreamlike setting, as if we have descended into dark places where painful secrets are kept, guarded by symbolic objects. The cinematographic set design is by Adrian Damian.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Living with schizophrenia or tirelessly pedalling ahead without ever looking back at the darkness that falls behind. Niko Becker in The Fragile Feeling of Hope<\/em>. Photo: Sabina Costinel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A daring and intentionally insolent performance was The Housewives\u2019 Apocalypse\/Apocalipsa gopsodinelor<\/em>, a concert-like performance devised for The Theatre of Youth in Piatra Neam\u0163 by Nicoleta Esinencu and the artistic team. The poetical and militant discourse of the Moldovan artist found a match in the team: Doriana Talmazan, Paul-Ovidiu Cosovanu, Daniel Chiril\u0103, Corina Grigora\u0219, Lucre\u021bia Mandric, Ruxandra Maniu, Iulia-Paula Niculescu, Daria T\u0103m\u0103sl\u0103caru. Using sparse scenography, but more lighting design, preferring an experimental dissonant music, the performers partly present their own stories, partly create a stage persona, deliberately trying to provoke the audience through direct address, slogan launching, incantation-like lyrics and bluntly naming faults of the white capitalist patriarchy, following a biblical structure for the coming of the all-saving godlike Woman. Adored by the revolutionary spirits, rejected by the conservatives, the production energizes opinions on women’s rights and internalized sexism as intended, but it often goes under the radar when it comes to more technical shortcomings\u2014it is too long and too repetitive for its own good.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“My father wanted a princess, but he ended up with . . . me . . . a tomboy.” Corina Grigora\u0219 (centre) takes over the stage with her personal story in The Housewives\u2019 Apocalypse<\/em>. Photo: Marius \u015eumlea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Leta Popescu\u2019s Peony\/Bujor <\/em>from Fani Tardini Drama Theatre of Gala\u0163i was well received. The stage text by Doru Vatavului approaches the topical subjects of sexual education in schools and homosexuality. Skilfully working with the actors, Leta Popescu directed a simple but effective performance. The story observes the escalating tensions in a parent-teacher meeting concerning the “undisciplined” sexual behaviour of two boys from the same class. With her steady curiosity and honest logic, Popescu glides between present and past, and between the subjective perspectives of the main characters (the teacher and the amorphous group of parents\/colleagues), successfully exploring uncomfortable realities of intimate self-discovery in a conservative society, without vulgarity but rather with maturity and affectionate humour.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Is there something wrong with you?\u2014The Teacher (Vlad Volf, on the far right) recalls teen years and the peer pressure to confirm his “normal” sexuality in Peony<\/em>. Photo: Tudor Neac\u015fu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Among the theatre directors, choreographer Andrea Gavriliu found a place of her own in the program, given her close relationship with theatre (in her professional training but also in her work). Her show, SF (Super Fragile)<\/em>, produced by Excelsior Theatre in Bucharest, is a dynamic journey of maturity and self-discovery performed by six debutant actors (Gavriliu prefers working with expressive actors rather than dancers) in a set design reminiscent of a playground. The performance is executed with precision and created with self-irony, offering a consistent view on the evolution of men\u2013women relationships during the process of growing up, adding a touch of coolness and darkness through her distinctive movement, lighting design and excellent music created by Adrian Piciorea.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Two girls weave and unweave friendship in their secret language. Iuliana Danciu and Ileana Ursu in SF (Super Fragile)<\/em>. Photo: Andrei G\u00eendac \u2013 Two Bugs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The performances mentioned are the first five that come to mind when I think about the first edition of the C\u0103t\u0103lina Buzoianu Directing Festival, though each artist invited had a worthy story to tell, and I am sure that each spectator went home favouring a different collection of shows. However, merely bringing together performances was not the only important purpose of this festival. It gained by organizing public debates on different topics viewed from a feminine\/feminist perspective, such as leadership and theatre management, the French model for gender equality in theatre, female voices in theatre criticism in the Romanian twentieth century, the paradigms of feminine directing and so on. After all, in a balanced modern society making room for female voices in the cultural mainstream means also giving them a platform to meet and share their experiences as professionals, bringing up the common questions and biases they face, generating a real, fruitful dialogue that stimulates them to initiate new projects and bring the best out of them. My need for this normality makes me hope deeply that the unpredictable budgets for the next year will be in favour of events like this, and that the next season will be opening with a 2nd edition. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*<\/a>Irina Zlotea<\/strong> is a Romanian theatre critic and managing editor at Teatrul azi<\/em>, editor at the Radio Drama Department of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. She is co-author and editor of several monographs dedicated to prominent figures of Romanian theatre: C\u0103t\u0103lina Buzoianu\u2014magie, abur, vis, 3 vol. <\/em>(2018), Ileana Ploscaru\u2014Teatru, teatru \u015fi iar… teatru <\/em>(2017), \u015etefan Braborescu\u2014Portret din cr\u00e2mpeie <\/em>(2016). Double nominee for Best Theatre Critic at the Romanian Association of Theatre Professionals  UNITER Awards (2020, 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2024 Irina Zlotea
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em>, #30, Dec. 2024
e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n

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