STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEȘ-BOLYAI 2/2017

STUDIA
UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI
DRAMATICA

2/2017
October
 STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI
DRAMATICA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
ŞTEFANA POP-CURŞEU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

HONORIFIC BOARD:
GEORGE BANU, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle
ION VARTIC, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
MICHAEL PAGE, Calvin College

EDITORIAL BOARD:
LIVIU MALIŢA, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
ANCA MĂNIUȚIU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
MIRUNA RUNCAN, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
LAURA PAVEL-TEUTIȘAN, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
VISKY ANDRÁS, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
ANDREA TOMPA, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
IOAN POP-CURŞEU, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
DELIA ENYEDI, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
RALUCA SAS-MARINESCU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
ANCA HAŢIEGAN, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
MIHAI PEDESTRU, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

INTERNATIONAL REFEREES:
DOMNICA RĂDULESCU, Washington and Lee University
PETER P. MÜLLER, University of Pécs
TOM SELLAR, Editor of Theatre Journal, Duke University Press, Yale University
JEAN-PIERRE SARRAZAC, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle
GILLES DECLERCQ, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle
PATRIZIA LOMBARDO, Geneva University
LAURA CARETTI, Università degli Studi di Siena
LIVIU DOSPINESCU, Université Laval, Québec

ISSUE EDITORS (2/2017):

MIRUNA RUNCAN, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca
MIHAI PEDESTRU, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

SECRETARY OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD:

MIHAI PEDESTRU, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

EDITORIAL OFFICE: 4th Kogălniceanu Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,

Phone: +40 264 590066,
Web site: [Link]
Contact: [Link]@[Link]
 Cover design by Andrei Littvin

STUDIA UBB EDITORIAL OFFICE: B.P. Hasdeu no. 51, 400371 Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
Phone + 40 264 405352, office@[Link]
YEAR Volume 62 (LXII) 2017
MONTH OCTOBER
ISSUE 2

PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2017-10-31

PUBLISHED PRINT: 2017-10-31
ISSUE DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2

Thematic issue

New Perspectives in Theatre History and Criticism

CONTENT / SOMMAIRE

STUDIES AND ARTICLES

Miruna RUNCAN, Arguments for a Historical Examination of the Discourse
of Theatre and Film Criticism............................................................................ 9
Katalin Ágnes BARTHA, Theatre Inauguration Ceremony and Symbolic
Representation ................................................................................................. 23
Alexandra Emma PEDESTRU, Romanian Theatre Criticism during the
Stalinist Era. Construction and Deconstruction of the Critical Discourse ....... 51
Iulia POPOVICI, A Theatre for the Workers, Protest as Performance, and
the Political Police as (Art) Historian. A Plea for the Rediscovering of
Interwar Peripheries ........................................................................................ 69
Miruna RUNCAN, The Coronation of “The Accompanying Comrade” Sică
Alexandrescu – A Case Study ......................................................................... 87
Tomasz CIESIELSKI, Ancient choreia in Neurocognitive Context.................. 115
Oltița CÎNTEC, Gianina Cărbunariu’s Theatre, a Form of Memory in Recent
History ........................................................................................................... 131
 CONTENTS OF STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017

Ştefana POP-CURSEU, La théâtralité du tableau vivant dans le théâtre de

Samuel Beckett : une perspective néo-avant-gardiste * The Theatricality
of the Living Pictures in Samuel Beckett’s Theatre: a Neo-Avant-Guard
Perspective ............................................................................................................. 143
Ion INDOLEAN, The Evolution of the Milicier Film Genre in Communist
Romania ......................................................................................................... 161
Raluca LUPAN, To Curate a Part of One’s Soul. Transplanting a Performance
in Three (Radically) Different Spaces ............................................................ 173

MISCELLANEA

Rodica MOCAN, An Approach to Teaching Digital Interactive Performance ..... 189

Ana BOARIU, In Search of the Theatrical Unit of Meaning: Exploring

Mnemonic by Simon McBurney ................................................................... 221

INTERVIEWS AND PROJECT REPORTS

Miruna RUNCAN, Interview with Cristina Modreanu, Theatre Critic, Curator,

Editor in Chief of [Link] Magazine. ........................................................... 243
Olga STEFAN, The Future of Memory Project .................................................. 249

PERFORMANCE AND BOOK REVIEWS

Emma Alexandra PEDESTRU, Surviving Change. On the Metamorphoses

of Theatre Criticism ....................................................................................... 273

Miruna RUNCAN, New Dramatic Structures, Negotiable Imaginary Spaces.

On Assuming the Experimental Condition................................................... 277

6
STUDIES AND ARTICLES
STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 9 - 22
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.01

Arguments for a Historical Examination

of the Discourse of Theatre and Film Criticism

MIRUNA RUNCAN1

Abstract: Paradoxically, historical studies of performing arts seem to have

seldom approached the manner of development of critical discourses; and
this, despite the fact that the basic subject matter that comes to the aid of
historiographers interested in arts (fewer and fewer of them can be seen in the
academic environment of my activity) is given by critical discourses: leading
articles, essays, reviews, investigative pieces, feature reports and interviews from
this or that time. Very few researchers seem to have raised valid questions
about the relationship between (artistic, theatrical…) creation and the critical
discourses meant to represent and assess it. A simple web search including the
keywords “theatre”, “history”, “theatre criticism”, “rhetoric” will expose the
austerity of this field: such austerity may seem unfathomable, since, both from
the viewpoint of the history of performing arts and from the viewpoint of the
history of aesthetic, social, philosophical or political ideas, interactions are
essential and their dynamics is almost impossible to ignore. This is why this
article seeks to emphasize a number of primary themes, each of them potentially
representing individual research stages that deserve subsequent systematic
development.

Keywords: Theatre, Critical discourse, Hystory, Rethorics

Political context, ideology, aesthetics: normative criticism vs axiological

criticism

The attempt to place theatre criticism in the historical context of

the time of its development is extremely necessary, if not even mandatory,
irrespective of the age of a specific critical discourse. The critics’ discourses

1. Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. [Link]@[Link].

 MIRUNA RUNCAN

do not depend solely on the (hegemonic or emerging) aesthetics and on the

modes of theatrical production of the space and time of their conception,
but also and first and foremost on the landscape of dominant political ideas,
on the power relations that define the delivery of value judgements. In this
respect, even when it is not (or it does not seek to be) normative, critical
discourse exposes, willingly or not, its axiological and ideological roots, in
parallel with the aesthetic references that are on sight, in the fabric and
flesh of critical reasoning.
There are two major aspects driving a historical, contextualized
rereading of Romanian theatrical criticism in the second half of the 20th century.
The first one is the need to analyze the specific way (and the subtended
strategies) by which, in some periods, theatrical criticism took its normative
dimensions/function seriously. Particularly in the former communist areas,
like the Romanian one, press discourse and, in our case, theatrical criticism
were steered from a single control center in the years of enforcement and
strengthening of Stalinism; they mimicked the wooden language of the
propaganda emanating from Moscow, by borrowing ideologizing concepts,
keywords, strategies and attack tactics against “bourgeois” or “decadent
art”, which had already been tested for decades in the Soviet space. The
process of gradual withdrawal of the normative dimension, after 1956, in
Romania’s case, was slow and unhinged, in direct relation with the domestic
political developments – including here both the overt legal changes and
the directives “processed” in the countless “plenum” sessions, conferences
and symposia with theatre artists, administratives and scholars, extremely
relevant in the first fifteen years after the Second World War - but also after
1971, at a different level.
I could refer here, for example, to the debate regarding “dogmatism” – a
“popular” theme launched from Moscow in the entire space of satellite-
countries, in the wake of legendary Khrushchev’s February 1956 speech. In our
country, the debate opened, naturally, in the officious cultural magazine
Contemporanul2, preceding but also following the January 1957 historic counsel
of theatre-makers3. And it also echoed in the magazine Teatrul (March, April,
May, June 1957). Paradoxically, unlike the careful delineation operated in
the previous debate, regarding stage direction, from March to September

2. Contemporanul, 19 February 1957.

3. For the 1957 Counsel, see Miruna Runcan, Teatralizarea Şi Reteatralizarea În România [The
Theatricalization of Romanian Theatre] - 1920-1960 (Cluj-Napoca: Eikon, 2003).

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ARGUMENTS FOR A HISTORICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE OF THEATRE AND FILM CRITICISM

1956, this time it was clear that the polemics did not include generations, or
compact categories of critics or would-be critics: in spite of the fact that some
definitions and clear attitudes would have been welcome, they were absent
from a professional context such as the monthly magazine of theatre people.
However, critics of different ages and backgrounds did spar at one another,
starting from some op-eds, or even from theatrical reviews: S. Damian, who
had been reserved about the quality of some of Mihail Sebastian’s plays4,
was humiliated by Vicu Mândra5, and then by B. Elvin (author of the first
study on Sebastian6) and charged with “dogmatism”. “Dogmatically” self-
confident, Radu Popescu sprang to S. Damian’s defense and tore to pieces
Sebastian’s Jocul de-a vacanţa, in România liberă7. And so on and so forth...
Since I.D. Sârbu8 had found that the text of Al. Mirodan’s Ziariștii
(which had been recently put on stage at the National Theatre) was thin,
Andrei Băleanu9 replied by blaming the Teatrul reviewer with dogmatism;
with a classicist training, professor H. Zalis stepped in by quoting amply from
Faguet, to prove Elvin’s anti-dogmatism10, as well as I.D. Sârbu’s judgement
errors; Horia Bratu11 shook the dust off the older woeful (Stalinist) keyword
“formalism”, which he uses in the praising of both duelists – I. D. Sârbu and
Andrei Băleanu. Eugen Luca, a critic renowned several years before for the
Zhdanovist resolve of his reviews, intervened with a title meant to dynamite
sarcastically the whole debate: “Dogmatofobie sau snobism intelectual?”
[“Dogmatophobia or Intellectual Snobbery?”]12
The discussion about dogmatism faded in total abstract fog, wherein the
most vocal ones seemed to be the former professional dogmatists, and the only
victims were the critics that expressed sensible aesthetic reserves – S. Damian

4. S. Damian, “Prea Multe Aplauze [Too Many Cheers],” in Încercări de Analiză Literară (Bucharest:
ESPLA, 1954).
5. Vicu Mîndra, “O Monografie Excelentă [An Excellent Monograph],” Gazeta Literară, December 15,
1956.
6. B. Elvin, Teatrul Lui Mihail Sebastian [Mihail Sebastian’s Theatre] (Bucharest: ESPLA, 1956).
7. Radu Popescu, “Jocul de-a Vacanţa [Holiday Games],” România Liberă, February 18, 1957.
8. I. D. Sîrbu, “Grandoare Şi Servituţile Debutului [Grandeur and the Encumbrances of Debuting],”
Teatrul, December 1956.
9. Andrei Băleanu, “Despre Teoria Echilibrului Şi Alte Ciudăţenii [About the Theory of
Equilibrium and Other Curiosities],” Teatrul, February 1957.
10. H. Zalis, “Judecata de Valoare, Factor Esenţial [The Value Judgement, an Essential Aspect],”
Teatrul, April 1975, 44–47.
11. Horia Bratu, “O Simplă Părere [Just an Opinion],” Teatrul, March 1957.
12. Eugen Luca, “Dogmatofobie Sau Snobism Intelectual? [Dogmatophobia or Intellectual
Snobbery?],” Teatrul, May 1957.

11
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

and I. D. Sârbu; a plain symptom that, for the time being, personalized critical
opinion had not earned sufficient privilege, even if, apparently, the zone of
basic and rough normative criticism had been abandoned13. However, at a
closer reading, the debate evolved almost involuntarily to the aesthetic
qualities of the play structure, to the momentousness and intensity of the
lines, to the verisimilitude of the characters and of the circumstances etc. –
in spite of the fact that, more often than not, interveners squared up their
own accounts.
I believe attention should be paid both to the causes and dimensions of
this gradual withdrawal of the normative dimension, and to the tactical
variations by which the editorial policies of the next decades would favor this
decrease of potential of normativeness, to the benefit of hermeneutic analysis:
the evolution of essay stylistics, of the review or of thematic investigations,
etc. is not the only aspect at stake here; the balancing strategies between the
deliberately normative and self-normative texts (so-called “in line” texts, most
of them editorial, ordered answers to investigations or transcriptions of speeches
held during party-managed professional conferences, etc.) and the texts on
theatrical phenomena and events as they occurred (reviews, analyses, synthetic
essays, etc.) are also at stake. I remember accurately that, for decades, as a
reader, I would skip the first pages of cultural magazines, which would be
programmatically dedicated to propaganda and circumstantial rules, and
I would start to read the magazine from where the reviews, investigations,
feature stories or essays on the current – literary, artistic, theatrical or film –
production would start.
At a different level, special attention should be paid to how, ever
since the first decade (1945-1955) dominated by Zhdanovism, the signs of
professionalization (or of the return to the basic profession) had appeared
at some theatrical journalists, cultural activists or theatre scholars who would
also approach criticism. Because, at the midst of the claims of hegemony of
normative criticism (signed by officials, by cultural activists or by “state-
owned” artists, leaders of theatrical institutions) and the multifold cultural
de-indoctrinated praxis, professionalization, in my opinion, is the core: in fact,
considering all the brutal returns to dogma, which occurred in the Romanian

13. This is, in fact, one of the observations of the anonymous author (possibly Horia Deleanu,
although stylistics and argumentation opt, instead, for Radu Stanca – but the poet-director
was only a contributor) in the article “În loc de încheiere” (“In lieu of a conclusion”), Teatrul,
June 1957, pp 35-38, which ends this failed debate.

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ARGUMENTS FOR A HISTORICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE OF THEATRE AND FILM CRITICISM

cultural policies several times, normative-dogmatic criticism gradually and

irreversibly became a lost cause, even if it never ceased to exist, between 1956
and 1989. The process of professionalization can be monitored by reference
to the cited sources, to the critics’ interest in relation to theatre history and
aesthetics, since here, too, during the post-1956 decades, a “transfiguration”
similar to the one in literary criticism occurred (when some of the more or
less young coryphaei of aggressive Zhdanovism later raised mere earnest
critical works)14.
The second reason for the historical revisiting, apparently even more
interesting, relates to the double oriented efficacy of theatre criticism: in
relation to the creators and in relation to the audiences. Certainly, such a
level of research is considerably more difficult, since no one had dared until
now to approach the theatre economic reporting archives, which could be
revelatory with respect to the frequency and fluctuations in the spectators’
presence at theatre pays in the last half of century. Except for the rare cases
where some play had stirred some polemics (which were, in fact, strictly
controlled, such as As you like it, at the Municipal Theatre in 1961, directed
by Liviu Ciulei, or King Lear at the Bucharest National Theatre, in 1970,
directed by Radu Penciulescu), it is almost impossible to find persuasive
evidence about how Romanian criticism sent spectators to see the play, or
how it had a negative influence on audience attendance.
Instead, an examination of how theatre or film directors, scenographers
or actors, especially after 1956, relate to the critical opinions regarding their
creation is possible at any time: with respect to this, many interviews, thematic
essays, round tables or investigations of cultural magazines are available,
especially after 1960.
One example (of the many) is the series of debate-articles launched by
the Teatrul magazine in the last part of 1959 and completed in 1960, under the
umbrella title Pentru prestigiul criticii dramatice [For the Prestige of Dramatic
Criticism]. Originating in an unsigned feature article in Scânteia15, „Împotriva
tonului apologetic în critica literară și artistică” [“Against the Apologetic
Approach in Literary and Artistic Criticism”], fully reproduced by the Teatrul
magazine16, the investigation actually invites the artists (paradoxically, only

14. For this purpose, see Alex Goldiş, Critica În Tranşee [Criticism in the Trenches] (Iaşi:
Polirom, 2011).
15. No. 4635, 23 September 1959
16. Teatrul, October 1959, p 1

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one director, Val Mugur17 and one playwright, Victor Tulbure18, the others
being actors) to express their opinions, in a sort of experimental operation
of “criticism of criticism”. The tone approached by the involved parties was
elegant and it expressed a shared (perhaps real, perhaps simulated) respect
in relation to the role of criticism. We must not ignore that the political
machine of “criticism and self-criticism” was still active, which may also
have contaminated the sphere of signification and the position of theatre
criticism.
For their most overwhelming part, actors (A. Pop Marţian19, Irina
Răchiţeanu20, Kovacs Gyorgy21, Toma Caragiu22 and others) complained about
the structure of the review, which was much more literary rather than
performing arts-oriented. They said that a too little sepace was allowed for
the play, in the body of the text, and that the play was often described
superficially, while the creative participation of the actor drowned in
stereotypical, empty phrases. They all sought adamantly “to be helped” by
critics, but to this end almost all of them (including Val Mugur, who was
otherwise a theory-oriented essay writer) claimed the critics’ presence in the
creative process, during the rehearsals; some also recommend to the critics to
see the same stage play at least twice, not only on its premiere. A few of them
also related to a number of very harsh articles, perfused with amusing quotes
from reviewes, signed by the actor and professor Ion Finteșteanu23. Hilarious
proposals were also made: for example, the writing of reviews “together”
by cooperating critics, which should improve objectivity24. But extremely
pertinent things are also said. At any rate, the watchwords, which had been

17. Val Mugur “Rolul creator al criticii teatrale” [“The Creative Role of Theatre Criticism”],
Teatrul, December 1959, pp 56-57
18. Nicolae Tăutu “Criticul să cunoască opera pe care o judecă” [“The Critic Should Know the
Work He Is Judging”], Teatrul, November 1959, pp 63-65
19. A. Pop Marţian, “Şi Criticul Poate Greşi [The Critic, Too, May Be Wrong],” Teatrul, October
1959.
20. Irina Răchiţeanu, “Criticul, Îndrumător Judicios Al Creaţiei [The Critic, Sound Exponent of
Creation],” Teatrul, October 1959.
21. Kovacs Gyorgy, “Cu Mai Mult Simţ Al Răspunderii [More Responsibility],” Teatrul, November
1959.
22. Toma Caragiu, “Critica Să Urmărească Spectacolul Şi După Premieră [Critics Should Also
See the Plays After the Premiere],” Teatrul, December 1959.
23. Ion Finteşteanu, “Însemnări Despre Critica Teatrală [Notes on Theatre Criticism],” Gazeta
Literară, no. 25–26 (1959).
24. Marţian, “Şi Criticul Poate Greşi [The Critic, Too, May Be Wrong].”

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ARGUMENTS FOR A HISTORICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE OF THEATRE AND FILM CRITICISM

in vogue since 1956 and repeated by very many of the signatories, were critical/
scientific analysis and even scientific objectivity, a sign that the impractical
illusions of Stalinist political education had left indelible traces in the artists’
profound consciousness.
Curiously, the most… liberal (ironically speaking) point of view,
while also the best argumentatively articulated emerged from Margareta
Bărbuţă25 – theatre critic and translator, while also a consultant with the
Culture and Arts Committee, hence an official of the system. She would
synthetize the debate and would draw its conclusions, by separating the
overstatements from the pertinent observations, and by inviting to a closer
communication between critics and artists. We note that, starting from that
first debate, the round tables and the symposia of “criticism of criticism”
would return cyclically in the magazine pages, obtaining increasingly more
coherence, especially in the next decade. Careful research of the evolution
and junction points of these debates should be approached.

The aesthetic and stylistic evolution of theatre criticism in relation

to international theatrical directions

From my point of view, one of the areas of great interest in the

historical research of theatre criticism relates to how theatrical thinking strives,
after 1956, to re-synchronize – where allowable – with the Occidental theatrical
theory and artistic praxis. From 1956 to 1989, because the circulation to and
from the European West was strictly controlled, an essential part of the
information regarding the new aesthetic directions of Europe and the USA
was offered by cultural magazines and, after 1960, by very few volumes of
studies, travel books written by theatre scholars or forewords to translations.
Without denying the importance of theatre tours, especially of those coming
to Romania from abroad, their small number and, consequently, limited
audiences make us believe that their effect in the process of aesthetic
emancipation of Romanian stage directing was rather minor - the very few
exceptions, such as the legendry 1972 tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company
with A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Peter Brook, seem to prove the
rule. Instead, the theoretical and practical information, with a synchronization

25. Margareta Bărbuţă, “Datoria Criticului Şi Eficienţa Scrisului Său [The Critic’s Duty and the
Efficiency of Their Writing],” Teatrul, January 1960.

15
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

role, earned, by comparison, a major importance, and the way in which

theatre criticism answered to these needs should be investigated carefully
and devotedly. Such a discussion would encompass the examination of the
study voyage reports, regarding lectures and cultural exchanges at theatrical
institutions or festivals, the essays or even essays on high-profile European
dramatic authors, directors and scenographers, avant-garde artistic movements,
interviews with foreign artists obtained during trips abroad, or during visits/
tours of such artists in Romania.
For example, ever since its first issue, in April 1956, the Teatrul
magazine had sought to provide constantly information on the theatre life
abroad. Such information comes from voyages or from interviews, and also
from the translation and reviews of foreign magazines, preferably from the
Soviet-influenced area, but not only. Young Valentin Silvestru, as a disciplined
party soldier, proposed a feature story from Moscow26, accompanied by small
reviews to stage plays; but also a report about an interview with Jean Paul
Sartre, given to a Soviet magazine, during his visit to Moscow, helping us find
that the writer philosopher thought that the French theatre was still under a
crisis, seeking for its spectator, trying to escape the bourgeois/commercial
formulae. Jean Vilar’s “people’s theatre” was, of course, praised by the
philosopher-playwright, as were the directors and the teams that promoted
Brecht. Furthermore, Sartre appreciated the public policy of establishment
of Regional Dramatic Centers that sought to democratize both the theatrical
production and access to it by an audience coming from the most diverse
categories27.
Certainly, the present of Soviet theatre continued to be hegemonic,
expressed not only by tours, exchanges and reciprocal visits, but also by the
more or less theorized successive return to Stanislavsky’s rules. Writings about
Stanislavsky come from the academic Eftimiu28, the young director Miron
Niculescu who engaged in polemics with Ion Finteșteanu regarding the
Stanislavsky method and the Knebel method, borrowed at us rather by ear
(the debate on the art of directing and re-theatricalization was at its peak)29,

26. Valentin Silvestru, “Pagini de Block-Notes Dintr-O Călătorie În URSS [Aide-Memoire from
a Trip to the USSR],” Teatrul, April 1956.
27. “Jean Paul Sartre Despre Situaţia Teatrului Şi Dramaturgiei Franceze [Jean Paul Sartre
about French Theatre and Dramaturgy],” Teatrul, April 1956.
28. Victor Eftimiu, “Stanislavski Şi Alţii [Stanislavsky and Others],” Teatrul, May 1956.
29. Miron Niculescu, “Stanislavski, Knebel ... Şi Noi [Stanislavsky, Knebel… and Us],” Teatrul,
August 1956.

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ARGUMENTS FOR A HISTORICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE OF THEATRE AND FILM CRITICISM

Ion Marin Sadoveanu30 and others. But exactly at this time of relative “thaw”,
we are reached for the first time, rather hastily, by the first somewhat substantial
information about Brecht - deemed decadent by pure and harsh Zhdanovism,
exactly when left-oriented Occidentals, and not only, placed him at the core
of the new European theatre directions. The first steady article, signed by Alfred
Margul Sperbel, was published in October 1956 and it definitely originated in
the disappearance, in August, of the great poet and playwright31. In 1957, a
more consistent essay by Paul Langfelder was published on Viaţa lui Galileo
Gallilei32, and also a correspondence from Berliner Ensemble by Martin Linzer.
One should consider the direct relation between the guidelines of the
Soviet “thaw” as strictly supervised by the party (like “we are allowed” or
“it’s free to…”) and the interface position of theatre criticism – in relation to
the overall theatre environment. Because, in the next years, the first
Brechtian stage plays would also to be staged, some of them weaker, some
other widely successful: Mutter Courage at the Iași National Theatre, Fear
and Misery of the Third Reich at the Bucharest National Theatre, both of them
in 1958, and especially Mr Puntila and his Man Matti, directed by Lucian
Giurchescu at the Giulești Theatre in 1959, a real triumph. This will actually
pave the way, in the next decade, to an ample series of plays dedicated by
the director to the famous German author.
The rhetoric and (more or less individualized) stylistics of theatre
criticism should also be approached with special care, because the structure
of the reviews, in itself, is a contextual testimony on how theatre critics of
this or that era relate to a specific system of aesthetic or ideological values,
to the type of specific editorial policy and, of course, to their target-audience.
From this viewpoint, one should analyze the internal sources of the stylistic
changes of the writing itself, and the relation of value judgements included
in the reviews to the specific atmosphere and to the dominating trends of
the theatre environment, at this or that time. Thus, case studies could be built,
based on the rhetoric and stylistic analysis, meant to monitor and perhaps
to contextualize the evolution of some critical voices that left their mark on
the theatre environment for at least a decade, when not more – I.D.Sârbu,

30. Ion Marin Sadoveanu, “Izbânzi de Neegalat [Unparalleled Success],” Teatrul, September
1956.
31. Alfred Margul Sperber, “Berthold Brecht Şi Teatrul [Berthold Brecht and the Theatre],”
Teatrul, October 1956.
32. Paul Langfelder “Ce e neobişnuit în dramaturgia lui Berthold Brecht” [“The Uncanny of
Berthold Brecht’s Theatre”], Teatrul, October 1957, pp 7-14

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Ștefan Aug. Doinaș or Ecaterina Oproiu in the period of the brief thaw of
1956-1957, later Mira Iosif, Valeria Ducea, Florian Potra, Ana Maria Narti
or, undoubtedly, the uncrowned patriarch Valentin Silvestru; and so on and so
forth. In the same train of thoughts, I don’t believe that the oscillation between
theatre criticism and film criticism, of some of the “strong voices” of decades six
and seven, is lacking importance. Subsequently, the causes of such migrations
should be examined; they can be institutional, economic or related specifically
to the inner organization of the two artistic environments…
Starting from here, from stylistics and rhetoric, perhaps the most
difficult and most challenging study to attempt would be (closing the circle
that we opened in the previous subchapter) dedicated precisely to the fragile/
ambiguous concept of critical authority: which were, through time, the expectations
and the measures of the “authority” of the theatre critic, which were the operating
mechanisms of this so-called authority, how did the relationships between the
critics and censorships manifest? And, in particular, to what extent did the
imaginary collective construction of the authority of the critic interfere or not (in
line with the propaganda or, on the contrary, with the resistance) with the
exercise of plain and harsh political power?
Finally, one should study, contextualize and explain also (where possible)
the matter regarding the marked disinterest (where this is not deliberate
opacity) of our cultural space in the innovating directions of critical, theatrical
and para-theatrical theories of the 1960-1980 decades: in other words, attention
should be paid to the marginal paths of formal analysis of dramaturgy
(Solomon Marcus33, Mihai Dinu34), the lack of appetite for thematist, post-
structuralist/semiotic or inter-textual criticism methodologies, etc. Because,
admittedly, there has been little, if any at all, serious academic approach on

33 Solomon Marcus, Poetica Matematică [Mathematical Poetics] (Bucharest: Editura Academiei

RSR, 1970).
34 Mihai Dinu, “L’interdépendance Syntagmatique Des Scènes Dans Une Pièce de Théâtre,”
Cahiers de Linguistique Théorique et Appliquée 9, no. 1 (1972): 55–69; Mihai Dinu, “Continuité et
Changement Dans La Stratégie Des Personnages Dramatiques,” Cahiers de Linguistique
Théorique et Appliquée 10, no. 1 (1973): 5–26; Mihai Dinu, “Individualité et Mobilité Des
Personnages Dramatiques,” Cahiers de Linguistique Théorique et Appliquée 11, no. 1 (1974): 45–
57; Mihai Dinu, “How to Estimate the Weight of Stage Relations?,” Poetics 6 (1977): 209–27;
Mihai Dinu, “Ştafeta Personajelor - O Problemă de Tehnică Dramaturgică Si Soluţiile Ei [The
Relay of Characters – an Issue of Theatre Technique and Its Solutions],” Caietele Critice Ale
“Vieţii Româneşti” 10 (1970); Mihai Dinu, “Teatrologia Matematică - Realizări Si Promisiuni
[Mathematic Theatre Studies – Achievements and Promises],” in Matematica in Lumea de Azi
Si de Mâine, ed. Mihai Drăgănescu and Caius Iacob (Editura Academiei RSR, 1985).

18
ARGUMENTS FOR A HISTORICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE OF THEATRE AND FILM CRITICISM

the paradox between the focus on the theatrical experiment of theatre directors,
and the critical blindness toward the older and newer theoretical directions
(alternatives to “honest” impressionism) of analysis and interpretation...35
All of the above is but a hurried, not at all exhaustive sketch of the
multiple possibilities that could be open by the critical, multidisciplinary
exploration of the history of theatre criticism discourse, especially in the
Eastern European space – in our case, the Romanian theatre and film press.
We shall see whether this challenge has an effect and whether at least some
of the historians, academic and, especially, young researchers are ready, in
the following years, to focus on such daring surveys.

References

Băleanu, Andrei. “Despre Teoria Echilibrului Și Alte Ciudăţenii [About the Theory of
Equilibrium and Other Curiosities].” Teatrul, February 1957.
Banu, George. Reformele Teatrului În Secolul Reînnoirii [Theatre Reforms in the Century of
Renewal]. Bucharest: Nemira, 2011.
Bărbuţă, Margareta. “Datoria Criticului Și Eficienţa Scrisului Său [The Critic’s Duty
and the Efficiency of Their Writing].” Teatrul, January 1960.
Belsey, Catherine. A Future for Criticism. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Berger, Maurice. The Crisis of Criticism. New York: The New Press, 1988.
Bratu, Horia. “O Simplă Părere [Just an Opinion].” Teatrul, March 1957.
Caragiu, Toma. “Critica Să Urmărească Spectacolul Și După Premieră [Critics Should
Also See the Plays after the Premiere].” Teatrul, December 1959.
Damian, S. “Prea Multe Aplauze [Too Many Cheers].” In Încercări de Analiză Literară.
Bucharest: ESPLA, 1954.
Dinu, Mihai. “L’interdépendance Syntagmatique Des Scènes Dans Une Pièce de
Théâtre.” Cahiers de Linguistique Théorique et Appliquée 9, no. 1 (1972): 55–69.
Dinu, Mihai. “Continuité et Changement Dans La Stratégie Des Personnages
Dramatiques.” Cahiers de Linguistique Théorique et Appliquée 10, no. 1 (1973):
5–26.

35 Here, too, a parallel should be approached to the same phenomenon in literary criticism, of
course much more consistently represented there, as well noted by Alex Goldiş, in Critica în
tranşee, cited edition.

19
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Dinu, Mihai. “Individualité et Mobilité Des Personnages Dramatiques.” Cahiers de

Linguistique Théorique et Appliquée 11, no. 1 (1974): 45–57.
Dinu, Mihai. “How to Estimate the Weight of Stage Relations?” Poetics 6 (1977):
209–27.
Dinu, Mihai. “Ștafeta Personajelor - O Problemă de Tehnică Dramaturgică Si Soluţiile
Ei [The Relay of Characters – an Issue of Theatre Technique and Its Solutions].”
Caietele Critice Ale “Vieţii Românești” 10 (1970).
Dinu, Mihai. “Teatrologia Matematică - Realizări Si Promisiuni [Mathematic Theatre
Studies – Achievements and Promises].” In Matematica in Lumea de Azi Si de
Mâine, edited by Mihai Drăgănescu and Caius Iacob. Editura Academiei
RSR, 1985.
Dromgoole, Nicholas. The Role of the Critic. London: Oberon, 2010.
Eagleton, Terry. The Function of Criticism. London: Verso, 1984.
Eftimiu, Victor. “Stanislavski Și Alţii [Stanislavsky and Others].” Teatrul, May 1956.
Elvin, B. Teatrul Lui Mihail Sebastian [Mihail Sebastian’s Theatre]. Bucharest: ESPLA,
1956.
Finteșteanu, Ion. “Însemnări Despre Critica Teatrală [Notes on Theatre Criticism].”
Gazeta Literară, no. 25–26 (1959).
Goldiș, Alex. Critica În Tranșee [Criticism in the Trenches]. Iași: Polirom, 2011.
Gyorgy, Kovacs. “Cu Mai Mult Simţ Al Răspunderii [More Responsibility].” Teatrul,
November 1959.
Langfelder, Paul. “Ce E Neobișnuit În Dramaturgia Lui Berthold Brecht [The Uncanny
of Berthold Brecht’s Theatre].” Teatrul, October 1957.
Luca, Eugen. “Dogmatofobie Sau Snobism Intelectual? [Dogmatophobia or Intellectual
Snobbery?].” Teatrul, May 1957.
Maliţa, Liviu. Cenzura Pe Înţelesul Cenzuraţilor [Censorship Taught to the Censored].
Cluj-Napoca: Tracus Arte, 2016.
Marcus, Solomon. Poetica Matematică [Mathematical Poetics]. Bucharest: Editura Academiei
RSR, 1970.
Marţian, A. Pop. “Și Criticul Poate Greși [The Critic, Too, May Be Wrong].” Teatrul,
October 1959.
Mîndra, Vicu. “O Monografie Excelentă [An Excellent Monograph].” Gazeta Literară,
December 15, 1956.
Mugur, Val. “Rolul Creator Al Criticii Teatrale [The Creative Role of Theatre Criticism].”
Teatrul, December 1959.
Niculescu, Miron. “Stanislavski, Knebel ... Și Noi [Stanislavsky, Knebel… and Us].”
Teatrul, August 1956.
Pavel, Laura. Teatru Și Identitate. Interpretări Pe Scena Interioară [Theatre and Identity.
Performances on the Inner Stage]. Cluj-Napoca: Casa Cărţii de Știinţă, 2012.
Popescu, Marian. Oglinda Spartă [The Broken Mirror]. Edited by UNITEXT. Bucharest,
1997.

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ARGUMENTS FOR A HISTORICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE OF THEATRE AND FILM CRITICISM

Popescu, Marian. Scenele Teatrului Românesc 1945-2004. De La Cenzură La Libertate [Stages

of Romanian Theatre 1945-2004. From Censorship to Freedom]. Bucharest: UNITEXT,
2004.
Popescu, Radu. “Jocul de-a Vacanţa [Holiday Games].” România Liberă, February 18,
1957.
Răchiţeanu, Irina. “Criticul, Îndrumător Judicios Al Creaţiei [The Critic, Sound Exponent
of Creation].” Teatrul, October 1959.
Radosavljevic, Duška, ed. Theatre Criticism – Changing Landscapes. London: Bloomsbury
Methuen, 2016.
Runcan, Miruna. Critica de Teatru. Încotro? [Theatre Criticism. Whereto?]. Cluj-Napoca:
Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2015.
Runcan, Miruna. Teatralizarea Și Reteatralizarea În România [The Theatricalization of
Romanian Theatre] - 1920-1960. Cluj-Napoca: Eikon, 2003.
Ruth, Wodak, and Paul A. Chilton, eds. A New Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis:
Theory, Methodology and Interdisciplinarity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2005.
Sadoveanu, Ion Marin. “Izbânzi de Neegalat [Unparalleled Success].” Teatrul, September
1956.
Silvestru, Valentin. “Pagini de Block-Notes Dintr-O Călătorie În URSS [Aide-Memoire
from a Trip to the USSR].” Teatrul, April 1956.
Sîrbu, I. D. “Grandoare Și Servituţile Debutului [Grandeur and the Encumbrances of
Debuting].” Teatrul, December 1956.
Sperber, Alfred Margul. “Berthold Brecht Și Teatrul [Berthold Brecht and the Theatre].”
Teatrul, October 1956.
Szabo, Attila, and Joanna Krakowska. Theatre After the Change - And What Was There
Before the After? Budapest: Creativmedia, 2011.
Tăutu, Nicolae. “Criticul Să Cunoască Opera Pe Care O Judecă [The Critic Should
Know the Work He Is Judging].” Teatrul, November 1959.
Vasile, Cristian. Literatura Si Artele in Romania Comunista. 1948-1953 [Literature and
Arts in Communist Romania]. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2013.
Zalis, H. “Judecata de Valoare, Factor Esenţial [The Value Judgement, an Essential
Aspect].” Teatrul, April 1975.
“Împotriva Tonului Apologetic În Critica Literară Și Artistică [Against the Apologetic
Approach in Literary and Artistic Criticism].” Scânteia, September 23, 1959.
“Împotriva Tonului Apologetic În Critica Literară Și Artistică [Against the Apologetic
Approach in Literary and Artistic Criticism].” Teatrul, October 1959.
“Jean Paul Sartre Despre Situaţia Teatrului Și Dramaturgiei Franceze [Jean Paul Sartre
about French Theatre and Dramaturgy].” Teatrul, April 1956.

21
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Miruna Runcan is a writer, a theatre critic and a Professor PhD of the Theatre and
Television Faculty at "Babes Boyai" University Cluj, Romania. Co-founder (with C.C.
Buricea-Mlinarcic) of Everyday Life Drama Research and Creation Laboratory (awarded with
a three-year National Grant for Research in 2009). Author of The Romanian Theatre Model,
Bucharest: Unitext Publisging House, 2001; The Theatricalisation of Romanian Theatre. 1920-
1960, Cluj: Eikon Publishing House, 2003; For a Semyothics of the Theatrical Performance,
Cluj: Dacia Publishing House, 2005; The Sceptical’s Spectator’s Armchair, Bucharest:
Unitext Publishing House, 2007; The Universe of Alexandru Dabija’s Performances, Limes
Publishing House and Camil Petrescu Foundation, Bucharest 2010; Bunjee-Jumping. Short
Stories, Cluj: Limes Publishing House, 2011; Enlove with Acting: 12 Actor’s Portraits,
Bucharest: Limes Publishing House and Camil Petrescu Foundation, 2011; Signore Misterioso:
An Anathomy of the Spectator, Bucharest: Unitext, 2011; Theatre Criticism. Whereto? Cluj
University Press, 2015; Odeon 70 – An Adventure in Theatre History, Bucharest, Oscar
Print, 2016.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 23 - 50
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.02

Theatre Inauguration Ceremony and Symbolic Representation

KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA1

Abstract: The inauguration of the theatre building in Farkas street can be

considered as a landmark of the Hungarian theatre history of Transylvania.
The ceremony from 1821 has become a canonical event of Hungarian acting.
The study analyzes first how the National Hungarian Theatre was constituted
in the frame of the inauguration ceremony referring also to the symbolics of it
as a visual and event-like frame of theatre historical remembrance.
Then, will focus on two anniversary celebrations (from 1871 and 1892),
in order to analyze how various elements of the anniversary celebrations relate
to each other in the context of the institutionalization process.

Keywords: 19th century, Transylvania, theatre anniversary celebration,

institutionalization, invented tradition

After 18 years of construction works,2 the first Hungarian stone

theatre, called also the Hungarian National Stage from Transylvania was
opened on Belső-Farkas street in downtown Kolozsvár (Cluj) finally on
March 12, 1821. The ground hall had twelve blue chandeliers decorated
with silver, while the foreground and the corridors leading to the boxes
were illuminated with 9 oil lamps. Two hundred candles were lit in the
inner spaces of the theatre (the candlesticks in slat supports could be pull
up and lower with the help of chains to illuminate the stage and the seats of
the musicians, and also the fly loft) at the evening spectacle which started
at 6 o’clock. The theatre entrance was also illuminated by two square oil
lamps of great size.

1. Katalin Ágnes Bartha: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, bkagnes@[Link]. The paper was
written with the support MTA Postdoctoral Research Programme. Supervisor: Prof. Dr.
Szilágyi Márton.
2. Lázár Káli Nagy, Visszaemlékezései. Az erdélyi magyar színészet hőskora 1792–1821, ed. János
Lázok (Marosvásárhely: Mentor, 2009), 132–135.
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Although the original building plan cannot be found, we have a few

sources3 on the basis of which some aspects of the building (i.e. its seating
capacity, spatial design and image) may be reconstructed. According to
Lázár Káli Nagy, the supervisor of the construction works, the stage was
built on the basis of the stage of Theatre an der Wien (The Theatre on the
Wien River). Completed in 1801, the Viennese theatre was described as the
most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age. The usual
machinery for rapid changing of the scenery with wheel system was
located below the stage. The height of the building made it possible to
vertically raise the backdrops. The basic part of the scenic props (curtains,
painted drops, sets of legs, and borders) were realized by the scene painter
of Vienna’s Burgtheater, and the chandelier of the auditorium had been
manufactured also in Vienna. There has been made a front courtain, an act
drop, stage backdrops that indicated three rooms (a saloon, a rustic room, a
classic hall), a garden, a street and a gaol equiped with 40 legs and 11
borders. The costumes were brought by the company, and a few aristocrats
also enriched the theatrical costume equipments and supplies.
Having a comfortable seating capacity of 1,200, but being able to stay
up to 1,500 people, the auditorium consisted of the stall, then three tiers of
boxes painted in blue (lower tier of boxes 15, the second tier 17, while the
third had 18 boxes) which could seat between 340-500 people. The stalls
seating area had 80 seats, and the first rows featured 32 benches suitable to
seat 100 people. The space between the seats and benches of the stalls could
pack up to 300 people. The orchestra pit was suitable for 19 musicians to
seat around 9 music benches. The gallery provided 300 seats and additional
standing room for up to 200 viewers.
According to the minutes of the National Theatre Committee
responsible for the functioning of the institution, the 50 boxes within the
auditorium were distributed among the aristocrats who supported the
construction of the theatre building;4 from among these 24 were given for
good to aristocrats (both men and women) and their families who gave
substantial sums to the cause.5

3. Ibid.; Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, 1820–1835, Reg 4, Fonds of
Hungarian Theatre from Cluj, No. 313, Cluj Branch of the National Romanian Archives,
Cluj-Napoca; Zoltán Ferenczi, A kolozsvári színészet és színház története (Kolozsvár: Ajtai K.
Albert press, 1897), 268–270.
4. Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, ff. 67-68.
5. See the list of the families that supported the theatre: Ibid., 67-68, Ferenczi, A kolozsvári
színészet és színház története, 272-273; Káli Nagy, Visszaemlékezései, 140-143.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

The inauguration ceremony is well-suitable to study aspects related to

the construction of historical rememberance. Since the event didn’t have any
precedents (at least not in Hungarian language), it can be considered as a
19th century invention, and more specifically, from a historian’s position, we
can view it as an ’invented tradition’ in the sense of Eric Hobswbawm’s and
Terence Ranger’s terms.6 Its organization served as a model for following
theatrical celebrations, while the event as a whole was an opportunity for the
active participants to review, on the one hand, the past of Hungarian acting,
while on the other hand, to look into its future and face challenges related to
the inevitable cultural and social changes which would occur. Especially if we
take the two theatre celebrations of the nineteenth century following the 1821
opening ceremony, both practices (that is looking back and looking ahead) are
visible not only in the organization and performance of the events but also in
the specific mixture/blend of institutional legitimisation and symbolic
presentation of cultural expectations of the era.
In what follows, I will examine the program of the two-day festivities
organized for the opening of the theatre in Farkas street with the purpose to
explore how the Hungarian National Theatre was constituted in the frame of the
celebrations. I will also focus on the significances attached to the function and
role of the institution through the language of the celebration (by analyzing,
besides the Prologue, the verses of the song sung by the choir, and other
related sources), and also on the function(s) of the plays performed during
the celebrations. Further more, I will refer to the symbolics of the ceremony
as a visual and event-like frame of theatre historical remembrance.
On examining the previously mentioned two anniversary celebrations
(the fiftieth anniversary of the theatre opening at the beginning of April 1871
and the centenary of Hungarian acting in Transylvania as celebrated on
November 10 and 11, 1892) I will consider the degrees to which the old models
set by the inauguration ceremony could be adapted to the new contexts of
the anniversaries.

How Was the Festivity Constructed?

The Hungarian Theatre from Cluj had an aristocratic character not only
in terms of its sponsorship or funding,7 but also in terms of membership in

6. Eric Hobsbawm, ”Invented traditions,” in The invention of tradition 2008, ed. Eric Hobsbawm
and Terence Ranger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 1–14.
7. See the list of the donators: Az erdélyi országgyűlések színházpolitikai vitái és iratai (1791–
1847), ed. Miklós Bényei (Budapest: Magyar Színházi Intézet, 1990), 95–101.

25
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

the National Theatre Committee which was responsible for the management
of the company;8 moreover, the Committee employed the members of the
company as well.
They also organized the inauguration ceremony so its schedule can be
found in the official documents of the Committee. However, certain decisions
(which were taken after semi-official or private talks) cannot be revealed.
During the meeting held on February 11, 1821 the Committee appointed its
members who became responsible for organizing the ceremony; accordingly,
the organizing committee was chaired by P. Horváth Dániel, while its members
were the following: count Dénes Bánffy, count László Lázár, baron József
Naláczi, count József Csáky and baron Miklós Kemény.9 Then, during the
meeting held on March 14 to debate and eventually adopt the new theatre
regulation. They defined the competences for the theatre managers who
would lead the company and manage the institution.10 The new theatre
regulation contained three parts: 1. the basic regulation which described the
functioning of the company; 2. the obligations of the stage directors (regiseurs),
and 3. the instructions for the censors and the managers of the theatre.11
According to the regulation, the Committee exercised leadership in every
aspect. Moreover, a sub-committee chaired by the (general) manager had the
right to impose penalties.
Baron Dániel Petrichevich Horváth, the Commission chair, fully
supported the establishing and functioning of the theatre. He was also member
of the construction commission, and paid 1,000 forints to own a theatre box.
Previously, between December 1813 – March 1814, he had been the manager
of the theatre company which had been performing in the ex-stable (owned
by count Wesselényi Miklós) transformed into theatre building. In his period,

8. The list of the Committee was as follows: Head of Committe: baron Ignác Kemény, lord
lieutenant of Kolozs county. Members: count Farkas Bethlen jr., Ferenc Fricsi Fekete,
count Ádám Rhédei, count Dénes Bánffy, count László Lázár, Antal Hollaki, baron Miklós
Kemény, baron József Naláczy, count József Csáky, Dániel Petrichevich Horváth, Lázár
Káli Nagy, István Ágoston, judge of royal free Kolozsvár town, Mózes Ferenczi, town
counsellor. Notary: Mihály Szenykirályi, royal judge of royal free Kolozsvár town.
9. Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, f. 79,
10. Count Dénes Bánffy and count László Lázár were chosen to be responsible for the repertoire
and censorship. Dániel Petrichevich-Horváth and count József Csáky were appointed as
stage directors, Antal Hollaky (secretary at Transylvanian Gubernia) as music director and
Lázár Nagy appointed as economic director.
11. Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, ff. 98-113. See also in Ferenczi,
A kolozsvári színészet és színház története, 276-277.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

the library of the theatre acquired several new drama-texts. During the winter
of 1814 Petrichevich organized an amateur company of aristocrats (Uri Játtzó
Társaság in Hungarian) which performed German, French and Hungarian plays
mainly in the governor’s saloon.12 He also had an essential role in shaping the
program of the inauguration celebration.
On March 12 the new theatre building was opened at six o’clock in the
evening. Baron Petrichevich was the first to appear on the stage: he recited
the Prologue (Előszó) written by himself. Next, the students of the Musical
Association of Cluj („kolozsvári muzsikai egyesület”) performed the choir song
written for the occasion (entitled A nemzet innepe az erdélyi magyar játékszín
kinyitásakor [The Nation’s Celebration on the Opening of the Hungarian Theatre
from Transylvania]). The highlight of the first evening was the performance of
the 5-act herioc bourgeois tragedy Zrínyi by the aforementioned amateur acting
company. Showing heavy influences of Schiller, the play had been written by
the German playwright Theodor Körner; its Hungarian translation was provided
by Petrichevich-Horváth himself, who also assumed the title role. (Otherwise
the play had already been performed twice in 1819, on the birthday of the
governor, count Bánffy György and the following day.)13
The professional acting company came on stage only the following
day (on March 13); they performed King Mathias/Mathias Corvinus, an original
Hungarian sentimental drama written by László Szentjóbi Szabó.

The Prologue for the Occassion

The text written and presented by Petrichevich Horváth Dániel was

published first in the book entitled Játékszíni Koszorú [Stage Wreath]14 by Könyves
Máté in 1834, then it appeared in the publication Emléklap [Commemorative Card]15

12. See: Ferenczi, A kolozsvári színészet és színház története, 175, 232–233, 240–241, 251–252, 267.
Imre Sándor, A széplaki Petrichevich-Horváth család (Kolozsvár: Gámán János Press, 1908),
26–27; Dániel Petrichevich Horváth, Introduction to Zrinyi, vitézi szomoru játék öt felvonásban,
by Theodor Körner, trans. Dániel Petrichevich Horváth (Kolozsvár: Ref. Koll. betűi, 1819),
a2–a4.
13. Dániel Petrichevich Horváth, Introduction to Zrinyi, vitézi szomoru játék öt felvonásban, by
Theodor Körner, trans. Dániel Petrichevich Horváth (Kolozsvár: Ref. Koll. betűi, 1819), a4.
14. Máté Könyves, Játékszíni koszorú, ed. Eszter György (Budapest: Magyar Színházi Intézet,
n.d.).
15. Emléklapok a Kolozsvári Országos Nemzeti Színház megnyitásának félszázados örömünnepére,
(Kolozsvár: Rom. Kath. Lyceum nyomdája, 1871).

27
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

issued for the 1871 comemmoration of the theatre opening. The newspapers of
the era republished it as well, along the choir song’s text and the playbill of
the Zrínyi tragedy.
The Prologue may be read as both a theatre-opening official speech
and an argument for the staging of the tragedy. The emphasis was on the
national and autohtone features as key elements for the symbolic occupation
of both the building space and the local theatre culture.
The beginning of the prologue describes the Hungarian acting stage
as being without a property of its own; in this sense, it is evoking the
theatrical initiatives from the end of the 18th century which would finally
have a building of its own.
The construction of the building holds out the promise of revival for
Hungarian acting, while the acting is defined as heart stirring, luring and
beatiful craft/profession:
Úgy is tudjuk, mi a sorsa
A legkedvesebb Actornak.
Tudjuk azt, hogy nem terjedhet
Kellemeinek érzése
Századokra, mint Apelles
Ecsettyének vonásai. (...)
Bájoló szép mestersége
Ereje tsak addig terjed;
Míg szavai elhangzottak,
És a visszhang megszüntével,
Borostyánja el is alszik.
We know anyway the fate
Of the dearest Actor.
[We know that the feeling
Of his good features cannot
Encompass centuries like
The strokes of Apelles’ brush (…)
The power of his luring and beautiful profession
Lasts only until his words,
And the echo ceases
Together with the light
Of its amber.]16

16. All the translations from Hungarian belong to the author of the article.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

According to the Prologue, the company of aristocrats, by daring to

open the national theatre, made not only an act of celebrating the theatre, is
a sanctifier gesture animated by patriotic feelings and giving it honour and
rank (i.e. since they belong to the first estate).
The choice for the Zrínyi tragedy is motivated by evoking the great
Hungarian nobleman and general in service of Habsburg Monarchy, ban of
Croatia. In 1566, from August 5 to September 7 his small force (2,300 soldiers)
heroically defended the little fortress of Szigetvár against the whole Ottoman
host (102,000 soldiers), led by Suleiman the Magnificent in person. The Battle of
Szigetvár ended with Zrínyi perishing with every member of the garrison
and his family, thus blocking Suleiman’s line of advance towards Wienna.
Zrínyi’s heroic gesture is motivated by patriotic feeling, love and loyalty to
his Habsburg Monarch.
The martyrdom of Zrínyi resonates with the sacrifice brought for the
theatre. The Prologue finally called for cheering:
Víg trombiták harsogjatok!!!/ [Loudly let the trumpets bray!]
The cheer and vivat were meant for Francis I, the last Holy Roman
Emperor, who was also the Apostolic King of Hungary as I. Ferenc.17 The
praise and gratitude went to the local representatives of political power, who
were of course present at the inaguration (for e.g., count György Bánffy, the
cheaf of the Gubernium was viewing the show from the central box located
in the second tier of boxes). The theatre was completed thanks to the support
received from the governor as well. Count Bánffy claimed a separate box also
for his family.18 The glorification of the monarch, and his representatives
(the government and governor) were not just courtesy gestures, but acts of
obedience and pledges of loyalty.

The Choir Song

The choir song entitled A nemzet innepe az erdélyi magyar játékszín kinyitásakor
[The Nation’s Celebration on the Opening of the Hungarian Theatre from Transylvania]
was composed by young Zsigmond Szentkirályi (1804–1870, the son of Miklós

17. However, according to article 6 of the law from 1791 - which stipulated that Transylvania
was part of the Hungarian Kingdom so that the House of Habsburg had the same right to
command over it, - also stated that Transylvania had its own constitution which should
serve for governing the territory according to its subsequent laws and rules. Bényei ed.,
Az erdélyi országgyűlések, 196.
18. Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, f. 65.

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 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Szentkirályi (1772-1836), the royal judge of the town, and performed by the
students of the musical association of Cluj („kolozsvári muzsikai egyesület”)
which was in fact the music academy of the town.19 Although in his monography
about the Hungarian musical theatre of Cluj the author István Lakatos only
refers to the fact that the choir of the music school collaborated in the event, the
documents of the Musical Association reveal much more about the organization
of the festivities.20
According to the minutes of the association, the music director Antal
Hollaki invited the Commission of the association to his house to discuss the
choir song which would be performed at the ceremony. The invitation had
been sent to 16 persons but only 9 showed up, among them the conductors
József Grosspeter and Antal Polz clavier master. The latter was instructed to
gather the singers and also to select beautiful and soothing musical pieces for
the orchestra to play in between the acts of Zrínyi tragedy, so that ’we could
show our respect which is appropriate for the Hungarian nation’. However, the
music pieces selected for the orchestra weren’t recorded in the minutes of the
meeting, we also learn from the minutes that costs were supported by the
Theatre Committee.21
With a few exceptions, the verses of the song by Zsigmond Szentkirályi
much resemble the festive language of the Prologue. Having biblical vocabulary,
the song contains references to antique texts, to the history of Hungary, as
well as to Hungarian ancestors. The song calls metaphorically the lack of a
theatre building as ’ideas trembling on sad remains of Fate’, while the completion
of the stone theatre a dream coming true: „beatiful dream rocking on the

19. See the text of the Choir Song in the Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, ff.
77-78.
20. István Lakatos, A kolozsvári magyar zenés színpad (Bukarest: Kriterion Kiadó, 1977), 26. On the
cooperation between the National Thratre of Kolozsvár and the Local Conservatory of Music
see: Emese Sófalvi “Zeneoktatás a kolozsvári Muzsikai Conservatoriumban 1819-1869 között”
(PhD thesis, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2016.); E., Sófalvi, “Szolgáltatott a szintársulatoknak
mindenféle segélyt, hogy operát tarthassanak... (Adatok a kolozsvári Nemzeti Színház és a helyi
Muzsikai Conservatorium együttműködésének történetéhez. 1821-1849)” in Képes beszéd.
Színház- és filmművészeti tanulmányok 2, 2014, ed. Emese Egyed (Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-
Egyesület, 2014), 60-79.; E., Sófalvi, “Az intézményes zeneoktatás kezdetei Kolozsváron,” in
A VII. Nemzetközi Hungarológia Kongresszus Zenetudományi Szekciójának előadásai, ed. István
Angi and Csilla Csákány (Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, 2013), 166-185.
21. Records and Correnspondences of the Musical Association from Kolozsvár (Cluj), 1821,
Act 3, ff. 2-5, Fonds of Music Conservatory, Cluj, No. 1188, Cluj Branch of the National
Romanian Archives, Cluj-Napoca.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

blooming Olympos”. The figure of the governor appears as a power protecting

the newly established institution („Csak Nagy Bánfy’ szárnyainak / Terjedjen
rá oltalma”).
According to the song, the day of joy is marked by the Hungarian sky
shining beyond the sun, the moon and the eagle. These symbols were visible
also in the space of the theatre, as they were carved onto the golden board
above the stage. In the crest of Transylvania, the eagle represents the counties,
the sun and the moon the Szeklers, since the theatre building could be
completed thanks to the donations from these two estates.
Praise, respect and gratitude were put into rhyme and the verses repeated
in refrain (Jöjjetek hát, jöjjetek már / A’ tisztelet itt régen vár; A háladás’ sas’
szárnyain / Lebegjen mejjünk’ árnyain. Come, oh come already/ The honour is
waiting for a long while for you; The Eagle fan of gratitude/Let be float on our bosom
shade) were in fact equivalent with ritualized and formalised gestures. The last
strophe sounds much like a prayer for God’s blessing, for the undisturbed
rule of the king, and for peace in both Hungary and Transylvania.
The choir song was conducted by the previously mentioned conductor,
Antal Polcz, who was also the music master at the court of the chief
governor.22

The Zrínyi tragedy

The role of the hero of Szigetvár was played by Dániel Petrichevich-

Horváth himself, who, according to the memoirs of the famous actress
Déryné, could have become a good professional actor. 23 Other important
characters were played by the governors son in law, count József Csáky (as
Szolimán) and the governor’s daughter, countess Csáky (as Éva, the heroine,
wife of Zrínyi). Other roles were distributed also mainly to aristocrats: the
young count Pál Bethlen acted as Mechmet Szokolovits; baron József
Bornemisza as Ibrahim; baron Miklós Bánffy as Ali portuk; Gergely Barcsay
as Mustafa; baroness Mária Inczédi as Ilona, the daughter of Zrínyi; count

22. “A Jókai pár fogadtatása és a jubileumi banquette,” Magyar Polgár (Kolozsvár/Cluj), Apr. 2,
1871.
23. Daniel Petrichevich Horváth had also written a few original plays and translated plays.
(See Déryné, Naplója, Vol. 2, ed. József Bayer (Budapest, [1900]), 175. For his writings see: the
’Horváth Dániel (széplaki Petrichevich)’ entry in József Szinnyei, Magyar írók élete és munkái
I–XIV (Budapest: Hornyánszky, 1891–1914) [Link]

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 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

János Rhédei played the character of Gáspár Alapi; count János Teleki as
Farkas Paprutovits; the elderly count Pál Bethlen was Péter Újlaki, and the
role of the youg hero and Ilona’s suitor, Lőrinc Juranics was played by count
János Bethlen (the father of the young count Miklós Bethlen, who, performing
under the stage name Bolnai, became a professional actor at the middle of
the 19th century.)24 A few bourgeois person were given smaller roles: for
e.g. a military ambassador (played by Menasági); a Turkish military leader
(aga, played by Miklós Iszlai); the servant of Zrínyi (played by Sámuel
Deáky); a peasant (played by Incze); a Hungarian captain (by Végheli).
According to the playbill, the scenes took place „either in Belgrád or in
Sziget; depicting the places where the story happened in 1566”. Otherwise
the display and spectacle of the locations hasn’t been emphasized on the
playbill.
The visuality of the performance was provided by the diversity of the
costumes and various props (guns, armors, flags and torches) and much less
by the spectacle of scenic design. We may note that the staging practice of the
era used neither period dress nor period sets.25 The noble amateurs actors
obviously put an emphasis on both the Hungarian and Turkish dresses, thus
we can say that the costumes were more important in conveying theatrical
illusion, although historical accuracy wasn’t elemental in this regard either.
At the end of the performance the amateur actors donated the costumes to
the wardrobe of the professional acting company.26
Although it is hard to believe, there hasn’t been any report about this
significant series of theatre events, 27 so any conclusion to be taken will be
based on sporadic data. In terms of scenical possibilities, the spectacle of the

24. About Bolnai see: Katalin Ágnes Bartha, Shakespeare and the Prestige of Hungarian Acting
Profession in Mid-19th Century (The Case of Count Miklos Bethlen) to be published at University
of Bucharest Publishing House, edited by Madalina Nicolaescu, Alis Zaharia.
25. Ferenc Kerényi, “A Pesti Magyar Színháztól a Nemzeti Színházig,” in Magyar színháztörténet
(1790–1873) 1990, ed. Ferenc Kerényi (Budapest: Akadémiai, 1990), 274.
26. Enchanted by the pomp and spectacle of the dresses a member of the audince, namely
count Lajos Bethlen also donated a few items of his own garnments „his beatifully made
armour, helm and gauntlet.” for the theatre company’s costume collection. Minute Book of
the National Theatre from Transylvania, f. 98.
27. Ferenczi, A kolozsvári színészet és színház története, 278. Only one article on bulilding-
constructions appeared in two series: ”A’ Kolozsvári Nemzeti Játkszín építésének történetei,
’s ennek mostani állapotja,” Magyar Kurir (Vienna), Dec. 25, Dec 28, 1821. Without naming
its author the article is identical with the text of Káli Nagy, and does not give any detail
about the ceremony. Káli Nagy, Visszaemlékezései, 140-143.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

performance couldn’t have departed from the usual patterns of scenery

(though the stage director György Simonfy enriched the scene by adding a
few scenic elements) used in heroic play (helden spiele in German/ vitézi játék
in Hungarian) a very popular type of play in the 1810’s in Hungary.28 In any
case, they must have used the already mentioned sceneries at disposal, and
namely the classic hall and the salloon painted backdrop with their side-
drops (legs) and borders to represent the various inner spaces: the room
within the palace in Belgrad / belgrádi palotában való szoba (I. 1-7.),/; the palace
from Szigetvár / szigetvári nagy szoba (I. 7-11.– II.1-9.), Szigetvári palota [nyilván
szoba] (III. 6-10.)/; the tent of the Turkish emperor near Sziget / Török császár
sátora Sziget alatt (III. 1-5; IV. 1-7.) /; the vault from Sziget / Szigetbe pintze
boltozat (IV. 8-9 – V. 1-6.)/. Outside scenes like the court of the castle from Sziget /
a Szigeti vár udvara (II. fv. 10-14.; V. 7-8.)/ could be easily arranged by using
the curtain representing the garden, while for the final big scene they must
have painted a backdrop representing the fortress of Szigetvár and must
have provided smoke and torches to symbolize the castle in flames; however,
we found no evidence in this regard among the payments of the theatre
registered for 1821.29 But we found payments in sum of 8 ft. for timber-work
suggesting that quite a few stage/scene elements (or even a fortress) had
been built for staging the Zrínyi Miklós tragedy. Further sum (2 ft) paid for
the trumpeter suggests that they must have made use of musical instruments
to emphasize the battle scene.30

King Mathias

Although the drama piece was taken in inventory, its textbook is

missing from the library of the Hungarian National Theatre from Cluj.
Moreover, its playbill is also missing. In 1871 some newspaper articles dealt
with the 1821 theatre inauguration, reediting some documents of it, even if
it was achievable then, no information was communicated about the
playbill cast or any other information related to this performance.

28. The helden spiele or heroic play had various thematic types which ranged from middle-
ages’ knight stories to robber, bandit and highwayman themes, also have sources from
the Hungarian history and contemporary themes. On heroic play in Hungary see: Ferenc
Kerényi, A régi magyar színpadon (1790-1849) (Budapest: Magvető, 1981), 114-133.
29. National Theatre Expenditure, 1821, Act 15, Fonds of Hungarian Theatre from Cluj, No.
313, Cluj Branch of the National Romanian Archives, Cluj-Napoca.
30. Ibid., f. 26.

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 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

However, from the memoirs of the actor Göde István we learned that
he was the actor to speak first in the play (he played the palatine of Gara).31
On the basis of theatrical lines of the era we can only suspect that Celesztin
Pergő must have played the leading role, while the actress Anna Ungár
must have been Pogyebrád Katalin, Borbára Simény was Erzsébet, and the
elderly József Székely must have played the character of Mihály Szilágyi. The
actress Mária Néb was also playing, only we don’t know which character.

The 1871 Celebration

The fifty-year celebration of the theatre opening took place under the
theatre manager and entrepreneur Antal Fehérváry. First, the comemmoration
was postponed due to lack of concordance. Then, the professional acting
company held a preliminary celebration on March 11 which was considered
the day the stone theatre was opened. However, the commission supervising
the theatre the National Theatre Committee (consisting of members of the
local political elite, high-ranking officials and the intellectual elite)32 decided
that a greater celebration should be organized. Therefore, apart from local
performers, they invited famos actors from the National Theatre from Pest
and also two old actors who participated in the opening ceremony from 12
March 1821. As the organizing process was longer than expected, the festivities
finally took place on April 1 and 2.
The program of the celebration organized by the professional acting
company had three parts: first, the whole theatre personnel sang the 'Hymn'
of Kölcsey; then, the actress Laura Sz. Mátray recited a Prologue written by
Gerő Szász (1831-1904), a priest and archbishop and well-known local poet,

31. [István Göde], “A magyar színészet történetéhez,” Történeti Lapok 2, (1875): no 4:896.
32. Head of the Committee : count Imre Mikó. Members of Committee: count János Mikes,
vice-president, Gusztáv Groisz, Hungarian-Royal Minister Counselor, Elek Káli Nagy,
Hungarian-Royal Minister Counselor, count Miklós Lázár, count Kálmán Esztereházy, lord
lieutenant of Kolozs county, baron Sándor Huszár, vice-president of National Hungarian
Economic Association, Sándor Halmágyi, chief judge of Urbarial Court, Lugosi József,
secretary at Royal Hungarian Ministry, Tauffer Ferenc, head of Kolozsvár Credit Institution,
József László, retired actor of the National Theatre from Pest, Sámuel Filep, mayor of free
royal town of Kolozsvár. Secretary: József Sándor, editor of Kolozsvári Közlöny newspaper.
Lawyer: Miklós Ferenczi, Treasurer: Bogdán Korbuly, head of ‘Zálogkölcsön’ Financial Institute
from Kolozsvár. See Katalin Ágnes Bartha, “Színházi professzió és presztízs Kolozsváron a 19.
század utolsó harmadában,” Erdélyi Múzeum, 77, no. 3 (2015): 46–78.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

which was followed by the Allegóriai kép [Allegorical tableau vivant] accompanied
with coloures illumination directed by the theatre director Fehérváry himself.
The second part consisted of a performance of an original one-act comedy
called Becsületszó [Honour] written by József Szigeti, actor and playwright of
the National Theatre from Pest. The third part of the festive program consisted
of the first act of the famous Hungarian opera Bánk bán (by Ferenc Erkel)
with the Magyar tánc [Hungarian Dance] as performed by the dance group of
the theatre.
The two-day festive program of the National Theatre Committee was
organized for the benefit of the theatre’s pension fund. Among the personalities
invited we can mention the actors and actresses of the National Theatre from
Pest: Róza Laborfalvi Jókainé, Kornélia Prielle, Kálmán Szerdahelyi, Miklós
Feleki, and also Krisztina Bogdanovics, a promising young actress. The
authors of the two plays (Ede Szigligeti and Mór Jókai) which were performed
at the festivities were also present at the performances.
The festive program on April 1 was the following:
First, the whole staff of the theatre went on stage to perform the
Magyar nemzeti himnusz [Hungarian National Hymn] written by Sándor Berta
and arranged by Jakab Jákobi, the conductor of the theatre. The already
mentioned priest and poet Gerő Szász wrote another Prologue the central
idea of which was the gratitude felt toward the predecessor actors. The verses
resembled Árpád ébredése [The Awakening of Árpád], an allegorical play written by
the famous Hungarian poet Mihály Vörösmarty for the opening performance
of the Hungarian Theatre from Pest in 22 august 1837. (for e.g. the syntagms of
’Árpád nemzetének édes szava’ [The sweet words of Árpád’s clan] and
’Sírjuk feltárul’[Their grave are opening up].33 The prologue was recited by
Gyula E. Kovács, the leading actor of the company. This was followed by
the Tableau vivant entitled Apotheosis as directed by the theatre manager Antal
Fehérváry in three parts: 1. A harcok kora [The time of battles]; 2 A nemzeti
irodalom felvirágzása [The revival of national literature]; 3. A magyar Thaliának
emelt első oltár 1821 március 11-én [The first altar erected on March 11,1821 for
the Hungarian Thalia]. The last part involved also the actors Mária Néb and
István Göde, who participated at the inaguration ceremony in 1821. The tableau

33. On the multi-layered theatrical and social connotations of the Prologue Árpád ébredése [The
Awakening of Árpád] see: Emese Egyed, ”Ki vagy te? Az Árpád ébredése című embléma,”
in Vörösmarty és kora. Tanulmányok Vörösmarty Mihályról és Kőrösi Csoma Sándorról, ed. Piroska
Madácsy and Kálmán Bene (Szeged: Bába és Társai, 2001), 11–32.

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 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

vivant arranged for the event represented the respect for the past of the
theatre and was meant to induce the cultural memory of the theatregoers.
The cultic attitude toward the old actors on the stage, was, according to the
press, blenched the cold spectacle of the greek fire „elhalványították a görögtűz
hideg csillogását”.34 The imposing episodes (the revival of national literature
and the first altar erected for the Hungarian Thalia) effected a kind of sacred
space. The Apotheosis was followed by a veneration expressed for the king and
his wife, who were presented as the highest patrons of the theatre (Hódolat, ő cs. Kir.
Apostoli felségeik dicsőségesen uralkodó királyunk és királynénknak ezen színház legm.
Pártfogóinak). The enwreathed picture of the monarch’s and his wife was met with
much applaude. The second part of the program consisted of the performance of an
original comedy written by the well-known Hungarian playwright Ede Szigligeti
(A bajusz).
In accordance with the decision of the organizing commission, on
April 2 the theatre company performed a four-act tragedy written by the
famous Hungarian novelist Mór Jókai. Entitled Szigetvári vértanuk (The
martyrs of Szigetvár), the play evoked the festive performance of Zrínyi at
the 1821 theatre opening. Performed by guest actors from Pest, the play
featured also new, for e.g. Miklós Feleky, the actor playing the leading role
performed in costume tailored especially for the occassion, while Jókainé,
the wife of the playwright was Anna. The play was directed by Gyula E.
Kovács. The performance was a success; the audience reacted with ovation
and followed the Jókai couple to their housing with torches. The playbill
advertised also a brochure published for the occasion (sold for 20
krajcár/pennies). Moreover, even medallion of golden, silver and bronze
had been minted; however, they were finished only after the celebration. 35
Another significant event of the anniversary was the dinner (party)
organized in the Redoute building on March 31; then, the following day,
according to the newspaper Magyar Polgár, Manó Péchy, the royal commissioner
invited the actors (both the guests from Pest and the members of the company
from Cluj), important literary personalities and members of the Theatre
Committe to join a toast.36

34. Szász Béla, ”Színházi jubilaeum,” Kelet (Kolozsvár/Cluj), Apr. 4, 1871.

35. Emléklapok a Kolozsvári, 17–18.
36. ”A Jókai pár fogadtatása és a jubileumi banquette,” Magyar Polgár (Kolozsvár/Cluj), Apr.
2, 1871.

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 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

The 1892 Celebration

On the hundred year anniversary of Hungarian acting in Cluj, the 1821

theatre opening was comemmorated as an important moment of the theatre
institutionalization process; however, it constituted only a part of the country-
wide celebrations. Serious preparations, meetings and consultations preceeded
the events which celebrated the hundred year anniversary together with the
birth day of József Katona, the great Hungarin playwright, whose natonal
tragedy Bánk bán was banned from stages in the neo-absolutist period. We
should add that research found that the two dates didn’t coincide (the opening
performance of the professional acting company from Cluj was on 14 December
1792).37
The preparatory consultations involved, beside the organising commission
and a few members of the acting company, also the intellectual elite of the
town.38 In the end the local Literary Society celebrated the event on November
10 by performing Bánk bán; then, on November 11, a memorial plaque was
unveiled at Rhédey palace (where the first Hungarian professional company
started its performances, today at the corner of Napoca street), which was
followed by a festive lunch and a gala performance. The street of the theatre
was illuminated, and the audience was welcomed by a richly decorated and
illuminated theatre building/auditorium. The event was met with much interest;
among the invited guests were the royal couple. To sense the overwhelming
dimensions of the event one should look at the number of invited guests: 52
delegates representing 16 judicial authorities sent; 37 delegates representing
17 scientific, literary, artistic and cultural societies; 12 delegates representing
8 theatres; and 17 journalists from 14 newspapers. Apart from the invited guests,
various bodies from Cluj town (30 in total) reported to send 74 representatives.
The gala started with the festive overture (composed by Gyula Káldy); it
was followed by the prologue of Mór Jókai, then by a dramatic description of
the period entitled Száz év előtt [Hundred Years Ago], written by Zoltán Ferenczi.
The festive program also included a medley of old Hungarian operas compiled
by Ottó Müller, as well as the comedy Jártas-költes vőlegény (A well-groomed
groom) by László Bartsai and tableaux vivants arranged on the basis of the
Zrínyi play. The gala was repeated on November 12.

37. Sándor, Enyedi, ”Mikor volt Kolozsvárt az első színházi előadás?”, A Hét, June 18, 1982.
38. Hegyessy Vilmos ed. Emlékkönyv az erdélyi magyar színészet száz éves jubileuma alkalmából,
(Kolozsvár, 1892), 80.

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 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Conclusions

The theatre-opening play Zrínyi was met in 1821 with some discontent by
the public because of, on the one hand, its atmosphere was not ‘authentically’
Hungarian, while on the other hand, its author was not Hungarian (see for
e.g., the critical review of the play by Ferenc Kölcsey).39 Then, the 1871 staging
must have exerted a different effect, due to the fact that it was a different
adaptation. On the hundred-year anniversary, they turned to the tradition
set in 1821 by creating tableaux vivants on the basis of two dramatically
important moments of Körner’s play (this genre was very popular during
the period). And the performers were selected from among the historical
families whose members supported the building of the stone theatre; thus,
the organizers provided a familial continuation for the participants.
The role and function of the theatre opened in 1821 was to become
both a ’national property’ and workshop for ’cultivating the language,’40
and ’an instrument for enriching culture and promoting virtue’.41 Further
attributes of the new institution were ’to protect the national treasure’ (see
Minutes), and ’serve the pleasure/delight of the heart’.42 These elements can
be found also at 1871 celebration (for e.g., according to the prologues of Gerő
Szász, ’the [theatre]house is a temple’, while the event was the ’celebration of
language, poetry and the arts). It is important to note that the abovementioned
functions do not appear as evidence that needs to be provided because they
were considered as having been fulfilled during the fifty-year functioning
of the theatre. Although the aspect of entertainment within the texts written
for the occasion is as a latent presence only, the staged comedies and the
tableaux vivants have served this specific purpose. In terms of its language
and agenda, the emphasis of the 1892 anniversary was transferred on the
practical issue of having a continuous, uninterrupted theatre in town, on the
need to fund the theatre similar to the National Theatre form Pest (the Theatre
Commission attempted to solve this by political means). It is interesting in this
regard that the prologue of Jókai featured some theatre historical elements –
for e.g. the play entitled Titkos ellenkezés [Secret resistence], and the name of

39. See for e.g., the critical review of the play: Ferenc Kölcsey, Körner Zrínyijéről.
[Link]
40. Minute Books of The Theatre Committee, f. 109.
41. Káli Nagy, Visszaemlékezései, 163.
42. Dániel Petrichevich Horváth, “Elő Szó”[Prologue], in Máté Könyves, Játékszíni koszorú, ed.
Eszter György (Budapest: Magyar Színházi Intézet, n.d.) 109–110.

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count Wesselényi – which only signal that the text was written for the festive
occasion; otherwise, it is built on the opposition between Hungary and
Transylvania where the latter plays the role of preserving the [Hungarian]
language).
In 1821, the national theatre culture was much more linked to the
theatrical activity of two rather different social groups; in other words, the
picture of the heterogeneous society was well-represented by the two-day
event.
The theatre was opened the first day with the active participation of the
politically influent members of the local aristocracy (quite a few members
of the Theatre Commission acted in the Zrínyi performance). This group of
amateur aristocratic actors supported the acting company since the first
theatrical performance in Cluj (1792) and the placement of the acting company
under national supervision (1795), and took up financially the case of the
constucting an independent theatre building (since 1805). It is worth mentioning
that members of the amateur company had been acting for a few years
before appearing the new theatre stage to perform the Zrínyi tragedy.
Among the performers of the second day, we find among the regular
members of the newly established acting company significant actors of the
era: József Székely (who became a member of the acting company from Cluj
in 1802, Borbára Simény (she became a member in 1803), Anna Ungár (in
1806) and Czelesztin Pergő (in 1810). All of them remained actors of the Cluj
stage. Although they had a say with regard to what to perform at the theatre
opening, the final decision was taken by the Theatre Commission; therefore, we
can conclude that the professional artists supported the taste of the aristocracy/
elite in power. The play King Mathias by László Szentjóbi had been part of the
repertoire of the acting company from Cluj since 1804; being a sentimental
play written for the crowning of I. Ferenc, it seemed like an appropriate choice
to express the gratitude and loyalty, since both the local representatives of the
ruling power and the king were specified/mentioned in the festive speech
and in the verses of the choir song.
Beside the hierarchical organization of the theatre functioning, at least
the same importance should be given to the community-building aspect of
participating in theatre building (which aspect I believe is stronger than the
belonging to certain social groups). In this regard, I only mention the fact
that Gábor Döbrentei, the famous Hugarian critic of the era, established the
democratic context of the theatre as an important centre of social life at the

39
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

beginning of 19th century Cluj, by emphasizing the presence in a common

space which entailed the possibility to dissolve differences between theatregoers
of different social ranks or confessional groups.43
The 1871 anniversary was held in the theatre building transformed
according to the professional needs of the era.44 The renovated theatre-interior
of the institution by the significant removal of the governor’s box (1865)
anticipated the political constitutional frame that was to be established by the
Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. By this time, the politics of the Theatre
Committee was not so much involved into the professional management of the
theatre. The reason for this was the advanced stage of professionalization
and institutionalization, which meant that decisions concerning membership,
personnel and staging were now taken by theatre professionals, while the
Committee acted as supervising and approving board, and supported the
functioning of the theatre through the political and social relations of its
members. As a result, the 1871 anniversary consisted of two separate events:
the first organized by the professional acting company, and the second by
the National Hungarian Theatre Committee.
However, we should observe that the 1821 opening constructed a
tradition which was strongly emphasized at the 1871 anniversary, the key
components of which were the prologue and the historical theme of Zrínyi’s
martyrdom. The 1871 anniversary saw an adaptation to a different social
and theatrical context, which can be revealed by the use of various forms of
communication enabled by both technical progress and dissemination
possibilities. As opposed to the lack of media coverage of the opening
ceremony, the fifty-year anniversary was extensively dealt with by the local
press, thus it became a major cultural event for the literate social groups.
The 1892 celebration became much more professional in this sense; the
event enjoyed popularity across historical Hungary and Transylvania and
was extensively reported in the national press. The various components of
the ceremony (such as unveiling a comemmorative plaque on Rhedey palace,
the festive lunch with their ceremonial toasts, the procession on the streets of

43. Döbrentei Gábor, ”Az első füzetbeli jutalom kihirdetésére béküldetett szomorújátékokról.”
Erdélyi Muzéum 10, (1818): 117.
44. In1865-ben theatre was renovated, and partly rebuilt by Kagerbauer Antal builder master
from Kolozsvár. See the plan of the construction work: KÁL, Fond 313, Act 38, ff. 6-12. On
the construction see: Orsolya Tőkés, “A kolozsvári, Farkas utcai színház 1865. évi átépítése
mint színháztörténeti esemény,”in Képes beszéd. Színház és filmművészeti tanulmányok (2),
edited by Emese Egyed (Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum, 2014), 90-99.

40
 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

Cluj decorated with flags and banners, and the participation of various cultural
associations and students wearing rosettes as a symbol of national pride and
support) prove the symbolic importance of the entire event. And, as of worthy
publications related to the anniversary, we can list the commemmorative
book edited by Vilmos Hegyesy45 and also the history of acting and theatre
in Cluj, written by Zoltán Ferenczi (Kolozsvári színészet és színház története [The
History of Acting and Theatre from Kolozsvár]. 1897).

References

Bényei Miklós ed. Az erdélyi országgyűlések színházpolitikai vitái és iratai (1791–

1847)[Political Disputes and Documents on Theatre Issues of the Transylvanian Diets
(1791–1847)]. Budapest: Magyar Színházi Intézet, 1990.
Déryné. Naplója [Memoirs of the Actress Déryné] (1-3 vols), Edited by József Bayer.
Budapest, [1900].
Döbrentei, Gábor. ”Az első füzetbeli jutalom kihirdetésére béküldetett
szomorújátékokról [On the Prized Tragedies Written For the Call of the
Journal’s first Volume].”Erdélyi Muzéum 10, (1818): 105–167.
Egyed, Emese. ”Ki vagy te? Az Árpád ébredése című embléma.”Who are you? The
emblem Entitled the Awakening of Árpád]” [In Vörösmarty és kora. Tanulmányok
Vörösmarty Mihályról és Kőrösi Csoma Sándorról [The Era of Vörösmarty. Studies
on MMihály Vörösmarty and Sándor Körösi Csoma], 11–32. Edited by Piroska
Madácsy and Kálmán Bene. Szeged: Bába és Társai, 2001.
Emléklapok a Kolozsvári Országos Nemzeti Színház megnyitásának félszázados örömünnepére
[Commemorative Card on the Fiftieth Anniversary of The National Hungarian
Theatre from Cluj]. Kolozsvár: Rom. Kath. Lyceum nyomdája, 1871.
Enyedi, Sándor. ”Mikor volt Kolozsvárt az első színházi előadás? [When was the
First Professional Hungarian Performance in Cluj]” A Hét, June 18, 1982.
Ferenczi, Zoltán. A kolozsvári színészet és színház története [The History of Acting and
Theatre from Kolozsvár]. Kolozsvár: Ajtai K. Albert könyvnyomdája, 1897
[Göde, István], “A magyar színészet történetéhez [Data on the Hungarian Theatre
History],” Történeti Lapok 2, (1875): no 4:896.
Hegyessy, Vilmos ed. Emlékkönyv az erdélyi magyar színészet száz éves jubileuma
alkalmából [Anniversary Book on the Hundred Years Jubilee of the Hungarian Theatre
from Transylvania]. Kolozsvár: Jubileum Rendező Bizottsága,1892.

45. Hegyesi ed, Emlékkönyv az erdélyi.

41
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Hobsbawm, Eric. ”Invented traditions.” In The invention of tradition. Edited by Eric

Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, 1–14. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
“A Jókai pár fogadtatása és a jubileumi banquette [Reception of the Jókai Couple and
the Jubilee Banquette].” Magyar Polgár (Kolozsvár/Cluj), Apr. 2, 1871.
Káli Nagy, Lázár. Visszaemlékezései. Az erdélyi magyar színészet hőskora. 1792–1821
[Recollections. The Heroic Period of the Transylvanian Acting. 1792–1821], Edited
by János Lázok. Marosvásárhely: Mentor, 2009.
[Káli Nagy, Lázár]. “A’ Kolozsvári Nemzeti Játékszín építésének történetei, ’s ennek
mostani állapotja [The Construction History of the National Theatre from
Kolozsvár and its Situation Today].” Magyar Kurír (Vienna), Dec. 25, Dec. 28,
1821.
Kerényi, Ferenc. “A Pesti Magyar Színháztól a Nemzeti Színházig [From the Hungarian
Theatre from Pest to the National Theatre].” In Magyar színháztörténet (1790–1873)
[Hungarian Theatre History (1790–1873)], edited by Ferenc Kerényi, 264-283.
Budapest: Akadémiai, 1990.
Kerényi, Ferenc. A régi magyar színpadon (1790-1849)[On the Old Hungarian Theatre
(1790-1849)]. Budapest: Magvető, 1981.
Kölcsey, Ferenc. Körner Zrínyijéről [On Zrinyi by Körner] [1826]. [Link]
06300/06367/html/[Link]#142
Könyves, Máté. Játékszíni koszorú [Stage Wreath], Edited by Eszter György. Budapest:
Magyar Színházi Intézet, n.d.
Körner, Teodor. Zrinyi, vitézi szomoru játék öt felvonásban [The Tragedy of Zrinyi in Five
Acts]. Translated by Dániel Petrichevich Horváth. Kolozsvár: Ref. Koll. betűi,
1819.
Lakatos, István. A kolozsvári magyar zenés színpad [The Hungarian Musical Theatre from
Kolozsvár]. Bukarest: Kriterion Kiadó, 1977.
Minute Book of the National Theatre from Transylvania, 1820–1835. Fonds of
Hungarian Theatre from Cluj, No. 313. Cluj Branch of the National Romanian
Archives, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
National Theatre Expenditure, 1821. Fonds of Hungarian Theatre from Cluj, No. 313,
Cluj Branch of the National Romanian Archives, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Petrichevich Horváth, Dániel. Introduction to Zrinyi, vitézi szomoru játék öt
felvonásban, by Theodor Körner [The Tragedy of Zrinyi in Five Acts]. Translated by
Dániel Petrichevich Horváth. Kolozsvár: Ref. Koll. betűi, 1819.
Petrichevich Horváth, Dániel. “Elő Szó”[Prologue]. In Könyves Máté, Játékszíni koszorú
[Stage Wreath by Máté Könyves], edited by Eszter György,109–110. Budapest:
Magyar Színházi Intézet, n.d.
Records and Correnspondences of the Musical Association from Kolozsvár (Cluj),
1821. Fonds of Music Conservatoire, Cluj, No. 1188. Cluj Branch of the
National Romanian Archives, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

42
 THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

Sándor Imre. A széplaki Petrichevich-Horváth család [The Petrichevich-Horváth family de

Széplak]. Kolozsvár: Gámán János Press, 1908.
Sófalvi, Emese. “Zeneoktatás a kolozsvári Muzsikai Conservatoriumban 1819-1869
között.” PhD thesis, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2016.
–––. “Szolgáltatott a szintársulatoknak mindenféle segélyt, hogy operát tarthassanak...
(Adatok a kolozsvári Nemzeti Színház és a helyi Muzsikai Conservatorium
együttműködésének történetéhez. 1821-1849) [On the History of the Cooperation
between the National Thratre of Kolozsvár and the Local Conservatory of Music]” In
Képes beszéd. Színház- és filmművészeti tanulmányok 2, edited by Emese Egyed,
60-79. Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület, 2014.
–––. “Az intézményes zeneoktatás kezdetei Kolozsváron [The Begennings of the
Institutionalised Music Education in Kolozsvár].” In A VII. Nemzetközi
Hungarológia Kongresszus Zenetudományi Szekciójának előadásai, edited by István
Angi and Csilla Csákány, 166-185. Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület,
2013,
Szász Béla. ”Színházi jubilaeum [The Theatre Jubilee].” Kelet (Kolozsvár/Cluj). Apr.
4, 1871.
Szinnyei, József. Magyar írók élete és munkái (1-14 vols). Budapest: Hornyánszky,
1891–1914.
[Link]
Tőkés, Orsolya. “A kolozsvári Farkas utcai színház 1865. évi átépítése mint színháztörténeti
esemény [The Renovation in 1865 of the Theatre from Farkas Street in Cluj as a
Theatre-Historical event]”. In Képes beszéd. Színház és filmművészeti tanulmányok (2),
edited by Emese Egyed, 90-99. Kolozsvár: Erdélyi Múzeum/Egyesület, 2014.

43
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Appendix

Fig. 1: The Hungarian National Theatre in Cluj (1821-1906)

Fig. 2: The interior of the National Theatre of Cluj

(The photo was taken just before its demolition.)

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THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

Fig. 3: The playbill of the Zrinyi tragedy, 11 March 1821

(By permission of the Theatre History Collection of the
Hungarian National Széchényi Library, Budapest)

45
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Fig. 4: The playbill of the preliminary celebration organised by the

professional acting company on 11 March 1871

46
THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

Fig. 5: The playbill of the festive program on 1 April 1871

47
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Fig. 6: The playbill of the festive program on 2 April 1871

48
THEATRE INAUGURATION CEREMONY AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

Fig. 7: The playbill of the festive performance on 11 November 1892

49
 KATALIN ÁGNES BARTHA

Fig. 8: The tableau vivant of Zrínyi’s Oath after the photo taken by Dunky fivérek
[Dunky brothers] (11 November 1892).
On the center baron Béla Szentkereszthy as Zrínyi

Fig. 9: The tableau vivant of the Sortie of Zrínyi after the photo taken
by Dunky fivérek [Dunky brothers] (11 November 1892)

Katalin Ágnes Bartha is a postdoctoral fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

50
STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 51 - 68
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.03

Romanian Theatre Criticism during the Stalinist Era.

Construction and Deconstruction of the Critical Discourse

ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU1

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to capture the way theatre criticism
changed once the communist regime was finally established in Romania.
The focus is on the years of Stalinist reign, as they might be considered the
most oppresive, especially in the cultural domain. The article aims, on one
hand, to draw a historical context in which the change occured, while, on the
other, it analyzes the various ways Socialist Realism affected critical thinking,
substituting aesthetics for ideology in drama reviews and forcing critics to
concentrate almost obsessively on the dramaturgy, in the detriment of the
performance itself.

Keywords: Stalinism, Socialist Realism, criticism, textocentrism, ideology,

aesthetics

Suppression and substitution of the critical act

After King Michael abdicated and the communist regime was instated
officially in Romania, the responsibilities of artists and art critics significantly
drifted away from aestheticism and, closely following the Soviet model,
embraced the field of politics and ideological militantism. This historical
reality has become axiomatic; the years of the so-called “integral Stalinism”
produced an impressive amount of literary and aesthetic rejects from which,
later, the authors themselves tried to take a distance; some of them managed
to do so elegantly in a new political and cultural environment, others failed
in their attempt to penetrate the protective wall of collective memory.2

1. Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

[Link]@[Link]. Paper translated from Romanian by Adriana Fekete.
2. v. Angelo Mitchievici and Ioan Stanomir, Comunism inc. Istorii despre o lume care a fost (Bucharest,
Humanitas: 2017), 15-34.
 ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU

The tasks of theorists in almost all humanistic domains, though not

necessarily simple (as we will see later), were repeatedly defined with clarity
by Andrei Jdanov and the Jdanovist spokespeople – among whom the famous
Leonte Răutu still ranks as an emblematic figure for the Romanian censorship.
To a neutral 21st century observer, the constraints imposed on the intellectuals
and the creators of the time may seem simultaneous appalling and hilarious
because of their restrictive, caricaturistic character.
According to Jdanov’s draconian precepts, artistic creation was supposed
to incorporate a series of qualities (downright perverse in their illusive simplicity)
in order to meet the requirements of socialist realism: to illustrate the struggle of
the working and/or oppressed classes against their oppressors; to be founded
on socialist values; to fight “obscurantism”, “mysticism”, and “superstition”;
to depict heroes embarked upon building a new existence and so on. However,
it was equally important that the lives of the heroic and obviously victorious
protagonists be depicted with veracity, not only as an “objective reality” but
also in its “revolutionary development”. 3 In passing, we can note that the last
specification ably/skilfully reversed the argument for verisimilitude and
veracity, acting on the conscience of the target audience especially by means
of the subtext. Thus, the actual, mundane reality lost its relevance and was
replaced by a different, more convenient and carefully processed/altered reality.
In the Romanian space, Leonte Răutu’s diatribes targeted at certain socialist
fads such as “aestheticism”, “formalism”, “cosmopolitism”, “comparativism”,
“apoliticism” and so on4 reinforced/intensified the message of the Soviet
ideologists against aesthetic pluralism which was seen as malign bourgeois
inheritance. Seemingly, the recipe for artistic success was available to
whoever was willing to accept moral compromise and the gradual inevitable
uniformization of cultural products after 30 December 1947.
Consequently, we should not be surprised that the older and younger
intellectuals in the USSR and its satellite states, in their ingenuity and
disorientation, understood that they were expected to idealize everything,
down to the very last consequence of the socialist existence (this being the

3. See Andrei Jdanov’s speech at the 1934 Congress of Soviet Writers, available at
[Link]
4. See Leonte Răutu’s speech at the November 29th 1948 meeting with writers, artists and
journalists and also “Împotriva cosmopolitismului și obiectivismului burghez în științele
sociale”, both texts reproduced in Vladimir Tismăneanu and Cristian Vasile, Perfectul Acrobat.
Leonte Răutu, măștile răului (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2008).

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 ROMANIAN THEATRE CRITICISM DURING THE STALINIST ERA

source of the so-called conflict between “good and better”). However, this
well-meaning panegyric/eulogistic intention proved itself insufficient, at
least in the field of drama where a more pronounced Manichaeism was
recommended, so that the audience should not be overwhelmed by too
much good and forget about the existence of various enemies of communist
aspirations.
In this respect, we think worth mentioning an episode in 1952, relevant to
understanding how socialist realism got stuck/was trapped in a plethora of
norms which, today, seem ridiculous. On the occasion of an ample article
initially published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda and made available to
the Romanian public by its publication in Contemporanul, playwrights and
critics were authoritatively reprimanded for the wrong understanding and
application of the official aesthetic direction5 (the contemporary reader would
rightfully tend to identify a certain normative intransigence beyond the
seemingly benign reproof).
The title, “Let us put an end to the falling behind of our drama”, is as
explicit as possible given the spirit of the age. Evidently, the aim of the author,
unmentioned, was to make an inventory of the shortcomings of the Soviet
dramatic production. Mercilessly, he pointed the finger at playwrights and
critics equally, particularly reproaching them for “not having correctly
understood certain theoretical and practical aspects of socialist realism and,
above all, the problem of conflict as the foundation for the dramatic work”6.
Actually, the text was trying to sanction the autoprotective tendency of the
theatre people against taking risks that could discredit them later on.
For example, the alleged flaw of playwrights was that they “did not
found their work on deep, real conflict”, inspired by the mundane existence
of the Soviet citizen, whereas the flaw of the critics was that through their
writings they encouraged the depiction of an idealized reality. Hence, it was
believed that the class struggle was not over and that there still existed
numberless negative aspects in the young socialist world that writers had the
duty to address in their works, while the role of the chroniclers/journalists
was to encourage uninterruptedly the production of adequate works.

5. “Să lichidăm rămânerea în urmă a dramaturgiei,” Contemporanul, April 11 1952, first published
in Pravda, April 7 1952.
6. Ibid.

53
 ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU

Consequently, the unknown author was accusing the spreading of the

“vulgar/trivial theory of conflict extinction” or the reduction of conflicts to
the sterile struggle between “good and better”7. Such an article discloses,
from a contemporary viewpoint, the inability of the Soviet world intellectuals to
escape to a safe and satisfactory formula which could provide professional
survival. They were denied even this tiny subterfuge (the hyperbolic flattery
of the regime) which, normally, should have pleased the authorities. Instead,
the glorification of the perfection of the socialist system required, in most
cases, a negative counterpoint: condemnation of the class enemies or, in their
absence, of the old regimes, along with all the principles (actual or imaginary)
that lay at their foundation.
However, as we will see further, Manichaeism and the tendency towards
idealization coexisted successfully in Romania, even though the aesthetic
idiosyncracies of the dramatic productions had been diminished down to the
status of dispensable accessory. From this point of view, it is worth noting
the autochthonous reactions to such Soviet pleas (or indictments) as the one
mentioned above.
Thus, in the same year, in issue 298 of Contemporanul, Lucia Demetrius8
published an analysis entitled “Unele probleme ale creației noastre dramatice
(Some Issues of Our Dramatic Creation)”, similar (and in response) to the
one in the Soviet newspaper. In it, playwrights such as Aurel Baranga9 and
M. Davidoglu10 were scolded for small professional failures. The former
was reproached for the fact that in his play “Recolta de aur (The Golden Crop)”
he did not show a deep understanding of “the people and their problems”
when imagining an apolitical hero (head of an agricultural production
cooperative), which was, surely, unthinkable in real life. The latter, despite
depicting a “strong” dramatic conflict, was unable to elaborate on it, thus
drifting towards formalism (in an early version of the play “Cetatea de foc
(The Fortress of Fire)”, later improved in reaction to the bad reviews that
appeared in Scînteia).11

7. Ibid.
8. Lucia Demetrius (1910-1992) was a Romanian writer, poet and playwright. Between 1949
and 1965 her plays abode by the rules of socialist realism.
9. Aurel Baranga (1913-1979) was a Romanian poet and playwright, author of “Zdrobite
cătușe”, the anthem of Romanian People’s Republic, and of numerous socialist realist plays.
10. Mihail Davidoglu (1910-1987) was a Romanian socialist playwright.
11. Lucia Demetrius, “Unele probleme ale creației noastre dramatice,” Contemporanul, June
20 1952.

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 ROMANIAN THEATRE CRITICISM DURING THE STALINIST ERA

In a later issue, P. Țugui and S. Damian were to make a similar contribution

(this time in reaction to the Plenary Session of the Writers’ Union), “Despre
unele probleme ale dramaturgiei noastre (On Some Problems of Our Drama)”,
in which they insistently criticized the “schematism” of some plays, providing
complex explanation for the roots of the phenomenon:

Trying to conceal schematism, the lack of spiritual substance of certain

characters, some playwrights resort to sterile, artificial procedures,
taken from the arsenal of decadent bourgeois literature. Schematism
and the fake individuality of the characters point to the fact that these
playwrights do not sufficiently cherish the beauty and the dramatism
of life, confining themselves to “tourist” documentation/research,
to mere visits to reality. […] Socialist realism means the manifold/
multilateral representation of the truth of life, of the spiritual richness
of the new people; it requires the firm control of schematism, of
lifeless clichés that kill real art.12,13

Further on, a short comment regarding the responsibilities of the

critics catches our attention:

Our theatre criticism should take a militant stand on affirming a

just point of view when evaluating original drama; it should be
more effective in popularizing the successes of our drama, offering
high quality ideological and artistic guidance.14,15

12. P. Țugui and S. Damian, “Despre unele probleme ale dramaturgiei noastre,” Contemporanul,
September 12 1952.
13. ”Încercând să acopere schematismul, lipsa de conținut sufletesc a unor personagii, unii
autori dramatici apelează la procedee sterile, artificiale, împrumutate din arsenalul literaturii
burgheze decadente. Schematismul și falsa individualitate a personagiilor arată că acești
autori dramatici nu prețuiesc îndeajuns frumusețea, dramatismul vieții, rezumându-se la
documentări „turistice”, la vizite prin realitate. [...] Realismul socialist înseamnă reprezentarea
artistică multilaterală a adevărului vieții, a bogăției spirituale a oamenilor noi, impune
combaterea fermă a schematismului, a clișeelor fără viață, care ucid arta adevărată.”
14. P. Țugui and S. Damian, “Despre unele probleme”.
15. ”Critica noastră teatrală ar trebui să manifeste o poziție militantă pentru afirmarea
punctului de vedere just în aprecierea dramaturgiei originale, să fie mai operativă în
popularizarea succeselor dramaturgiei noastre, dând o îndrumare la un nivel mai înalt
ideologic și artistic.”

55
 ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU

We can note how this last recommendation suffers from convenient

ambiguity: the authors of the text fulfilled their duty of pointing to a systemic
evil; they offered a solution consistent with the problem and concluded their
approach with the awareness that they had offered a correct cure, irrespective
of the angle from which one might consider the issue. It seems that the tasks of
the critics were extremely simple: sanctioning any deviation from the right road,
encouraging appropriate writings, and, most importantly, taking a “militant
stand”. In reality, their task was burdened on the one hand by the fact that
socialist realism, subject to excessive rigour, was unable to deliver original/
genuine products since it was based on a rather limited recipe collection; on the
other hand, it was made difficult by the critics’ own disorientation (especially
in the case of those with serious professional training) in relation to the new
identity of the prototypical intellectual.
Consequently, convergent with the official discourse established by the
Soviet publications, the Romanian authors started to question the autochthonous
theatrical manifestations and, even though they could not actually reproach
the lack (or insufficiency) of Manichaeistic approach, their criticism was directed
towards similar shortcomings: superficial, insufficiently elaborate conflicts;
the drift towards “formalism”, and so on. Such remarks were often circulated in
the mass media of the time and they were just slightly (re)formulated from
one text to another. Actually, given their simplicity, they could be considered
universally valid as all criticism could be reduced to stating whether the
authors were successful or unsuccessful in creating characters and conflicts
that could support and illustrate the socialist cause/ideal.
In conclusion, we can say that even in the most glorious years of
Stalinism, socialist realism was undergoing an insoluble aesthetic crisis,
triggered by its purely ideological genesis and by the fact that its existence
was prolonged artificially, thus disturbing its life cycle. In Romania, where
this trend had been imposed over night, the adjustment of the evaluative
discourse to the newly created conditions for creation happened in a brutal
and traumatic manner, hence the difficulty that theorists had in acquiring
the appropriate critical tools, which resulted in an ever-deeper immersion
in an ideology simplified by an ad infinitum reproduction of its principles.

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Survival techniques for the cultural journalist

Among the standpoints that were rapidly taken over from Soviet
publications (more precisely from Sovietscoe Iscusstvo) by Contemporanul
there was an article directly aimed at theatre criticism, a virulent reproach
to journalists – whose mission to support the proliferation of socialist realism
seemed to have failed and turned into an arid simulacrum.16 Once again,
the accused were Russian intellectuals, even though the accusations could have
easily taken on a universal character. Surprisingly, in this particular instance
the issue was the separation of aestheticism and ideology when analyzing
the socialist-realistic performances.
V. Vlasov was accusing the Soviet theatre theorists of “narrow
empiricism”, of connivance with the playwrights, thus becoming accomplices
to the “serious mistakes” made by the playwrights and bearing responsibility
for spreading “pernicious conceptions”, among which the hesitant attitude
towards the “depiction of negative characters”. However, the main imputation
referred to the lack of balance between the interest shown in the content
of cultural products and the interest in the analysis of artistic form. As the
author put it, “the lack of exigence towards the artistic quality of the play,
towards the embodiment of its ideological content in perfect artistic
images”.
Instead of being normative and inquisitive, “sanctioning shallowness”
and appreciating the value of the works of art in terms of unity of content and
form, theatre criticism would rather try to evade, taking refuge in ideological
sentences and just stating the adequacy or inadequacy of the plays in relation to
the official politics. The reasons for such deviation are numerous; however,
we can identity some of them focusing on the Romanian context, with all
its peculiarities, such as the obsession with the dramatic support of the
performance and the seeming incapacity of evaluating staging beyond the
success/failure in the theatrical materialization of the text.
As Angelo Mitchievici notes, “Totalitarian regimes exhibit literature-
centred cultures where the role of the writer is oversized because it accumulates
the prerogatives of the other humanist sciences”. 17 However, the theatre critic
does not work with a finite, constant and one-layered product that can be

16. Andrei Jdanov, “Însemnări cu privire la critica teatrală (Notes concerning theatre criticism)”,
Contemporanul, July 11 1952. Reprinted from Sovietscoe Iscusstvo, no.47c
17. Mitchievici and Stanomir, Comunism inc., 27.

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 ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU

evaluated according to such blatantly reductionist principles. On the contrary,

he is at greater risk to “be wrong” since his sentences/verdicts refer to a lot
of aspects: not just the “correctness” of the text, but also that of staging,
interpretation and of other more subtle and insidious elements. Thus, in the
context of troubled and radical changes brought about by the traumatic
establishment of Stalinism in Romania, the alteration of the theatre critic’s
identity was inevitable.
Even though the Romanian culture has always tended to be text-centred,
theatre critics started, even before 1947, to pay increasing attention to the
elements typical of the performing arts. However, after the imposition of
socialist realism, maybe out of fear for their own safety or maybe out of
convenience (especially because some of them were new to the field), their
interest in the new literature went hand in hand with subjecting the
performing elements to the dramatic ones. Thus, a genuine obsession with
fidelity to text appeared along with a quasi-general paranoia in relation to
the creative liberties that the numerous actors involved in the production of
a performance could afford to take.
More often than not, the plays had to pass through numerous filters
before their staging was approved; consequently, a purely descriptive review
containing just a few fanciful remarks added to the abstract seemed to be a
safer option than a thorough technical analysis of the dramatic components
that could be criticized for its “aestheticism” or accused of “formalism”.
Consequently, in most cases, three out of four columns were dedicated to
the play and the author, with detailed moral analysis of the protagonists.
Frequently, stage management was mentioned just in passing and mainly
referred to the selection of the actors who had the duty to intensify as much
as possible the qualities of the characters they played. Let us consider the
following example:

Doctor Murgu, too, is a complex character, considered from various

angles, a man with a rich spiritual life. Not without hesitation, he
manages to overcome confinement to his professional shell, his
indifference to political involvement and realizes that the fight for
the health of the people cannot be fought outside the fight against
the enemies of the people. His struggle with himself, his love of the
working people, his increasing combativeness in relation to the class
enemies, his moral purity evidenced by his true and strong love for

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 ROMANIAN THEATRE CRITICISM DURING THE STALINIST ERA

teacher Marta, his high professional scrupulousness – all these

characteristic traits of doctor Murgu make the hero embody the
best features of the intellectuals who are now resolutely breaking with
the evil influence of the bourgeois school that had taught them. 18,19

Even without having knowledge of the dramatic text, we can infer the
reforming effort made by the character in order to break with the old social
order entirely. Additionally, this short fragment portrays the typical hero of
socialist realism, namely a person who breaks with her/his own past to the
point where s/he loathes the bourgeoisie and dedicates her/his efforts to
the working class. The author of the review insists on a series of attributes of the
character, essential to its integration in the pantheon of new dramatic heroes:
devotion to the proletariat, rejection of the bourgeois order, involvement in the
socialist struggle, etc. And, maybe the most important aspect, the author
underlines the doctor’s transition from apolitism to active involvement in
the struggle against the enemies of the people. The evolution of the character is
well structured and the review records the most significant aspects of the
character’s personal, professional and social route. In regard to acting, things
are more complicated:

In the role of doctor Murgu, Septimiu Sever achieved a beautiful

performance, embodying a complex and bright character. With simple
yet valuable means, the actor brought out in relief the inner struggle
of the character, and his growth; he highlighted, without ostentation
yet convincingly, the positive traits of the hero, as well as his positive
potential, not disregarding the presentation of the negative features
of the character. Septimiu Sever will perfect his performance in “People

18. Aurel Baranga, “Lucia Demetrius: ‘Oameni de azi’,” Contemporanul, October 3 1952.
19. ”Doctorul Murgu este deasemenea un caracter bogat surprins din unghiuri diverse, om cu o
viață sufletească complexă. Nu fără șovăieli, el izbutește să înfrângă închistarea în carapacea
profesiunii sale, indiferența față de politică și să se convingă că lupta pentru sănătatea poporului
nu se poate duce în afara luptei împotriva dușmanilor acestuia. Lupta pe care o duce din
acest punct de vedere cu sine însuși, dragostea lui pentru oamenii muncii, combativitatea
crescândă de care dă dovadă față de dușmanul de clasă, puritatea lui morală vădită în iubirea
sinceră și puternică pentru învățătoarea Marta, înalta sa conștiinciozitate profesională − toate
aceste trăsături caracteristice pentru doctorul Murgu, fac ca eroul să întruchipeze cele mai
bune însușiri ale intelectualilor care se desprind azi cu hotărâre de sub influența nefastă a
școlii burgheze în care au învățat.”

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 ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU

of Today” if he will get rid of certain unnatural or gratuitous gestures,

of certain patterns that he tends to follow and which prevent the actor
from fully emphasizing the individual character of doctor Murgu.20,21

The particularities of acting are conveyed in rather vague terms, at

least in comparison with the obvious concreteness of the description of the
literary character’s qualities. The strength of the actor resides in the fact that
he was able “to bring out in relief” the doctor’s character, in other words in
the fact that he did not significantly deviate from the course defined by the
author and did not feel at liberty to make personal contributions to the
character’s profile. The actor presented both the positive and the negative
traits of the character – an ambiguous remark which does not say anything,
in fact, about the particularities of acting. A lot more precisely expressed is
the recommendation that Septimiu Sever get rid of his professional tics, of
certain “gratuitous gestures” which affect the accuracy of the representation.
We could interpret this indication as honest criticism of the tendency shown
by some actors for automatism when working on diverse roles; however,
we also feel entitled to suspect, given the circumstances, that the actor allowed
himself a kind of “poetic licence” whose impromptu character disturbed the
reviewer.
In spite of all this, in the latter ‘40s, when the new political context
still appeared dim/vague and indefinite, occasional exceptions occurred
when criticism was not completely devoid of critical substance. However,
even in these rare cases the texts would inevitably resort to the directives of
the Party, as if to a compulsory footnote, keeping at the same time a subtle
aesthetic distance. Such is the case of an article on a musical published in
1949, signed by a very young Valentin Silvestru:

20. Aurel Baranga, “Lucia Demetrius”

21. ”În rolul doctorului Murgu, Septimiu Sever a izbutit o frumoasă creație, înfățișând un
caracter complex și luminos. Actorul a știut să scoată în evidență cu mijloace simple dar cu
atât mai prețioase, frământările personagiului, procesul lui de creștere, să sublinieze fără
ostentație și deci cu atât mai convingător, laturile pozitive ale omului întruchipat, ceeace este
bun în el și are șansă să se desvolte, după cum nu a neglijat nici prezentarea laturilor
negative ale personagiului. Septimiu Sever își va desăvârși creația sa din „Oameni de azi”
dacă va ști să renunțe la unele gesturi nefirești sau gratuite, la anumite șabloane pe care
actorul le folosește și care îl împiedică să scoată pe deplin în relief specificul individual al
doctorului Murgu.”

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 ROMANIAN THEATRE CRITICISM DURING THE STALINIST ERA

This time, the musical has a clear plot which is consistently seen
through to the end and almost everything that goes on on the stage
is centred around it. The acts are well related to one another and
thus increase the interest of the audience as the plot unfolds. 22,23

This time, the reviewer seems to have overcome his evaluative

shyness and dared to focus, analytically, on certain aspects relevant to the
performing nature of the show. Inevitably, the political aspect is approached
again immediately, conscientiously, if concisely:

This is the more important as it does not refer to some ordinary

action. “The step forward” mainly refers to the fact that the plot
illustrates an event in a factory. Based on this dramatic plot, the
authors raise certain interesting topical political issues, such as the
nation problem, validly conveyed with artistry and in the spirit of
the important newly issued resolution of the Political Office of the
Central Committee of the Romanian Workers’ Party. 24,25

After this obligatory remark, the author resumes the proper analysis,
he, too, insisting on the fidelity to text issue, even though in this particular case
the arguments seem more complex and better related to stage management:

Furthermore, it is worth noting that, even though the plot is well

defined, unjustified/superfluous scenes also appear, such as “Summer
Goes, Autumn Comes”, scenes that seem to have a loose connection
to the rest of the plot. This appears to be an old bad habit which

22. Valentin Silvestru, “O revistă nouă și un pas înainte, sau spectacolul ‘Stroe știe și le
spune’ de la Teatrul Savoy (A new revue and a step forward, or the show “Stroe knows
and tells” from Savoy Theatre),” Flacăra, January 9 1949.
23. “De data aceasta, revista are o acțiune lămurită, urmărită consecvent până la sfârșit, mai
tot ceea ce se petrece în perimetrul scenic axându-se pe subiectul propus. Tablourile
legându-se unele de altele fac să crească interesul spectatorului pe măsură ce se desfășoară
acțiunea.”
24. Valentin Silvestru, “O revistă nouă”.
25. “Lucrul e cu atât mai important, cu cât nu e vorba de o acțiune oarecare. „Pasul înainte”
se referă în special la faptul că acțiunea e reprezentată de o întâmplare dintr-o fabrică. Pe
această bază de intrigă dramatică, autorii pun o sumă de probleme politice interesante și
la ordinea zilei, cum ar fi de pildă chestiunea națională, expusă artisticește valabil și în
spiritul acelui important document apărut de curând, care este rezoluția Biroului Politic al
Comitetului Central al P.M.R.”

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the management of the show were unable to get rid of: creating
roles, scenes, tableaux not just for the sake of a certain meaning,
but also for certain persons who should be employed at any cost; it
is desirable that in the future the people who decide to embark upon
such projects should focus primarily on the text […] Responsible
for such weaknesses is also N. Stroe – in his capacity as a director.
Stage management should cooperate with the authors in order to
clarify the issues of the show […]26,27

The review continues by presenting some aspects regarding the

nature of the performing arts, in particular of the theatrical performance:

Although acting vivaciously, Didi Ionescu did not show anything

more than a certain manner of presentation which he probably thinks
original; the same thing happened to other old actresses of the musical
ensemble who cannot be said to lack talent. Still, remaining the
prisoner of a certain manner of acting is not desirable […] The show
enjoyed the scenery signed by Liviu Ciulley and this was one of the
rare occasions when we could enjoy a musical adequately served
by well structured, well designed and suitably colourful scenery.
Elly Roman’s music, even though not very present, showed some
new accents for new situations in a musical. 28,29

26. Valentin Silvestru, “O revistă nouă”.

27. “E de observat deasemeni că deși există o acțiune precizată, apar și scene nejustificate cum
ar fi de pildă „Trece vara, trece toamna”, fără nicio angrenare în complexul general de fapte.
Se distinge aci un obiceiu mai vechi, pe care probabil că nici conducerea acestui spectacol n-
a reușit să-l depășească: acela de a creia roluri, scene, tablouri, nu numai pentru un anume
sens, ci și pentru persoane, care trebuesc întrebuințate cu orice preț și ar fi de dorit ca pe
viitor, cei ce vor mai porni la o asemenea treabă să își pună în mod deosebit înainte
problemele textului [...] De astfel de slăbiciuni răspunde desigur și N. Stroe − în calitate de
regisor. Direcția de scenă trebuie să colaboreze cu autorii la limpezirea spectacolului [...].”
28. Valentin Silvestru, “O revistă nouă”.
29. “Deși jucând cu nerv, Didi Ionescu n-a adus nimic peste o manieră de prezentare pe care
și-o socoate originală și aceasta s-a întâmplat și cu alte vechi actrițe ale ansamblului de
revistă, nu lipsite dealtfel de calități. Dar rămânerea într-o anumită manieră de joc nu e
recomandabilă [...] Spectacolul s-a desfășurat în decorul lui Liviu Ciulley și e una din
rarele împrejurări când am avut posibilitatea să vedem un spectacol de revistă servit
adecvat de decoruri bine construite, gândite just, colorate după necesitățile reale ale
acțiunii. Mai redusă cantitativ, muzica lui Elly Roman a găsit și unele accente noi pentru
situații noi într-un spectacol de revistă.”

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Interesting enough, at the bottom of the same page, enclosed/surrounded

by Silvestru’s review, we can find an article by scenographer M. Rubingher
on the adaptation of scenography to the specificity of the theatrical performance
in which, among short philippics against the bourgeois who had manipulated
and deformed history, we can also find decent remarks, such as: “[…] the
scenic painter can no longer be a mere illustrator without personality […]”; “[…]
he needs to become an active collaborator with the author and the director in
defining the graphical space which should be closely linked to the structure of
the performance […]”; “[…] the scenic painter needs to have good knowledge
of the milieu of the age when the plot unfolds […]”30 and so on.
Consequently, the interest in the structure of the theatrical performance,
in the technical aspects that define the specificity of the theatrical art, and in
the aesthetic particularities of each staging still existed, if rather latent; it
became more and more feeble and it almost disappeared in 1953 when the
political context changed on Stalin’s death (although the Romanian echoes were
even then rather weak, especially in the cultural sector). Most of the reviews in
the Stalinist age closely followed the compatibility of the text with the socialist
requirements and then the compatibility of the performance with the text.
For example, in 1950, in Scânteia, a newspaper which was supposed to set
the ideological tone for the Romanian space, an ample review appeared of the
Army Theatre’s production “The Last Message”. The article was three columns
long and the only remark related to the performance as such was the following:
The staging of the play “The Last Message” is a process that the
Army Theatre can be proud of. Comrade Perahim’s scenery and
comrade M. Raicu’s stage management contributed to increasing
the artistic value of the performance. Substantial merit in staging
the play goes to comrade Al. Finți, director of the Army Theatre, who
played an active role in setting up and refining the performance. 31,32
Frequently, the staging of new texts was received with a solemnity that
seems hilarious today; it looked as if the critical approach were, in its essence, of
a parodical nature. Only by becoming familiar with the political context of the

30. M. Rubingher, “Aportul plastic în spectacol (The fine arts in theatre),” Flacăra, January 9 1949.
31. Zamfir Brumaru, “Ultimul mesagiu (Last message),” Scânteia, May 7 1950.
32. “Montarea piesei „Ultimul mesaj” este un proces care face cinste Teatrului Armatei. Decorurile
tov. Perahim și direcția de scenă a tov. M. Raicu au contribuit la ridicarea valorii artistice a
spectacolului. Un mare merit în montarea piesei îl are tov. Al. Finți, directorul Teatrului Armatei,
care a avut un rol activ în elaborarea și punerea la punct a spectacolului.”

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age can today’s reader understand the axiological blockage which the journalists
of the early ‘50s had to face. Confronted with a monstruous mechanism
producing works that lacked originality, it is not surprising that they
would cling on to certain commonplaces, previously tested and approved.
In general, theatrical production was criticized for the shallowness of the
plot or of the characters; the insufficiently harsh exposure of the people’s
enemies; the use of humour in delineating the negative characters which
could result in the audience’s slight empathy for them; the liberty that the stage
managers sometimes took in relation to the text, etc. Obsessively denounced
were caricature, grotesque humour, reality schematization and, certainly,
the lack of plot unity. Furthermore, any deviation from the aesthetics of
socialist realism was criticized. Mixing styles was forbidden whereas
simplicity and clarity enjoyed unanimous appreciation. Ultimately, the new
theatrical forms tried to attract a rather unrefined audience, with minimal
aesthetic experience. In addition, metaphors and symbols had an intolerable
allusive potential. The following examples illustrate this state of affairs:

The main issue of dramatization, namely the conflict, has been solved
here with mastery. However, the author did not succeed in presenting
the conflict with the same vigour throughout the plot. The unity of
the conflict is often disrupted by the attempt to present the multiple
aspects of reality as separate snapshots.33,34

Or, a fragment from an older text, dating back before 1948, which
criticizes the lack of aesthetic unity (showing the beginning of the obsession
with aesthetic and ideological purity):
Likewise, certain tendencies towards symbolism and vague
philosophical rambling, which appear awkward in folk clothing,
[…] deprive the play of simplicity. And besides the lyricism of the
dialogue and an imagistic and verbal excess, this blend between
the author’s voice and the voice of folklore gives rise to confusion.

33. Margareta Bărbuță, “Trei generații de luptători (Three generations of fighters),” Contemporanul,
May 15 1953.
34. “Problema de bază a dramatizării, aceea a conflictului, este rezolvată aici cu măiestrie.
Dar autoarea n-a reușit să prezinte în tot timpul acțiunii cu aceiași vigoare acest conflict.
Unitatea conflictului este adesea fărâmițată din pricina tendinței de a prezenta multiplele
aspecte ale realității în instantanee disparate.”

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[…] Mr Șahighian’s stage management showed a number of flaws,

foremostly a shortcoming that is, unfortunately, quite frequent in
our theatre: mixed theatrical styles. A generally realistic interpretation
is at times disrupted by expressionist moments […].35,36

Additionally, as we have already mentioned previously, the acting

performances were generally evaluated in direct relation to the features of
the character, according to the prescribed formula “X succeeded/failed in
highlighting…”

To a certain extent, Elvira Godeanu’s interpretation illustrated

the anxiety of the character but the development of the process was
not conveyed convincingly enough. […] The embassy counselor
was played by Ion Iancovescu whose interpretation was filled with
cynicism and rapacity. However, the complex nature of the character
was not sufficiently explored. The actor failed to highlight the fact
that the American diplomat is the exponent of monopolist trusts
and unscrupulously pursues their goals. […] N. Băltățeanu found
the right ways to give dramatic expression to the manifold nature
of the character and managed to bring out to relief the accents of
human sincerity from beyond its cynicism and decrepitude.37,38

35. Silvian Iosifescu, “Un debut: ‘Omul din Cetal’ dramă în 3 acte (10 tablouri) de Mihail
Davidoglu,” Contemporanul, 1946.
36. “Deasemeni anumite tendințe spre simbol și spre filosofarea vagă, ce par stingherite în
haina folkloristică pe care o îmbracă [...] răpesc piesei din simplitate. Și în afară de liricizarea
dialogului și de un exces imagistic și verbal, acest amestec între glasul autorului și glasurile
folclorului naște confuzii. [...] Direcției de scenă a d-lui Șahighian i se pot imputa mai
multe lucruri și în primul rând o lipsă, din păcate frecventă în teatrul nostru: amestecuri de
stiluri. O interpretare în general realistă este brăzdată pe alocuri de momente expresioniste
[...].”
37. Simion Alterescu, “’Casa cu storurile trase’ de frații Tur,” Contemporanul, January 19 1951.
38. “În interpretarea Elvirei Godeanu a existat într-o măsură oarecare, frământarea care
caracterizează personagiul, dar desvoltarea acestui proces nu a fost redată cu destulă forță
de convingere. [...] Consilierul ambasadei este interpretat de Ion Iancovescu, care i-a dat o
interpretare plină de cinism și rapacitate. Dar caracterul complex al acestui personagiu nu
a fost destul adâncit. Astfel interpretul nu a reușit să scoată în relief cum tipul diplomatului
american este exponentul trusturilor monopoliste și urmărește fără scrupule înfăptuirea
scopurilor acestora. [...] N. Băltățeanu a găsit forme juste de expresie scenică pentru
multilateralitatea personagiului, reușind să scoată la suprafață, de sub cinismul și decrepitudinea
acestuia, accentele de umană sinceritate.”

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The educational role of the theatre was frequently underlined and the
idea arose that entertainment with no propagandistic deep meaning was
nothing else than a prolongation of the bourgeois values which, certainly,
needed to be eradicated. Humour, in particular, required careful control:

Our audience enjoys laughing, certainly, but their laughs need to be

a sharp weapon aimed at the representatives of the oppressing class,
at the remains of the past, and not a narcotic meant to lull class
vigilance as was the case with the bourgeois theatre. If our actors fail
to consolidate sufficiently the educational and political role that they
have to play in our popular democratic regime, it is possible that
some of them return to the ways of the bourgeois theatre. 39,40

The above fragment comes from an inquiry undertaken by Margareta

Bărbuță on behalf of Contemporanul to identify those performances of the
1949-1950 theatrical season which, since the premiere date, had somehow
altered their content. The document is extremely relevant to understanding
the aesthetic and extra-aesthetic requirements of the theatre critics. The
author’s main motivation is expressed in unequivocal terms:

The public who comes to watch a performance months after its

premiere has the same right to know the truth in the same theatrical
expression as the public who watched the performance on the first
nights. The actors have no right to distort the content of the play or
the characters they play for the sake of a laugh. Self-importance
is an evil bequeathed by the bourgeois theatre […]41,42

39. Margareta Bărbuță, “Schimbarea la față a unor spectacole (The transfiguration of some
performances),” Contemporanul, March 17 1950.
40. “Publicului nostru îi place desigur să râdă, dar râsul său trebue să fie o armă ascuțită
împotriva reprezentanților clasei exploatatoare, împotriva rămășițelor trecutului, nu un
narcotic menit să-i adoarmă vigilența de clasă, așa cum fusese în teatrul burghez.
Neadâncirea suficientă a rolului educativ-politic pe care ei trebue să-l îndeplinească în
regimul nostru de democrație populară, are drept rezultat o revenire a unora dintre actorii
noștri la procedeele teatrului burghez.”
41. Margareta Bărbuță, “Schimbarea la față”.
42. “Publicul care vine să vadă un spectacol la câteva luni după premieră are același drept să
cunoască adevărul în imagini scenice cași publicul din primele seri. Actorii nu au dreptul
să denatureze conținutul piesei, al personagiilor interpretate, numai de dragul unui hohot
de râs. Vedetismul este o racilă pe care a lăsat-o teatrul burghez [...]”

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The sin of the actors and directors, implicitly, was that of having
inserted jokes in the performances, somehow distorting the ethics of the
dramatic texts. The objections were expressed in the following manner:

Marcel Anghelescu prolongs the scene in which he reads the article

in “The Voice of the National Patriot” and exaggerates the humoristic
effects by exhausting every word to such an extent that the article,
meant to expose the demagogy and fake patriotism of the bourgeois
press of the time, is left devoid of content; Niki Atanasiu (Chiriac)
spits on his hands and dusts Master Dumitrache’s coat, repeating
the gesture to satiation. Throughout the play there is a shrill affectation
of the characters’ gossipy nature, a waste of gestures that divert the
attention of the audience from the real meaning of the play.43,44

This, of course, is merely a sample of the censorial role critics had to

undertake in order to survive professionaly. Some of them played it brilliantly,
maybe even with an ounce of conviction. Interestingly enough, an extensive
dossier fallowed the above-mentioned article, with contributions from
personalities like Sică Alexandrescu, J. Cazaban, Al. Finți, Aurel Baranga,
Sorana Coroamă, Moni Ghelerter and so on, all of them actors, directors or
playwrights. The consensus seemed to be that the actors have the obligation to
do everything in their power in order to avoid improvising and, thus,
betraying the text.
Therefore, we might conclude that the first years of communism in
Romania were not only profoundly traumatic, but also game-changing
when it comes to the theatrical field. Critics and reviewers had to abide by
new rules, some of them so draconian that they managed to alter critical
thinking itself, with long-term repercussions in our culture.

43. Margareta Bărbuță, “Schimbarea la față”.

44. “Marcel Anghelescu prelungește scena lecturii articolului din „Vocea patriotului naționale”,
exagerând atât de mult efectele comice, trăgând de fiecare cuvânt, încât golește de conținut
acest articol, menit să desvăluie demagogia sforăitoare și falsul patriotism al presei
burgheze a timpului; Niki Atanasiu (Chiriac) scuipă în palme și scutură de praf surtucul
lui jupân Dumitrache, repetând gestul până la saturație. În toată piesa, o afectare stridentă
a mahalagismului personagiilor, o risipă de gesturi care au darul de a îndepărta atenția
publicului de la conținutul de idei al operei.”

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 ALEXANDRA EMMA PEDESTRU

References

Anonymous. “Să lichidăm rămânerea în urmă a dramaturgiei.” Contemporanul, April

11 1952.
Alterescu, Simion. “’Casa cu storurile trase’ de frații Tur.” Contemporanul, January
19 1951.
Baranga, Aurel. “Lucia Demetrius: ‘Oameni de azi’.” Contemporanul, October 3 1952.
Bărbuță, Margareta. “Schimbarea la față a unor spectacole.” Contemporanul, March
17 1950.
Bărbuță, Margareta. “Trei generații de luptători.” Contemporanul, May 15 1953.
Brumaru, Zamfir. “Ultimul mesagiu.” Scânteia, May 7 1950.
Demetrius, Lucia. “Unele probleme ale creației noastre dramatice.” Contemporanul,
June 20 1952.
Iosifescu, Silvian. “Un debut: ‘Omul din Cetal’ dramă în 3 acte (10 tablouri) de Mihail
Davidoglu.” Contemporanul, 1946.
Jdanov, Andrei. “Însemnări cu privire la critica teatrală.” Contemporanul, July 11 1952.
Mitchievici, Angelo and Ioan Stanomir. Comunism inc. Istorii despre o lume care a
fost. Bucharest, Humanitas: 2017.
Rubingher, M. “Aportul plastic în spectacol.” Flacăra, January 9 1949.
Silvestru, Valentin. “O revistă nouă și un pas înainte, sau spectacolul ‘Stroe știe și le
spune’ de la Teatrul Savoy.” Flacăra, January 9 1949.
Tismăneanu, Vladimir and Cristian Vasile. Perfectul Acrobat. Leonte Răutu,
măștile răului. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2008.
Țugui, P. and S. Damian. “Despre unele probleme ale dramaturgiei noastre.”
Contemporanul, September 12 1952.

Alexandra-Emma Pedestru is a PhD student at the Theatre and Film Doctoral School of
Babeș-Bolyai University, with a thesis about Romanian theatre criticism during the communist
regime. She has a master’s degree in Film and Performative Arts from the Theatre and
Television Faculty in Cluj, and in 2014 she graduated from Theatre Studies at the same
institution.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 69 - 86
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.04

A Theatre for the Workers, Protest as Performance, and the

Political Police as (Art) Historian. A Plea for the Rediscovering
of Interwar Peripheries

IULIA POPOVICI1

Abstract: The article argues the importance of a renewed approach of the

proletarian and Agit-prop theatre in interwar Romania, as well as forms of
political proto-performances, as sociological and political phenomena, more
than as aesthetical ones, based especially on the research of primary sources.
Due to the specific political context of the period and the harsh censorship,
these primary sources are mainly to be represented by the files of the political
police of the time, Siguranţa. Taken over by its communist successor, these files
were manipulated and reinterpreted according to occasional political needs: any
research of the original documents is an archaeological process dealing with
both the analyzed activity per se and the politicization of archives during the
1948-1989 period.

Keywords: proletarian theatre; Agit-prop; interwar Romania; political

performance; archives; Communist Party of Romania

For 50 years, proletarian and Agit-prop interwar theatre in Romania

didn’t leave any trace within the local tradition of this art. The impression
of many theatre professionals that Romania never had a practice of theatrical
events made by workers, for the workers and about the workers worth an
artistic and research interest is fueled by the limited number of articles and
books (all dating from before 1977) revisiting the so-called „tea parties”,
poetry reciting, amateur or semi-professional performances, etc., but also,
occasionally, respectable professional productions, which make the core of

1. Independent Researcher.
 IULIA POPOVICI

this practice2. The existing bibliography is not only associated with a period
of perceived artistic mediocrity and political indoctrination (the 1950s and the
early 1960s), which might make readers suspect that even the facts themselves
were invented, but it is also partially unreliable by itself because of historical
alterations. For instance, it is not believable that an illegal communist party
with around 1.000 members could have been responsible for all proletarian
theatre events – as it appears in Margareta Andreescu’s Proletarian Theatre
in Romania (1977), the only synthesis on the subject –, and it is a historical
fact that not all trade unions in Romania (the most constant producers of
workers’ theatre in the 1920s and 1930s) were associated with the communists
(a large part of them were connected to the socialists, the mortal enemies of
the communist parties in that period). In many situations, the past of the
proletarian and Agit-prop theatre was yet another field for the post-1945
regime to build a legitimacy, to erase parts of history in order to emphasize
its own position. And the moment when all these (few) publications appeared –
some, at the peak of socialist realism, others, during the national communism –
made politically undesirable, hence, absent, any reflection on the connections
with and influences of the Soviet amateur/Agit-prop/proletarian theatre of
the 1920s and 1930s.
The theatrical practice itself falls also prey to strong lack of cultural
interest for amateur and politically engaged art and to the official narrative
regarding the interwar period in general and the interwar performance art
especially3. The focus on the model of actors-run private companies, on the one
hand, and on the aesthetical phenomenon of the so-called „theatricalization”
(the self-affirmation of theatre as an art autonomous from literature or visual
arts and of the stage director as the actual author of the performance4) has left

2. Claudine Amiard-Chevrel, ed., Le Théâtre D’agit-Prop - Vol. 3 (Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme,

1977); Margareta Andreescu, Teatrul Proletar Din România [Proletarian Theatre in Romania]
(Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1977).
3. In the section of her book dedicated to the Romanian stage of the 1920s and 1930s, Miruna
Runcan only mentions the only official – and subsidized – repertory workers’s theatre,
Work and Joy, saying that the trade union support for such proletarian theatres, common
in US, the Soviet Union, and Western countries, was difficult to find in Romania. The
aesthetical contribution of the Work and Joy Theatre is considered as non-existent. See
Miruna Runcan, Teatralizarea Şi Reteatralizarea În România – 1920-1960 [Theatricalization and
Re-Theatricalization in Romania – 1920-1960], 2nd ed. (Bucharest: Editura Liternet, 2014), 22.
4. For more on this topic, see Miruna Runcan, Teatralizarea Şi Reteatralizarea În România –
1920-1960 [Theatricalization and Re-Theatricalization in Romania – 1920-1960], 2nd ed. (Bucharest:
Editura Liternet, 2014).

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

aside not only the struggles of the proletarian theatre or the more aesthetically
appealing yet equally underdeveloped Futurist performance5, but also, for
instance, the stronger vein of the interwar Expressionist theatre6. Not necessarily
by accident, a number of stage directors interested in Expressionism were
involved in left-wing movements, either as communist sympathizers, as
socialists or members of Jewish leftist organizations, and some of them, such
as Sandu Eliad or I. Ligeti, were also working in the proletarian theatre7.
Paradoxically, it is little known how much all these directions, mainstream
and underground, were actually interconnected at the time – with, for
instance, a future supporter of the extreme right wing (director and writer
Haig Acterian) writing in 1932 about the preeminence of directing and acting
over the written play (the essence of „theatricalization”), and giving Soviet
„revolutionary theatre” examples, in the first issue of a leftist review, which
had the name of a well-known Agit-prop, Bolshevik, mass theatre movement
(Sinyaya Bluza/Blue Blouse)8.
The situation of leftist and human rights public interventions with
both a political and a performative dimension (public actions that sometimes
were to be institutionalized decades after under the – umbrella – term of
performance art or political spectacle), which were, at first glance, marginal
in the politically controlled context of the 1920s and 1930s, is even more
dire in terms of knowledge about them. While the public actions – from the
mass spectacle of the burial of their leaders or „martyrs” to semi-religious
processions – of the far-right are well documented9 and recognized, including
in their performative side, the public performative presence of the left,
indeed, much less visible even at the time, is practically unknown. Which,
in the end, makes it less possible to understand the complex nature of the

5. See Ion Cazaban, “Futurismul ca Model Teatral [Futurism as Theatrical Model],” Studii Şi
Cercetări de Istoria Artei - Special issue “Futurism Today. One Hundred Years since the Futurist
Manifesto,” 2010.
6. See Ion Cazaban, Scena Românească Şi Expresionismul [The Romanian Stage and Expressionism]
(Bucharest: Fundaţia Culturală Camil Petrescu / Teatrul Azi, 2010).
7. See Sandu Eliad, “Despre Teatrul Militant. Oameni Şi Fapte Dintr-O Biografie Nescrisă a
Teatrului Nostru [On the Engaged Theatre. People and Facts from an Unwritten Biography of
Our Theatre],” Teatrul, March 1971.
8. See Haig Acterian, “Acterian, Haig (1932) „Teatrul Creator” [„Creative Theatre”],” Bluze
Albastre. Revistă de Literatură Proletară [Blue Blouses. Proletarian Literature Review], May 5,
1932, 6.
9. See Roland Clark, Sfîntă Tinereţe Legionară. Activismul Fascist În România Interbelică [Holy
Legionary Youth. Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania] (Iași: Polirom, 2015).

71
 IULIA POPOVICI

Romanian interwar period. Of course, one of the first questions to be dealt

with is whether, taking into consideration their period and specific context,
these performative events can be considered art (a traditional criterion for
performance art to be „labeled” as such is for it to take place within an artistic
context – a theatrical venue, a museum, a gallery, a festival, a biennial, etc.) and
can be rightly and actually taken into account either as proto-manifestations of
an art (performance art) that will develop as such much later, or in relationship
with contemporary practices of political/social protests. It can be inferred
that people involved in such actions did lack an artistic conscience: it is the
case, for instance, for the three young Romanian-Hungarians who, in 1929,
went to a costume ball in Târgu-Mureș demanding a general amnesty, dressed
as guardian and convicts, referencing the Doftana prison (where many of
those convicted for communist-related offences were kept) and a recent report,
about the police abuses on prisoners, of the League for the Defense of
Human Rights (LADO)10. But the performative dimension does exist, and it
might be worth a deeper research into how the particular political conditions of
interwar Romania were requiring for creative-performative forms of protest,
what these forms and their recurrent patterns were, how they were initiated,
who those involved were and what their motivations were.
Contemporary oppressive political contexts are leading to strikingly
similar gestures: the members of the Pussy Riot group do have an artistic
conscience, but their 2012 „punk prayer”11 was never aimed at an artistic
reception. It is the same with the actions of another Russian collective, Voina12,
and examples might follow, which makes it all more valuable to understand
the long history of such practices in different moments and places, including in
interwar Romania.
According to existing published materials and recollections, a proletarian,
Agit-prop theatre did exist in interwar Romania – as the political performative
interventions did also exist, not only on the far-right spectrum. More than
that, the development of theatre forms addressing the less educated classes
was a constant topic for the intellectuals and theatre professionals of the time.

10. ANIC, Fond 96, File 1074.

11. Jeffrey Tayler, “What Pussy Riot’s ‘Punk Prayer’ Really Said,” The Atlantic, November 8,
2012, [Link]
prayer-really-said/264562/.
12. Ellen Barry, “Artist Playing Cat-and-Mouse Faces Russia’s Claws,” New York Times,
January 21, 2011.

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

The political and civic education of the masses was of stated importance for
both the far-right and the supporters of the left, the conservatives and King
Charles II (the head of the Kingdom of Romania between 8 June 1930 and
6 September 1940). Conservative nationalist historian and statesman Nicolae
Iorga founded in Bucharest, through the League for the Cultural (later, Political)
Unity of All Romanians, aka the Cultural League (Liga Culturală), a Popular
Theatre (Teatrul Popular) as early as 1921. It was not at all intended as a
proletarian theatre per se, but it did address a popular, non-elitist audience, with
the aim of raising the level of both education and patriotic (to be understood as
„national”) conscience of the „people”. During the 1920s, for the Popular
Theatre worked artists who were not nationalists in Iorga’s and the Cultural
League understanding of the term, nor interested in traditions and the
traditional village life, such as Victor Ion Popa13 and Aurel Ion Maican14,
later – two of the poster figures of „theatricalization”.
The Work and Joy Theatre (Teatrul Muncă și Voie Bună), run by the
above-mentioned acclaimed playwright and director Victor Ion Popa, was
founded in 1938 at the initiative of the then-Minister of Labor and Social
Protection, Mihail Ralea, a leftist (the general term of the period was
„democrat(ic)”15) sociologist, and Ralea was reacting to a much discussed
public concern. Years before, in 1931, the playwright, director and theatre
critic George Mihail Zamfirescu founded a company, called Masca (The Mask),
meant to address its performances to industrial workers. (Just to prove how
imbricated the theatrical worlds were back then, Zamfirescu was also the
founder, in 1932, of the „13+1” Company, which produced several Expressionist
performances, including one by I. Ligeti, one of the professional directors
working in the proletarian theatre.) Masca was presenting its productions in
various Bucharest neighborhoods, on the stages of the so-called popular
athenaeums, established at the initiative of King Charles II as places for the

13. See G.M. Zamfirescu’s assessment of [Link]’s work with the Popular Theatre, George
Mihail Zamfirescu, Mărturii În Contemporaneitate [Contemporary Testimonies] (Bucharest:
Editura Minerva, 1974), 36–37.
14. See Vera Molea, “Aurel Ion Maican. Începuturile Carierei Artistice (I) [Aurel Ion Maican.
The Beginning of the Artistic Carreer],” SCIA, Theatre, Music and Cinema Series, New Series,
2008. It is true that Maican worked at the Popular Theatre as an actor, at the beginning of
his professional life.
15. Mihail Ralea was not affiliated to neither the communist or the socialist movement, he
was connected to various centrist, then leftist peasant factions and parties and a declared
opposant of the Iron Guard.

73
 IULIA POPOVICI

workers and „lower classes” to socialize, attend concerts and performances,

etc., even participate in amateur events. Many articles written by G.M.
Zamfirescu during the 1930s (and first published, in 1938, in a book titled
Mărturii în contemporaneitate / Contemporary Testimonies16) deal with the topic
of a workers’ theatre and how should it work, chastising, for instance, those who
supported less aesthetically oriented forms and approaches (as the amateur
theatre of the trade unions was) and the popular audience’s lack of taste for
„avant-garde” theatre, which is another proof of the wide spreading of such
discussions.
Basically, it is a case where the general focus on certain aspects of the
interwar theatre alone – in fact, only on the winners of the competition on forms
and ideas – has left aside the complexity of the artistic and political debates of
the period, and the material conditions that prevented any real possibility for
alternative theatrical languages to fully develop. But the peripheral character of
certain forms of theatre didn’t make them less part of the general conversation
of the moment. For instance, one has to take account of the difficulty to finance
theatrical productions and the fact that performances were subject to state
authorization and thorough censorship, aspects responsible for the fact that a
lot of proletarian theatrical events took the disguised form of „tea parties”,
and some of them were variants of apartment theatre, or for the fact that one of
the very few amateur proletarian full-fledged productions of the era presented
on a professional stage, the Jewish Barasheum, had only one performance17.
Plus, the politically charged atmosphere, impacted by the shock of the Bolshevik
Revolution, was making an enemy of the state out of everybody potentially
contesting the status-quo from a non-conservative, non-nationalistic perspective:
which made possible for Vasile Abrudean, for example, a worker-peasant in
the Arad region, to be charged, in 1931, with a criminal offense („agitation”)
for owning and sharing two brochures, one containing proletarian theatre
plays18; or, for a trade union performance with Maksim Gorki’s The Lower
Depths to be kept with armed policemen guarding the audience19.

16. George Mihail Zamfirescu, Mărturii În Contemporaneitate [Contemporary Testimonies] (Bucharest:

Editura Minerva, 1974).
17. See C. Z. Alexandru, Teatru Între Baionete [Theatre Between Bayonnets] (Bucharest: Grafica Noua,
1970), 54–79.
18. ANIC, Fund 96, File 1442.
19. Alexandru, 107–11.

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

Theatrical futurism was also a victim of the local conditions, and so it

was the local avant-garde: while their publications were extremely short-
lived in Romania, due to both money and censorship, its representatives,
some of them heavily surveyed by the Siguranţă20, found their artistic
recognition and fulfilled their artistic trajectory mainly abroad. While the
specific political context is at least of the reasons why the Soviet Agit-prop
theatrical experiments from the 1920s and 1930s didn’t find a field as fertile in
Romania as in Germany, for instance, both the proletarian theatre as developed
in USSR before the mid-1930s, and the avant-garde were collateral cultural
victims of the Stalinist, hardline realist-socialist version of Soviet regime
installed in Romania after 1948. Until recently, discussing the potential legacy
of interwar proletarian theatre might have appeared as having no relevance
for the contemporary Romanian stage; but the emergence of new forms
sharing a common ethos with that theatre21 undeniable changes the stakes.
From this perspective, researching legal and illegal forms of proletarian
and Agit-prop theatre is, in fact, a foray not into the aesthetics but into the
complexity of a public professional and political debate at the time of conflicting
narratives about the future of the theatre, the new Romanian state and the
country in general, with the debate itself, the identity and biography of those
involved as important as the success of the said debate.

Political police as archivist and art historian

For a variety of reasons, live performances (in the form of reciting

poetry, staging of dramatic fragments, singing, public lectures, various actions
in public space) played a more central social and cultural role for the legal
or underground left movements during the interwar period than they did for
the anticommunist opponents, dissidents and political prisoners after 1948. One
of the reasons was the limited access of the left-wing parties to publication
and distribution of books, and the very strict censorship of the period. So strict
that in 1935, for instance, the political police started a whole nation-wide
campaign to confiscate all existing copies of the Romanian translation of Andre

20. See Tănase, Stelian (ed.) (2008) Avangarda română în dosarele Siguranţei [The Romanian
Avant-Garde in the Files of the Political Police], Iași: Polirom.
21. The work of director David Schwartz and various collectives dealing with non-professional
community groups.

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 IULIA POPOVICI

Malraux’s Man’s Fate (La Condition humaine), for „promoting communism and
terrorism”22, even if the preface to the novel was written by a very honorable,
liberal literary critic (E. Lovinescu), who nobody would have ever suspected
of communist leanings. Left-wing publications (newspapers, magazines,
brochures, books) were also a common piece of evidence for indictment
charges when they were found during police searches, while participation
in artistic or cultural live events was much more difficult for the authorities to
use as undisputable proof for illegal political activity. Also, communist political
convicts had strictly controlled access to written material, especially political
one, so theatre (for instance) was the available tool for them to promote their
social ideas and for their group to bond (theatre, for example, was use as a
means for political education, see Andreescu, 1977). But, above all, the intended
audience for the communist and socialist parties was social groups with
limited education and limited reading or cultural practices – which explains
both the preference for live encounters or events and the non-standardly
artistic form of these events (involving amateur performing, for instance). As
put in Lynn Mally’s terms, about the equal preference for the performing arts of
the new Soviet state, until mid-1930s:

At a time when film equipment was scarce, and illiteracy was high,
theatres spread the political message of the revolution. They were
also evidence that the revolutionary state (in the Romanian case,
the revolutionary party, n. I.P.) was committed to a mission of
enlightenment.23

Logocentric as the public space in Romania has ever been, and even
more in a time when radio was a technological revolution and film – an
exceptional event, the harsh definition of criminal political activity introduced
by the so-called Mârzescu Law in 1924 had a huge impact on the press,
especially after 1933, when first the Griviţa strikes (in February), then the

22. See ANIC (National Central Historical Archives), Collection 50, file 155 (on „Communist
intellectual sympathizers”). For the impact of Malraux’ novel on young communist
intellectuals in Romania, see Péter Várdy in dialogue with Imre Tóth (2014) În viaţă sunt
lucruri care nu se fac. Şi totuși se fac... [In Life There Are Things You Don’t Do. Yet You Do
Them...], București: Humanitas, p. 101.
23. Lynn Mally, Revolutionary Acts: Amateur Theater and the Soviet State, 1917-1938 (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2000), 4.

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

assassination of prime-minister I.G. Duca by a group of legionnaires24 (in

December), prompting King Charles II to instate an indefinite state of siege
(it was replaced, in 1941, with the state of war).
Press distribution was difficult even for legal publications, and the
lifespan of left-leaning newspapers and reviews was very short. The Blue
Blouse review had only four issues. The Working Life (Viaţa muncitoare), the
legal weekly of the Unitarian Trade Unions, appeared between 1925 and 1930,
but only some of the issues could be traced at the level of the year 196325; for
the others, no copy survived. While trade unions didn’t understandably have
an interest in documenting their (artistic) activity, and the socialist parties
or other organizations had a limited practice of keeping records (especially
for non-financial, non-organizational aspects), as an illegal organization, the
Communist Party of Romania (the name used during the Third International)
had a totally different problem: it didn’t have the proper conditions to keep
its own operational archive and it was risky to do it, not to mention keeping
copies of the illegal publications it supported (for instance, the newspaper
Scânteia/The Spark). In 1943, the most famous communist „fall” (the discovering,
by the Siguranţă, of a clandestine house in Bucharest) lead to the entire
operational archive being confiscated; at some other moment, the archive buried
by its keeper was dug up partially rotten.26
The question then would be: how could all these performative actions,
events, etc. be documented at the level of the year 2017? The thesis of this
article is that the main historian of the leftist movement, including its artistic
dimension, is the interwar political police, also know as Siguranţa.
People might not keep copies of their sent letters – but in case of
everybody associated with any form of governmental criticism, Siguranţa
took care about making copies of their correspondence. For instance, in 1938
(before his own second departure for France), the surrealist painter and poet
Victor Brauner sent a letter to the well-known French communist writer
Louis Aragon, in which he was pleading for a literary exchange between

24. Members of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, the fascist organization active in interwar
Romania, including as a party, also known under the original name of its paramilitary
branch, the Iron Guard.
25. Titu Georgescu and Mircea Ioanid, eds., Presa PCR Şi a Organizaţiilor Sale de Masă 1921-
1944 (Prezentare Bibliografică) [RCP Press and That of Its Mass Organizations 1921-1944
(Bibliographic Presentation)] (Bucharest: Editura Ştiinţifică, 1963), 93–94.
26. See Cristina Diac, Zorii Comunismului În România. Ştefan Foriș, Un Destin Neterminat [The
Dawn of Communism in Romania. Ştefan Foriș, an Unfinished Destiny] (Târgoviște: Cetatea de
scaun, 2014).

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 IULIA POPOVICI

„progressive” writers in the two countries. Siguranţa intercepted the letter and
made it part of Brauner’s personal file, alongside a report, signed by one of the
Siguranţa detectives: it concerns information about the relationships between
Brauner and Aragon, and Brauner and another surrealist poet, Gherasim Luca,
about surrealism in general, the splitting of the movement and the connections
with the Communist Party.27 (In this particular case, the political police act as
both an archivist and an art historian.) One might learn a lot about how a review
such as the Blue Blouse was distributed thanks to the documents in the file of
a man trialed for giving away this publication and talking about Russia in a
village bar in 1932.28
B(ernard) Lebli, one of the theatre professionals most invested in the
proletarian theatre, the director of the production with Gorki’s Lower Depths at
the Barasheum and, after the war, the director of the Jewish State Theatre in
Bucharest, died in 1966 without writing his memories, hence his contribution
was left aside after the nationalistic turn of the Romanian Communist Party.29
But (some of) his manuscripts are to be found in the Siguranţa archives, giving
testimony on his writing, his interests and his larger political and intellectual
profile.30 We shouldn’t forget that the excessive attention given by the Siguranţă
to those critical to the status-quo and the fact that they were seeing communists
everywhere, even where there were only disgruntled citizens talking in a bar,
helped the postwar Communist Party build an oversized image of itself, and
falsify historical facts (Diac, 2014).
Of course, the Siguranţa archives are not able to turn the interwar
proletarian theatre into something it was not – an aesthetically highly valid
set of productions with a lasting impact on the theatrical tradition. But a
research into these archives – correlated to the existing published memories
and other analysis – would clear why it was so: who were those involved in
such practices, what the relationship with the mainstream theatre was, what
were the challenges, who was the audience, what this theatre wanted to
accomplish, etc.
Which doesn’t mean that such a research is not a complicated endeavor
by itself.

27. ANIC, Fund 95, File 26251 (Victor Brauner).

28. ANIC, Fund 96, File 1646.
29. After 1944, Lebli was involved in the Democratic Jewish Committee (Comitetul Democratic
Evreiesc/CDE), an organization controlled by the communists and used against the Zionist
organizations in dealing with the „Jewish problem”.
30. ANIC, Fund 95, File 4589 (Bernard Lebli) and File 4591 (Ciubotaru Froim).

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

„The communist problem” – a short introduction into archival dynamics

During the communist regime, the former archives of the interwar

political police and the judicial archives were selected according to the „subject”
of the files: those dealing with the extreme right activists stayed with the new
General Direction for People’s Security (Direcţia Generală a Securităţii Poporului/
DGSP – the first official name of the Securitate, the rightful successor of the
Siguranţă), and those related to the members and activists of the underground
left went to the archive of the Communist Party (mainly, the Archive/Fund of the
Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Romania, then the Romanian
Communist Party, RCP). In fact, the whole Siguranţa archive was taken over,
initially, by the communist successor of the interwar political police, and several
categories of files were transferred first to the Central Verifying Commission
(1948-1950), then to the Party Control Commission (CCP31; after 1965, the Party
Central College), to be further archived as part of the Central Committee Fund.
Those transferred files were related to all pre-1944 members of the Communist
Party and members of their families, supporters, other people involved in their
activity, members and supporters of the Socialist Parties, Jewish organizations
(other than the Zionist ones and Zionists in general32, including when they had
acted as communist/socialist sympathizers or even party members), women’s
organizations, and human rights groups (generally grouped under the term
„the communist problem”). Basically, everybody who had been surveyed by
the interwar political police for other reasons than fascism („the legionnaire
problem”33), Zionism, or irredentism entered in this category. The reason for
this transfer was the big-scale verification process initiated by the Party in 194834:
the smallest communist party in Europe in 1944, the Romanian Workers’ Party
attracted a huge number of members after the war, mainly in order to legitimize
itself, which ended up with a large number of opportunists, royalists, members of
the former historical parties (liberals, etc.) and other persons with a politically or
socially questionable past, including former members of the extreme-right

31. In Romanian, Comisia Controlului de Partid/Colegiul Central de Partid.

32. Those files were kept by Securitate as Zionists were part of the „nationalistic problem”.
Members or organizations such as Hashomer Hatzair were subject to a full-fleged anti-
Zionist campaign in the 1950s, ended with a series of very public (show) trials in 1953-1954.
33. The fascist organization active in interwar Romania, including as a party, was the Legion
of the Archangel Michael, also known under the original name of its paramilitary branch,
the Iron Guard.
34. Case by case verifications started as early as 1945-1946.

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 IULIA POPOVICI

Legion of the Archangel Michael. Since the communists were surveilled by

both the central and local branches of the Siguranţa (the files contain also the
correspondence of various bureaus of the institution related to the local activity of
one communist suspect or another), some files regarding communist and trade
unions activities, which were not deemed essential for the verification of the
party members, remained in local archives.
The role of the Central Verifying Commission was to re-confirm the
party membership status of everybody, including based on their activity before
and during WWII as it was reflected by the documents in the Siguranţa archives
(the verification was a sort of a cross-referenced process, in which the person’s
autobiography and self-presentation in front of the Commission were confirmed
or invalidated by the archival material and/or references given by other party
members or people they worked with). In 1950, after the verification process
was completed, the Central Verifying Commission was disbanded, and CCP
took over the mission of „vetting” party members, alongside dealing with
violations of party discipline or ethics, thus creating its own archive of personal
files (including the autobiographies, references, etc.), while the original archives
from the interwar period were slowly moved into the Historical Archive of the
Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (in the first half of the
1950s)35. After 1960, when the party became more invested into the preservation
(and the re-writing) of its own memory and history, many published materials
confiscated by the Siguranţă were taken from the original files and moved
into the archive of the Institute for Historical and Social-Political Studies (ISISP36).
Also, at some moment in the 1960s, ISISP started a very ambitious project of
oral history, collecting the memories of former fighters in the French Resistance
and in the Spanish Civil War etc., and supporting the publication of memories
related to various moments in the pre-1945 history of the communist movement.
One of the books commissioned and published by ISISP, for instance, is
Theatre Between Bayonets by C.Z. Alexandru, a carpenter heavily invested in
the proletarian theatre supported by trade unions. His recollections are vital
in terms of testimonies about the working process, the modes of production
and the people involved in proletarian theatre events, but unless confronted

35. According to historian Ştefan Bosomitu, in a private communication, the periodical vetting
of party members was a sort of a ritual, meant, among other things, to blame individual
members for the errors of the party, which explain the proliferation of redundant information
within the personal files at CCP.
36. In Romanian, Institutul de Studii Istorice şi Social Politice.

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

with other documents, not entirely reliable in terms of the actual connections
between the trade unions and the Communist Party (even if many people he
worked with in the amateur proletarian theatre were members of the party –
such as Ion Popescu-Puţuri, the ISISP director at the time of the publication
of the book). One of the people giving testimony to ISISP about his participation
in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War is Iso Schapira
(1903-1981), after the war, the first (and last) director of the Jewish State Theatre
in Iași. A former student of Piscator and, at the moment of his enrollment in the
International Brigades, actor and stage director at the Pariser Idischer Arbeiter
Theater (the Parisian Yiddish Workers’ Theatre – PIAT), Schapira recounts
for the ISISP archives his endeavors as the animator of Agit-prop musical
and theatrical performances for soldiers on the Spanish front.37 For all known
accounts, this is the only source of information about leftist war theatre
involving the Romanian members of the International Brigades and it gives
precious details about the participants, the repertory, the sources of influence
and the role of such actions.
After the 1989 Revolution, the whole Archive of the Central Committee
was taken over by the Ministry of National Defense and moved outside of
Bucharest (to Pitești). It began to be transferred to the Central National
Historical Archives (ANIC) between 1993 and 1995, and most of it was
open for researchers starting with 2000. The latest to be made available for
researchers were the files in the CCP Fund: ANIC made the inventory in
alphabetical order, and it ended up releasing some documents as late as 2014.
The part of the ISISP patrimony dealing with published materials
(newspapers, reviews, books, brochures, posters, pamphlets, etc., dating
from before and after 1945) – the library of the institution – was transferred
to the Central University Library38. The ISISP archive per se – the historical part
(pamphlets, brochures, written documents, illegal press, posters, photographs,
microfilms), and the current part – was transferred to the Library of the
Romanian Academy (which had its own collection of interwar periodicals)
and then, in 2000, to the National Archives; some funds became available
for research in 2014. The local archives stayed put (the funds are preserved
by the local branches of ANIC).

37. ANIC, Fund 60, File 95, p. 200 and following.

38. For the history and the content of this fund, see the official presentation of the Library:
[Link]
universitara-din-bucuresti.

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 IULIA POPOVICI

But knowing where the archives currently are and the fact that some
funds were only recently made available for research are not the only problems.
During the whole time they were kept by the communist authorities, basically,
between 1948 and 1989, the original Siguranţa archives were reorganized
according to the needs of the party. For instance, the whole pre-1944 part
of the Agit-Prop (Propaganda and Agitation) Fund was recreated from
scratch – actually, from documents taken from other files –, since the party
didn’t have any trace of its own propaganda activities. The same happened to a
special collection dedicated to the leader of the party in 1948-1965, Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-Dej39, recreated from various files, and a similar process may be
inferred even about the files dealing with the Central Committee and the
General Secretariat of the party during its illegal existence (the Moscow
archive of the Komintern also played an important role in this archival
recreation40). The confiscated material was moved from the original files –
usually, personal and judicial ones –, into a fund that should, in the logic of
things, belong to the ISISP archive; but if it’s about newspapers, brochures,
or letters by Romain Rolland, Panait Istrati and the likes, the documents are
to be find in the Collection 190 of the Archive of the Central Committee of
the Romanian Communist Party (CC of RCP), created in the year 1977.41 The
same non-intuitive principles apply to transcripts, testimonies, notes, etc.,
about the activity of party members and other participants to events relevant
for the party (reconstructed) history, such as the royal coup on 23 August
1944, but also the manuscripts of Constantin Argetoianu’s diary42, which
are part of Collection 60, „Recollections, memories and notes of personalities
about the social-economic and political situation in Romania”. At the same
time, another set of files, subtitled „The economic, social and politic situation
of Romania” and including articles, memories, notes, but also original

39. I am grateful to historian Mihai Burcea for drawing my attention to this aspect. For more
on the creation of this fund and the reconstitutive practice of the Communist Party in
terms of its own archive, see Diac, Cristina, 2012.
40. In the 1970s, ISISP made a documentary trip to Moscow to retrieve materials in the
Komintern archive, see Diac, 2012. Even previously, in 1968, during the rehabilitation of
Romanian communists, victims of Stalinism, started by the new Ceaușescu regime, the
Central Party College was in contact with the Komintern archives.
41. [Link]
Cultural-Democratic-si-Antifascist-1875-1901-1905-1908-1910-1912-1914-1917-1920-1922-1939-1.
42. Argetoianu was an anti-communist liberal politician and statesman, briefly the prime-
minister of Romania in 1939, arested by the communist regime in 1950 and dead in prison
in 1955, without having stood a trial.

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

materials taken from pre-1945 files with no relation to the „communist

problem” (such as an analysis about the political situation in Romania, with
a focus on the Iron Guard, dating from September 194043), are archived within
the multifarious ISISP Fund (Fund ISISP-XII). The difference between the two
funds with so similar titles is that Collection 60 includes documents related
to general subjects (some of them are extended autobiographies), while Fund
ISISP-XII focuses on strikes, the economic and political situation in certain
regions or villages, railroad workers, the oil industry and references to strictly
economic aspects.
The description of the inventory of the Collection 60 says that the
Historical Archive of the CC of RCP was, before 1989 (actually, since 1953), a
part (a „sector”) of the ISISP, but the files within this fund bear the „affiliation”
to the Chancellery of the CC of RCP (the Chancellery being the internal
administration body of the Central Committee, in charge of redacting, keeping
track and communicating to the lower echelons of decisions adopted by the
party leadership); while the files belonging to the ISISP bear (now) only this
denomination. The Chancellery was the keeper of other historical collections,
also related to the National Democratic Block (Blocul Naţional Democrat), or,
for instance, the Patriotic Defense (Apărarea Patriotică), while Fund ISISP-VII
deals with „Trials filed against militants of the revolutionary and democratic
workers’ movement in Romania”, which overlaps thematically with Fund 96
of the old Archive of the CC of RCP.
Fond 96 covers judicial – personal or group-related – files concerning
trials for communist/antifascist-related offences, and in many situations it
complements itself another fund, Fund 95, which includes all pre-1944 personal
files of „antifascist fighters” (an umbrella term for communists, socialists,
activists in Jewish organizations, and other leftists), including the criminal
records originating in the judicial files in Fund 96 (at least, this superposition can
be traced back to the original creator of these files, Siguranţa). Again, since
Fund 95 and Fund 96 were the basis for verifications operated by the Central
Verifying Commission and continued by the Party Central Commission, copies
and transcripts of documents in those Funds, or references to them, are also
to be found in Fund CC of RCP – CCP.
Collection 50, „Documents elaborated by the repressive authorities on
the activity of the Communist Party and the revolutionary mass organizations”,
includes general documentation about the activity of various organizations,

43. ANIC, Fund ISISP-XII, File 47, vol. I-II.

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 IULIA POPOVICI

distribution of manifestos, reports and correspondence of the authorities,

many of them dating from before 1924, when the RCP became illegal. Fund 95,
Fund 96, and Collection 50 are the only original sources of archival documents
(excluding the materials elaborated by the Communist Party itself, largely
retrieved from the Komintern), and the only ones where the files themselves
were created by the pre-1944 authorities. A lot of documents were taken from
the Collection 50 and moved to the Collection 60 or other funds, with or without
copies kept in the original files. And so, the archival vicious circle is completed.
In fact, ANIC has been facing huge problems in making the inventory
and organizing the archive initially belonging to ISISP because its organization
and evidence didn’t follow the archival normative of the period44, while the
inherent post-1990 conditions made its funds part of the general Archive of the
CC of RCP, blurring the original differences between the „historical” and the
„current” (i.e. post-1944) archive. Most likely, the borderline chaotic structure
of the ISISP funds and their overlapping with other funds and collections are
the result of the institute’s efforts on creating its archive according to the
momentary discursive needs of the party, and the constant rewriting of the
party history (the post-1965 rehabilitation of the Romanian victims of the Great
Purges, the role of each participant to the events on 23 August 1944, the
emphasizing or downplaying of the Soviets’ involvement in different moments,
the artificial „Romanization” of the party etc.).
The tormented history of the pre-1944 archives not only makes the
process of looking for the traces of the interwar proletarian theatre and political
performative actions a very complex mission, but it is also the mirrored
image of how this theatre was itself manipulated to serve the legitimacy of
the party, at one moment or another. Unlike the impression given by books
such as Margareta Andreescu’s, the Communist Party was not the only
„producer” of proletarian and Agit-prop theatre, and the example of the three
men in Târgu-Mureș protesting against the police abuses is not related to
RCP45. But only a thorough research into the archival labyrinth might shed
a real light on what the interwar workers’ theatre, legal and illegal, in theory
and practice, really was.

44. See [Link]

45. Even if the League for the Defense of Human Rights was treated after 1944 as being on
the orbit of the Communist Party, Siguranţa didn’t consider it as such, and its founder,
lawyer and journalist C.G. Costa-Foru, was himself a non-communist democrat. See
ANIC, Collection 50, Files 1177 and 1178.

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A THEATRE FOR THE WORKERS, PROTEST AS PERFORMANCE, AND THE POLITICAL POLICE …

References

Acterian, Haig. “Acterian, Haig (1932) „Teatrul Creator” [„Creative Theatre”].” Bluze
Albastre. Revistă de Literatură Proletară [Blue Blouses. Proletarian Literature Review],
May 5, 1932.
Alexandru, C. Z. Teatru Între Baionete [Theatre Between Bayonnets]. Bucharest: Grafica
Noua, 1970.
Amiard-Chevrel, Claudine, ed. Le Théâtre D’agit-Prop - Vol. 3. Lausanne: L’Age
d’Homme, 1977.
Andreescu, Margareta. Teatrul Proletar Din România [Proletarian Theatre in Romania].
Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1977.
Barry, Ellen. “Artist Playing Cat-and-Mouse Faces Russia’s Claws.” New York Times,
January 21, 2011.
Cazaban, Ion. “Futurismul ca Model Teatral [Futurism as Theatrical Model].” Studii
Şi Cercetări de Istoria Artei - Special issue “Futurism Today. One Hundred Years
since the Futurist Manifesto,” 2010.
Cazaban, Ion. Scena Românească Şi Expresionismul [The Romanian Stage and Expressionism].
Bucharest: Fundaţia Culturală Camil Petrescu / Teatrul Azi, 2010.
Clark, Roland. Sfîntă Tinereţe Legionară. Activismul Fascist În România Interbelică [Holy
Legionary Youth. Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania]. Iași: Polirom, 2015.
Diac, Cristina. “Liderul Nevăzut. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Şi Grevele de La Griviţa
[The Invisible Leader. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and the Griviţa Strikes].” In
Spectrele Lui Dej. Incursiuni În Biografia Şi Regimul Unui Dictator [Dej’s Phantoms.
Explorations Into a Dictator’s Biography and Regime], edited by Ştefan Bosomitu
and Mihai Burcea, Polirom., 31–49. Iași: Polirom, 2012.
Diac, Cristina. Zorii Comunismului În România. Ştefan Foriș, Un Destin Neterminat [The
Dawn of Communism in Romania. Ştefan Foriș, an Unfinished Destiny]. Târgoviște:
Cetatea de scaun, 2014.
Eliad, Sandu. “Despre Teatrul Militant. Oameni Şi Fapte Dintr-O Biografie Nescrisă a
Teatrului Nostru [On the Engaged Theatre. People and Facts from an
Unwritten Biography of Our Theatre].” Teatrul, March 1971.
Georgescu, Titu, and Mircea Ioanid, eds. Presa PCR Şi a Organizaţiilor Sale de Masă
1921-1944 (Prezentare Bibliografică) [RCP Press and That of Its Mass Organizations
1921-1944 (Bibliographic Presentation)]. Bucharest: Editura Ştiinţifică, 1963.
Mally, Lynn. Revolutionary Acts: Amateur Theatre and the Soviet State, 1917-1938. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2000.
Molea, Vera. “Aurel Ion Maican. Începuturile Carierei Artistice (I) [Aurel Ion Maican.
The Beginning of the Artistic Carreer].” SCIA, Theatre, Music and Cinema Series,
New Series, 2008.

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Runcan, Miruna. Teatralizarea Şi Reteatralizarea În România – 1920-1960 [Theatricalization

and Re-Theatricalization in Romania – 1920-1960]. 2nd ed. Bucharest: Editura
Liternet, 2014.
Tayler, Jeffrey. “What Pussy Riot’s ‘Punk Prayer’ Really Said.” The Atlantic, November 8,
2012. [Link]
riots-punk-prayer-really-said/264562/.
Zamfirescu, George Mihail. Mărturii În Contemporaneitate [Contemporary Testimonies].
Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1974.

Iulia Popovici is a performing arts critic and curator. Her writing focuses on alternative
Romanian and Eastern European performing arts scene, documentary theatre, and the
social challenges of contemporary arts. She edited two books, commissioned by the Sibiu
International Theatre Festival, on New Performing Arts Practices in Eastern Europe
(Cartier, 2014) and The End of Directing, the Beginning of Theatre-Making and
Devising in European Theatre (Tact, 2015). Her latest book: Elefantul din cameră.
Ghid despre teatrul independent din România (Idea/Colectiv A, 2016).

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 87 - 113
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.05

The coronation of “the accompanying comrade”

Sică Alexandrescu – A case study

MIRUNA RUNCAN1

Abstract: Have “People’s Artists” been famous artists, plain “nomenklatura”

representatives in the artistic milieu or just “accompanying comrades”? What
were the characteristics of the mechanism producing these “people’s artists”
in the first years after the concept had been imported from the USSR? What
are, in this context, the specificities of the Romanian theatre environment?
Who are the people selected to become “distinguished artists”, “State Prize
Laureate”, “Emeritus Masters of art” or “People’s artists” – and what justifies this
hierarchy? Clearly, some of the members of the first generation of communist
“theatre heroes” were truly artists who had earned a certain fame even before
the Second World War. Others, however, had not – or they had earned an
entirely different kind of status and fame in the artistic milieu. We shall try to
uncover at least a part of the mechanism for selecting/producing “state artists”,
by means of a case study focusing on possibly the most illustrative character for
the stated theme: theatre director Sică Alexandrescu. With this in view, we used
previous files of personal research concerning the political, ideologic and
aesthetic debates in the first decades of the communist regime, we revisited
archives, journal and cultural magazines collections and, of course, we revisited
the articles and books written by the famous theatre director himself.

Keywords: Theatre Directing, Romanian Theatre, Theatre History, Cultural

Policies

Historic context: theatre in the first decades after the Second World War

In contrast to other areas of science and arts, Romanian theatre appears

to have welcomed the passing from a democratic regime to communism
without any suspicions, or even with strange enthusiasm. If we look closely

1. Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

[Link]@[Link].
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

at the documents of the time, even before the nationalization that took place
on June 11th 1948, a large portion of the private theatre companies, but
especially some of the most important artists, be they directors, actors or
scenographers, seemed to adjust as they went along, both in terms of artistic
productions, and in terms of their public discourse - in interviews, articles
and essays published in the press. Of course, we cannot lose sight of the fact that
the country was, effectively, under occupation and censorship was becoming
stricter by the day, between 1945 and 1948.
In fact, between 1945 and 1948, Romanian theatre was going through
a (reality-denying) vibrant creation boom. Despite the fact that it could not
use its main stage, which had fallen prey to the Allied bombardments in
1944, the National Theatre in Bucharest used, after the necessary repairs, its
Studio hall in Piaţa Amzei and, for the bigger shows, it was making use of
the inappropriate festivities hall of the St. Sava Highschool. Private companies
appeared and disappeared like one-day flies because of inflation and of the
fluidity of legislation; in other cases, they just optimistically and stubbornly
picked up where they had left off because of political reasons, or because
they had left into refuge. The audience, freshly emerged from the horrors of war
and plunged into the nightmare of Russian occupation, speculation in goods
and material deprivation, merely wanted to relax: so, paradoxically, the
cinema and theatre halls were almost always full.
The Association for Romanian-Soviet Friendship (ARLUS) got set up,
under the management of “the red prince”, Scarlat Callimachi2, an old-time
left-wing activist - just like his wife, the excellent Jewish actress Dida Solomon.
Within the framework of ARLUS, a variety of circles and literary groups for
young artists started blooming and famous writers and artists like Camil
Petrescu3, Ion Sava4, Ion Aurel Maican5, Tudor Vianu6 and many others were
being invited to hold lectures and workshops. ARLUS published the Lumea

2. Scarlat Callimachi (1896-1975) writer and journalist, communist activist, called by the artistic
environment “the red prince”. He had an aristocratic genealogy, one of his ancestors being
even the prince governor of Wallachia between 1806-1807 and 1812-1819.
3. Camil Petrescu (1894-1957) was a writer, literary theory author and playwright. He was the
Manager of the National Theatre of Bucharest between 1938-1939 and a member of
Romanian Academy form 1947.
4. Ion Sava (1900-1947) was a famous and influential theatre director, journalist and theatre
theory author.
5. Ion Aurel Maican (1893-1952) theatre director.
6. Tudor Vianu (1898-1965) Literary critic, scholar and aesthetics specialist. He was also
manager of the National Theatre in 1945.

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THE CORONATION OF “THE ACCOMPANYING COMRADE” SICĂ ALEXANDRESCU – A CASE STUDY

magazine (which would disappear by the end of the decade): this is where
theatre director Ion Sava published a part of his vibrant and hopeful articles
and essays - including the project for an Arts Palace, featuring a Round Theatre,
to be built on the old spot of the National Theatre. At the end of 1945, I.A.
Maican was asked to be the director of the Performance Arts Directorate in the
Arts Ministry, where he started work on the new Theatre Law, and even on a
law intending to reform the Arts Conservatory. However, his time as a director
was to be quite short, as the Soviet agents soon arrested him under the false
accusation of having stolen the stage sets of the Odessa Opera House, the
director of which he had been for a few months during the Romanian
occupation. He was released within days of his arrest, but his political
collaboration with the new regime ended there.
As we can see, times were as complicated as they were filled with
energy. In such a historic context, aesthetic innovation in theatre is rather
limited and difficult, due to political instability, economic hardship, rampant
inflation and general confusion. Private companies mostly wished to make
money quickly in order to stay alive, so they were taking on the lightest and
least problematic of repertoires, or performed reruns with assured box-office
revenue. National Theatres timidly tried out plays that would both satisfy
the more pretentious audiences and keep the authorities off their back. For
instance, in 1945, Ion Şahighian7 directed So it will be by Simonov, and in 1947,
the same „hard-working” director staged Davidoglu’s debut The man from
Ceatal and one more Soviet fill-up production, The Peace Island by Evgheni
Petrov; it seems obvious that he wished to be seen to adjust to the new rules.
Young directors with a history of communist activism were brought in, like
Dinu Negreanu, Moni Ghelerter or Mihail Raicu, staging The Russian Question
by Simonov, or The Young Guard, a dramatization of Fadeev’s novel etc.
However, in 1947, Ion Sava’s most daring – and last - experiment was to take
place in the St Sava festivity hall: Macbeth performed with masks. Despite the
public’s curiosity, however, the reviews were quite ambiguous, and Sava
would die within half a year, broken hearted by the apparent flop8.

7. Ion Şahighian (1897-1965) was one of the most famous and prolific theatre directors of the
National Theatre in Bucharest, in constant competiton with his colleague, director and
writer Ion Sava. Şahighian ecven managed to direct, before the Second World Warr, some
Romanian film productions, manly comedies and melodramas.
8. Virgil Petrovici, “End notes” for Ion Sava, Teatralitatea Teatrului [The Theatricality of Theatre]
(Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1981), 427.

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

In the context of general unrest and anxiety, the nationalization, a

long time object of rumor and hearsay, was met by a rather prepared
theatre community. Some of the artists had already spread out throughout
the country, attracted by the privileged conditions offered for professionals
in the bigger cultural centers, which were aiming to merge with the newly
set up (starting with 1946) popular or state theatres, in most of the cities
where a theatre building existed. Some others were caught on the wrong
foot, like the young Liviu Ciulei9, whose father had only recently, in 1946,
started exploiting the cubist style block of flats on Magheru Boulevard,
featuring the two halls of the Odeon Theatre (today Nottara). In the same
way, the news was shaking for actors Mircea Şeptilici and N. Stroe, who
owned a prosperous cabaret theatre operating in the basement hall of the
Atlantic Bar, in the Romarta building.
Other theatre owners were at ease, the future seemed bright: using
the trump card of having had rough fights with the legionary government,
which had led to the shutting down of her legendary company in 1941,
actress Lucia Sturdza Bulandra10 poisedly came in to discuss matters with
the “leadership” (apparently with Gh. Gheorhiu-Dej, head of the communist
party himself); she obtained, as of the end of even 1947, the post of director/
manager of the Municipal Theatre, next to Izvor Bridge. Later on, the famous
actress managed to also round up as a Studio the performance hall of the
Central School, near Icoanei Garden (after 1948, the high school was renamed
Zoia Kosmodemianskaia).

9. Liviu Ciulei (1923-2011) was the most influential theatre and film directors in the communist
era. Trained both as architect and actor, he studied theatre directing with Ion Sava and film
directing as assistant director of Victor Iliu, the mid 50s. He had also a reach and exceptional
carrier as actor and stage designer, and was the manager of Bucharest Bulandra Theatre
between 1963-19874. After being removed from that position, he followed a brilliant theatre
carrier in Europe and the United States, where he was also the artistic director of Guthrie
Theatre of Mineappolis. In 1965, he was awarded at Cannes for the direction of the Forest
of the Hanged.
10. Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra (1973-1961) famous theatre and film actress, born into the
aristocratic old family Sturdza, who had a consistent education and had an academic
degree in literature and philosophy. For choosing an artistic carrier, she was rejected by
her family. She married Tony Bulandra, also a well-known actor and, in association with
other important colleagues from their generation, they took over the independent Davilla
Company in 1914, and transformed it in the most famous private theatre in Romania. Even
if all the partners were related in and administration council, Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra was
the real executive manager all along.

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Finally, after a few months of confusion, the overwhelming majority

of Romanian actresses, actors, directors and scenographers, with or without
complete artistic studies, joined by a host of amateurs who had found their
vocation in the hosts of art courses for workers that had been started
everywhere, became state employees, in a theatre either smaller or bigger,
either central or provincial. As private companies were not paying their
employees over the summer unless they were on tour or playing in summer
gardens, the nationalization actually represented an unexpected blessing for
theatre artists: the opportunity of a life out of precarity. Little did it matter that
one would play Nila the Drummer instead of Juliet, and that one would stage
Pogodin’s propaganda plays instead of Strindberg. The theatre worker had
bread on the table. Taste issues, aesthetic directions and personal aspirations
were all matters that could be postponed – their discussion would only
start again after about a decade.

Enter the “People’s Artist”: a pre-history

Sică Alexandrescu, like many of his peers in the same generation and
in the ones following, was a “self-made artist”. He had never followed the
courses of the Arts Conservatory (nor had V.I Popa or Ion Sava done so, the
former had read Letters and Philosophy, the latter was a lawyer), but he
also had not been enrolled into any kind of university. Despite the fact that,
throughout his career, he publicly claimed to be a follower of the great
director Paul Gusty11, the truth is that he had worked at the National
Theatre in Bucharest, after finishing high-school, as a backstage director
assistant, for less than one season, just before leaving to the front in the First
World War12. Before that, starting even at 17, he had been an apprentice in the
operetta company run by George Carussy, and he had managed to even
help around in the Bulandra-Maximilian-Storin company. After the war, in
1920, Alexandrescu left for the newly set up National Theatre in Cluj, following
actor and writer Zaharia Bârsan13, whom he had met during a tour. He was

11. Paul Gusty (1859-1944) was a well-known and respected theatre director at the National
Theatre in Bucharest.
12. Margareta Andreescu, ”An Introductory Study” in Sică Alexandrescu, Un Drum În
Teatru [A Way in Theatre] (Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1980), 7.
13. Zaharia Bârsan (1879-1948) writer, actor, theatre director, the first artistic manager of the
National Theatre at Cluj.

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hired here, as well, as backstage director; but as he was a hands-on, charismatic

person, he was soon promoted by the tragedian-playwright (who spent years
running – albeit confusedly and inconsistently – the Cluj theatre) to the
position of stage director.
This success, based on putting on a light repertoire, mostly consisting
of bubbly comedies and vaudevilles, gave him a boost: Sică Alexandrescu
came back to Bucharest in 1926 and set up, together with a few friends, a
private company: Teatrul Nostru (Our Theatre), aiming to fill in the summer
entertainment gaps, in the season of theatre holidays. The company rented
the hall of the Marconi cinema on Calea Griviţei and it offered, in the garden
or inside the hall, a variety of comedies and music-hall performances, some
translated by Alexandrescu, others translated and localy “adapted” (so-
called “localizări” in Romanian argotic language).
The practice of “localizări” was still very widespread: one would
translate a music hall text extracted from the French, English or German
tradition, then change the names of the characters to Romanian names,
adjust the situations slightly to the local dramatic space/context and “pouf!” – a
new play appeared. As enforcement of intellectual property rights was almost
inexistent in Romania in the beginning of the XXth century, adaptation of
this kind were excellent sources for easy money, if one was at least mildly
talented. In this sense, Sică Alexandrescu, on his own or in association, later,
with Tudor Muşatescu, Al. Kiriţescu, Mircea Ştefănescu or other fashionable
playwrights (during the war, Alexandrescu also offered adaptation and
translation work to Mihail Sebastian14, who was not allowed to publish at
the time because of his Jewish descent) – created, up to 1946, a fully-fledged
industry of local adaptations, with zero investment in the rights of the original
authors.
The success registered by Teatrul Nostru – where Sică Alexandrescu
admittedly put on a Caragiale play for the first time – spurred him on to
expand the business. According to his own confessions15, within just one
season he adventurously started managing several companies at a time.
Between 1927 and 1928 he took on the management of (and partially owned)
three theatres (Teatrul Nostru, Teatrul Mic and Alhambra). In 1928 he filed for
bankruptcy and withdrew from the public eye for almost a year, translating and

14. Mihail Sebastian (1907-1945) writer, theatre critic, playwright.

15. Sică Alexandrescu, General La Patru Ani [A General at Four Years Old] (Bucharest: Editura
pentru literatură, 1969), 140–41.

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making adaptations for future shows. Starting in 1929, his enterprising efforts in
music hall and commercial theatre restarted with a passion, encompassing the
summer season as well, at cinema garden Marconi in Bucharest and Modern
cinema in Ploieşti.
His big breakthrough would only come in 1936 though, after Maria
Ventura16 gave up her own theatre, which had spent six years under the
elegant roof of the Majestic theatre hall, just across the National Theatre.
Paying the debts, Sică took over the hall on Calea Victoriei and a large part of
Ventura’s cast and crew, establishing the `Comedia` theatre. In the meantime,
next to the reborn Teatrul Nostru and Teatrul Mic, he was already, together
with actor Vasile Toneanu or with playwright Tudor Muşatescu, the manager
of Teatrul Vesel (taken over from actor Ion Iancovescu) and also of Teatrul
Liber: no less than five private companies. In 1937 he decided to associate all of
them, in cartel fashion, similarly to the Paris model, setting up a Cooperative
Society of Theatre and Art Enterprises (SCITA); he even managed to lure within
the association the famous Regina Maria Theatre, owned by the Bulandra-
Maximilian-Storin group.
The advantage of working in a cartel set-up was that commonly
administrated projects could be created and actors of one theatre could play
(with quite some difficulty in scheduling the shows) as stars in all the associated
theatres. Despite the well-praised hit that Sică Alexandrescu ensured the
company, by staging, together with Soare Z. Soare, in only two weeks (!)
The Karamazov Brothers at Regina Maria, Mrs. Bulandra was not content
with the cooperative management. Or perhaps she was simply not used to not
controlling everything personally. Teatrul Regina Maria had always intended to
present a repertoire and aesthetic alternative to the National Theatre, and
therefore being associated in name with theatrical enterprises that played for
commercial success, like those run by Alexandrescu, may have appeared for
some as a lowering of standards and prestige earned in decades. In any case, the
actress-princess withdrew her company from this association in 1939 and,
after her departure, SCITA fell apart17. The entrepreneur-director maintained,

16. Maria (Marioara, Marie) Ventura (1886-1954) famous theatre and film actress of Romanian
origins, who studied in Paris and played there for several decades at the Comédie Française. She
also founded and run in Bucharest a theatre company on her name (between 1929-1936).
17. Simion Alterescu et al., eds., Istoria Teatrului În România - Vol. 3 [A History of Theatre in
Romania - Third Volume] (Bucharest: Editura Academiei RSR, 1973), 62–82; Ioan Massoff,
Teatrul Românesc. Vol. 5: Teatrul Românesc În Perioada 1913-1925 (Bucharest: Editura
Minerva, 1974).

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however, property and management rights for some of the mentioned

companies, centering, obviously, on Comedia, the fancy theatre on Calea
Victoriei.
As we can see, between the wars and in the war period, Sică Alexandrescu
rather walked the path of wide administrative-commercial success than that of
artistic-modernist achievement. He was seen, above all, as a manager and as an
enterprising producer. He launched on the stage, with excellent intuition
and a good understanding of the works, actors that would become stars and,
sometimes, even playwrights; but at no time was he seen as an important
director - more as a correct and demanding interpreter of easy melodrama
and comedy (even to the point of asking military precision of his teams). He
carefully stayed away from all the aesthetic debates of the interbellum, stating
on a regular basis (with a conviction that only feigned modesty) that the only
aesthetic trend he was interested in was the one that “fills the hall”. A man of
a humorous disposition, he often sarcastically declared that his peers’ (rather
tame, in fact) “avangarde” aesthetic experiments are simply nonsense.
It is only in 1937 that he went through some sort of aesthetic ego crisis:
he reworked, in order to commemorate a quarter of a century since the author
died, Caragiale’s O noapte furtunoasă (A Stormy Night), back to back with Conu
Leonida, at Comedia. The advertising campaign boldly stated that the staging is a
move to “recover” the texts: the director was thus trying to answer the ”worried”
points put forward by V.I Popa in 1931, in an article published in Vremea, titled
„Caragiale the director”. V.I. Popa had proposed the hypothesis that, in fact,
the best way of directing Caragiale texts was the very manner the playright
had used in directing the premieres of his plays. Later, under the communist
regime, Sică Alexandrescu would turn this hypothesis of “the directing tradition
of Caragiale” into the core of his normative theories - never mentioning V.I.
Popa again.
Perhaps the most relevant indicator regarding the artistic fate of Sică
Alexandrescu before 1945 is that, except for his debut in Cluj and for two
productions in one season at the Cernăuţi National Theatre, he was never
invited to direct at any of the national theatres – however rich and multifaceted
his artistic activity may have been.
Considering everything, when the regime changed, the owner of
Comedia and of so many smaller companies would have qualified perfectly for
the label of „bourgeois exploiter”, in letter and in spirit, and ought to have
been, as such, condemned to at least a few years out of the spotlight, if not
worse. Nevertheless...

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From a “bourgeois exploiter” to an “accompanying comrade” and

then to a “People’s Artist”

Between 1945 and 1948, the Comedia repertoir went through a radical
“renewal”. Next to classic plays and, again, Caragiale, staged with a cast of the
most representative actors brought together from all the different companies
owned by Sică Alexandrescu, during each season plays of either classic
Russian heritage or, already, of Soviet propaganda origin were added to
the repertoire. Ostrovski is a big hit, thanks to the addition to the team of a
Russian director turned Romanian national, Ivan N. Dubrovin, who seemed to
have materialized from nowhere and who, based on the little information we
have from that time18, may have been at some point a student of Stanislavski.
Despite repairs being made to the building, that Alexandrescu payed for
from his own pocket (the hall was rented from its owner, Eforia Spitalelor),
a lot of new titles are put on, in a mix of ”quality” repertoire, commercial
theatre, but also new discoveries: in 1946 the theatre witnessed, under the stage
direction of Sică, the debut of Aurel Baranga19, later one of the flagship
authors of communist propaganda in theatre and, for years on end, a writer
holding different leadership functions in the political apparatus. His debut
play, a comedy that people have long forgotten featuring peasants, was called
A ball in Făgădău and would turn out to be the first step into a long-term
friendship/collaboration among Sică Alexandrescu, Aurel Baranga and the
new star of theatre/political life, actor Radu Beligan20.
It is more than probable that, in the enthusiastic years up to the
nationalization, Sică Alexandrescu invested quite a bit of connective imagination
for quietly establishing useful alliances with the new favorites of the communist
regime. It is just as true that fate was, in a tragic way, extremely favorable for him.
After the demise by illness of writer and theatre director G. M. Zamfirescu21 in

18 Ioan Massof, Teatrul Românesc [The Romanian Theatre] (Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1981),
257–58.
19. Aurel Baranga (1913-1969) journalist and playwright. After his debut, as avant-garde poet in
1931, he joins in 1945 the communist apparatus. He is a member of the Central Comity of
the Communist party from 1969 to 1974.
20. Radu Beligan (1918-2016) theatre and film actor, theatre director, artistic manager of Comedy
Theatre in Bucharest (1961-1969) and of the National Theatre in Bucharest (1969-1989). President
of the International Institute of Theatre from 1971, and from 1977 appointed honorary
president for life. He was also an important political figure during the communist regime,
awarded the title of “People’s Artist” in 1962, member of The Central Comity of the Communist
Party (1969-1989) and a representative in the National Assembly (1961-1975).
21. George Mihail Zamfirescu (1898-1939)

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1939, at only 41, between 1944 and 1947, three of the masters of modern theatre
directing disappeared by accident – all both theorists and innovating artists:
Soare Z. Soare22 died on the very day of August 23 1944, in the fire exchange at
Băneasa, while he was coming back from Bucharest, in a taxi, to the village
where he was staying in refuge. Victor Ion Popa and Ion Sava would die
just one year apart, the first in 1946 and the other in 1947, prey to incurable
diseases. This series of misfortunes is completed by the departure of the
Italian director Fernando de Cruciatti23, who had been hired in 1938 at the
National Theatre, had enjoyed for years a well-deserved level of appreciation
and had even taken over the Romanian citizenship; in the beginning of 1949 the
artist was forced by the authorities to go back to his native country. In other
words, the field of modernist stage direction that had blossomed between
the wars was now drastically diminished, and the National Theatre would
be the first to feel the consequences of this disaster.
In this context, the nationalization entails an almost full absorption of
the Comedia theatre into the staff of the National Theatre, starting with Sică
Alexandrescu. Given that he had first set a play at the National Theatre only in
1946, the public and professional presence of the entrepreneur-director would
gain, almost overnight, an impressive weight.
First of all, the overgrowth of staff in the National Theatre, in times of
material hardship, did not seem to generate any sustainability worries for the
new authorities, even under precarious administration/repertoire organization.
For mysterious reasons, the authorities decided not to repair/rebuild the
traditional National building but, strangely, to use Majestic/Comedia building,
as main headquarters, and the studio in Piaţa Amzei was kept; the old National
theatre ended up being demolished. Even though it seems speculative, it is
even possible that a mutually beneficial deal had been arranged between the
entrepreneur Alexandrescu and the communist regime: he lost the halls (which
were all rented, so he only lost the restauration money that were already
invested) and won the status of first stage director of the National.
Secondly, the absorption of the Comedia actors (but also of others from
theatres run by Sică Alexandrescu) radically changed the elitist composition of
the actor corps of the first stage in the country. The society partners, but also the
regular actors in National Theatres had enjoyed, for almost a century, certain
privileges (summer salary being only one of them) that actors in private
companies had not had access to. The most renowned actors would also hold

22. Soare Z. Soare (1894-1944)

23. Fernando de Cruciatti (1889-?) was an Italian theatre and film actor, theatre director.

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positions as teachers at the Conservatorium. The payment grids of National

Theatres were significantly higher than whatever a private company was able
to pay, no matter how successful its shows. It is, therefore, understandable
that the takeover of the Comedia actors, which practically doubled the cast of
the National Theatre, would mean an overthrowing of decade-old hierarchies
and would change the internal chemistry of the team, favoring the recognition
of Sică Alexandrescu as an essential power and decision factor, even without
any official confirmation.
We must also take into account, in this context, both the new ideological
rhetoric and the new “routines” of “collective management”, with meetings
for political persuasion, for establishing the aesthetic norms according to the
Stalinist views etc. as they had been imposed by the pro-Soviet regime. On the
basis of a well-developed elasticity, acquired during the decades of commercial
success, in which he had had to become an expert in networking, Sică
Alexandrescu was to become, overnight, not just one of the pillars of stage
direction in the National Theatre, but also one of the „trustworthy” mouthpiece
of the system.

Sică Alexandrescu never presumed to become a theorist. And yet,

without throwing around his weight, yet authoritatively, he instated
his own «norm code», that mostly came forth of his practical experience,
carefully and patiently distilled and compared to that of his peers.24

It is precisely his perfect indifference to the aesthetic debates on modernist

theatre directing of the interbellum, his ironical views on “decadent” avant-
garde trends, experiments or to any search for new kinds of theatre expression
that would offer him, at the time of Stalinist propaganda, some kind of carte
blanche for building the new directorial academism, disguised in the confused
uniform of “socialist realism”. Socialist realism25 did have, in theatre, its own
methodologic norm, dictated by Stalin himself: the Stanislavski system and

24. Margareta Anghelescu, ”Introductory study” in Sică Alexandrescu, Un Drum În Teatru

[A Way in Theatre] (Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1980), 55.
25. The term of socialist realism, as normative, was first used by Maxim Gorki in 1932 and later
attributed to Stalin himself. The All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934 defined Socialist
Realism as the only true art, effectively out-lawing all “dissident” artwork. After the Second
World War, the socialist realism became the artistic dogma for all the communist countries for
at leas one decade, fadeing (with local particularities) after Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s
denonciation of the ‘cult of personality´. See on that subject Andrew Ellis, ed., Socialist
Realisms: Soviet Painting 1920–1970 (Milano: Skira, 2012).

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method26. In other words, just like Molière’s Mr Jourdain, Sică Alexandrescu

would declare himself a sui generis Stanislavskian, “sans le savoir” – and this
move holds the key to his reception as an absolute classic, which is finally
due to his good maneuvering of the historic context.
As a matter of fact, the correct platitude of his staging went hand in
hand with his demonstrative choice of directing texts that were pure political
orders, the kind of texts that would flood all the country’s stages at the time.
Besides Soviet playwrights that had become the standard (Kataev, Kanin with
I was born yesterday, 1948, Serghei Mihalkov with Ilia Golovin, 1950, Stein
with A personal issue, 1955 and 1957) or Russian classics (Gogol, The Reviser,
1952 and 1956, Ostrovski with The girl without a dowry, 1954), `master` Sică
was a true performer of the new proletcultist playwriting, staging it almost
every season, up to 1960: five titles by Baranga, two of Mircea Ştefănescu,
one by Lucia Demetrius and, of course, the (painfully failed) dramatic debut of
”Academy member” Mihai Beniuc, called În valea Cucului (In the Cuckoo’s
Valley) – a peasant drama about the collectivization, set in Transylvania. This
last play would be the object of his own unembarrassed, thick praise, with
a clear addressee, in Teatrul magazine:
However, the card he would play starting in 1950 remained that of
declared “Stanislavskian”, self-evident classicality, together with “authentically
staying in the service of the dramatic author” and using simply appropriate
casts, whose artistic contributions to the making of the shows would nonetheless
be overstated in declarations. Tickling the (natural, after all, in all ages)
egos of his actors became, paradoxically, a weapon with theoretical value.

The Caragiale umbrella

1952 was witness to the celebration of 100 years since Caragiale’s

birth. The regime could not afford to fail taking on board the memory of the
national “comedy genius”. For Sică Alexandrescu, the Caragiale centennial
represented the main stake for enhancing his official imago: a new facade,
on the one hand, meant to erase from the public memory the old image of
expert in commercial theatre and; on the other hand, he could prove himself
capable of giving his artistic abilities a theoretical backing and an air of
“seriousness” with an academic scent.

26. Lynn Mally, “Autonomous Theater and the Origins of Socialist Realism: The 1932 Olympiad of
Autonomous Art,” Russian Review 52, no. 2 (April 1993): 198, [Link]

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The truth is that, even starting with his first contribution as a director-
on-hire at the National in 1948, Sică went back to O scrisoare pierdută (A Lost
Letter). He chose a composite cast, with old theatre society members and
several newcomers from Comedia, some of whom would, for decades, will
act as a sort of backbone for the successive “reinvigorations” of this production:
Marcel Anghelescu as Pristanda, Costache Antoniu as “the drunk citizen”,
Niki Atanasiu as Caţavencu, Ion Finteşteanu as Farfuridi, Radu Beligan as
Agamemnon Dandanache. The less inspired Ion Ulmeni would be replaced
from1952 and in 1956 versions, by the unmistakable Alexandru Giugaru, the
stage-filling Nicolae Brancomir would be exchanged in the same remake
with the mimic and attitude comedian Grigore Vasiliu-Birlic; and the younger
and more charming Constantin Bărbulescu would replace Alexandru Critico
as Tipătescu. As for the central position, that of Zoe, Sică Alexandrescu was
less... decided: in 1948, Zoe would be interpreted by the commercial theatre
comedian Eugenia Zaharia, ex-owner of ephemeral companies and someone
of an apparently too „light” talent for the importance of the part. In 1952 and
in the 1956 version, the part was to be taken over and shared by two great
actresses with an undeniable prestige on the main stage of the country: Cella
Dima and the gorgeous Elvira Godeanu (rumor had it at the time that she
was in an “intimate” relationship with the very leader of the country). No
surprise in the fact that, in all the versions cases, the scenography was signed
by Walter Siegfried. We are talking about, and this would be the case in
many situations, the very same stage set that had just been dusted clean.
In 1949 Alexandrescu remade and expanded his coupé O seară la Union.
O noapte furtunoasă (A Night at Union and & A Stormy Night) from 1937, in
which he had sharply combined pieces of Momente şi Schiţe27, but also bits
of Cânticelele comice (Comic songs) by Alecsandri.
He would come back to Caragiale in 1951 though, with D’ale
Carnavalului, which he had put on at least four times by then in his various
companies. The production only ran for a month; the scenography was again
made by Siegfried. The cast was based on his constant actors – one could call
them „the Sică team” within the National Theatre: Radu Beligan, Alexandru
Giugaru, Niki Atanasiu, Grigore Vasiliu Birlic, Cella Dima, with the addition of
Maria Voluntaru and the much younger Carmen Stănescu, who would later
become the last and unforgotten Zoe that the maestro chose for Scrisoarea
pierdută.

27. Momente si schite (Moments and Sketches) is a famous collection of [Link] short stories.

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Looking back, it becomes clear that the director was preparing, in fact, to
programmatically restage all of Caragiale’s comedies for the centennial
season, on the – virtually prestigious, but not completely fulfilled - model that
he had used in 1937. This personal ambition may have silently influenced the
torturing process of censorship and rewriting “on demand” that Academy
member Camil Petrescu was submitted to, while writing Caragiale in his
time28, a play he dedicated to the same event. The Alexandrescu’s “auctorial”
project had to come first. Plus, Camil Petrescu, the former manager of the
theatre (1938-1939), had to learn his place, under the new communist regime.
In February 1952, he would redo Noaptea furtunoasă, this time in a
collage with Conu’ Leonida faţă cu reacţiunea (Leonida and the revolution). For
the first, he kept the cast and set of 1949 production, for Conu Leonida he invited
the venerable actors Sonia Cluceru and George Timică. In March 1952, he
would produce a new combination: a coupé between Momente and D’ale
Carnavalului in which, of course, the second part was simply a recycling of
the performance the year before. If we also count the festive performances,
throughout the season, of Scrisoarea pierdută, it is clear that we already have
an integral succession of all comedies, of which a vast majority are remakes
of old performances.
The communist authorities do not seem to have caught on to the trick.
Quite the opposite, they were extremely happy, the newspapers, radio and
news broadcasts cannot praise enough this consistent and “brilliant”
valorization of the great playwright works. And the director earned, in the
collective memory, a never contested first place as far as staging Caragiale
is concerned, which would last for a few decades.
In April 1952, by National Assembly decree, together with other actors
of the theatre (among whom, obviously, Costache Antoniu, the communist
party’s secretary into the National), Sică Alexandrescu was awarded an Ordinul
Muncii clasa I (Order for Work Merit, class I) “for the work undertaken during
the Caragiale centennial”; in January 1953, by means of a similar decree, he
was crowned with the title of Maestru Emerit al Artei (Honour Master of Art).
Seven years later he’ll become a “People’s Artist”.
Sică Alexandrescu would nonetheless back up his remakes spree at
the National with stances with more theoretical pretentions that are published
in the contemporary press and would be restated not only in several articles,
but also in later books. His basic tenet was, of course, that of “recovering”

28. See Ion Vartic, ed., Caragiale În Vremea Lui. Procesul Tovarăşului Camil [Caragiale in His Time, The
Case against Comrade Camil] (Bucharest: Fundaţia Culturală Camil Petrescu / Teatrul Azi, 2014).

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the work of the great comedy author in the “original” form, that in which
Caragiale had directed his own opening performances. He claimed that this
pursuit of directorial archaeology had been informed by very old actors, like
Nicolae Soreanu, who had been a part of the original casts – as he stressed
in the introduction of Stage direction notebook for A Lost Letter, first published
in 1953. While in this edition Radu Beligan was mentioned as a `working
party`, in the bundle of Notebooks on 1956, in which O noapte furtunoasă and
D’ale Carnavalului are added, Belgian’s name magically disappeared.
Publishing stage direction notebooks, on Stanislavski’s model, was meant
to add to the classic-academic-leaning foundation of the `maestro’s life work. Of
course, however, the language used to justify the need for recovering the
`authentic` Caragiale vision of the comedies was the typical jargon for the hard-
core cultural propaganda of the beginning of the 50’s:

The bourgeois-landowners’ oligarchy, which Caragiale unmasks and

condemns in his comedies, being unable to attack his vigorous body
of work in brutal ways (like the organized gangs of troublemakers
and fighters, the chauvinist attack by Sturdza in front of the
Academy, the Caion affair) chose a subversive, much subtler manner
of diminishing its corrosive virulence. Instead of members of the
exploiting classes, Caragiale’s characters were first interpreted by
bourgeois theatre criticism, and later transformed by the stage
performances, by means of scenography and costume, as being
small provincial slum-dwellers.29

As all ideological interpretation of the situations and characters in

Caragiale was blooming in this age, it is obvious that the thesis of a progressive
„alteration” of the performances, however absurd (and finally hypocritical,
if we take a look at a few of the first „summer” shows by Sică Alexandrescu,
with some actors coming straight from music-hall or variety theatre) fit like a
glove on the dogmatic, mechanistic and self-important discourse of the new
theatre critique. The falseness of the hypothesis is proved, paradoxically,
precisely by the minute similarity of the way spaces, typological casts and
performances were conceived, whether before or right after the war, in
Bucharest, Craiova, Iaşi or wherever else.

29. Sică Alexandrescu, Caiet de Regie Pentru O Scrisoare Pierdută [Directing Notebooks for A Lost
Letter] (Bucharest: Editura pentru literatură şi artă, 1953), 6.

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In fact, the very much praised and used stage direction notebook turns
out to be a whip-up of transparently superfluous stage direction indications,
accompanied by movement concepts for the – rather static – scenes of every
act. More than that, in the notebook, the director himself refers to so-called
„traditional” lines: these being lines that Caragiale’s actors introduced during
the rehearsals and that the writer approved on site, but never introduced in
the printed editions. However, these remained intact, being passed on from
generation to generation: the best example is the last line uttered by Cetăţeanul
turmentat, “Nu mai pupa mâna, că se-nchide urna!” (“Stop kissing the hand, the
poll might end!”). Alexandrescu didn’t even feel the contradiction between this
respect borne by the teams of artists to the performance memory of the author
and the thesis of `alteration`: a thesis that, today, as in its time, preserves its
ridiculousness and toxicity:

After his death, “ministers, MPs, senators, higher or lower officials

and political partisans of more or less influence” have done
everything in their power to make sure that “the Caragiale style”
remained only an ever-fading memory...30

While emphatically remembering, in an article written ten years later, his

so-called process of “restauration” of the Caragiale performances in 1952, that he
had been so generously rewarded for by the authorities (in the meantime, in
1960, he had also become a People’s Artist), a process to which he had already
devoted so many other articles, all saying the same thing, the stage director
did not miss the opportunity to self-importantly conclude:

Caragiale’s theatre, returned today to its author, has resurged from

the very spirit that created it, returned to the mind and soul that
created it, renewed its old garments on the patterns of the original
cut and now appears as the most authentic page of critical realism
expressed through domestic playwriting.31

30. Ibid., 7.
31. “Caragiale şi montările sale”(Caragiale and his set-ups), Contemporanul, 8 iunie 1962, in
Alexandrescu, Un Drum În Teatru [A Way in Theatre], 132.

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The fight for re-theatricalization

What we, today, call “the fight for re-theatricalization” is, in fact, a
large debate, with strong polemic accents, about stage directing, which had
originally been started by the Contemporanul magazine in the spring of 1956;
its echoes were still to be heard, especially in the new Teatrul magazine, up until
the end of 1957. The debate took place in the context of the short ideological
`spring` that all communist countries enjoyed after Nikita Khrushchev’s speech
in February 1956, in which the secretary general of the CPUS condemned the
crimes and personality cult of the Stalinist age. Khrushchev had thus given a
sign to re-evaluate the ideological and cultural limitations imposed by hard-
core Stalinism. Similar re-evaluations took place all throughout the European
East, particularly as far as cultural practices were concerned. In Romania, under
the discrete supervision of party representatives, this trend would somewhat
shake the film-making industry and the literary circles. However, it was only
in theatre that the ball rolled and became more substantial; this was especially
because of the accumulated tensions between the `old guard` of privileged
artists, in alliance with `party` playwrights, and a new generation of stage
directors that called for a real professionalization of the whole of the artistic
process, but also for a much more dynamic modernisation of performing arts.
The young directors (Mihai Raicu32, who also had political responsibilities),
Lucian Giurchescu33, Horea Popescu34, Sorana Coroamă Stanca35, Dan Nasta36,
Liviu Ciulei, George Rafael37, Radu Stanca38, Crin Teodorescu39, Vlad Mugur40,
joined, even if more discretely, by Ion Cojar41 and Miron Niculescu42, from

32. Mihai Raicu (born 1922) theatre director, artistic manager of several theatres between
1952 and 1978, like the Satu Mare State Theatre, The National Theatre of Cluj, The National
Theatre of Targu Mures etc.
33. Lucan Giurchescu (born 1930) theatre director, former artistic manager of Comedy Theatre
Bucharest (1969-1979, 1990-1993).
34. Horea Popescu (1925-2010) theatre and film director.
35. Sorana Coroama Stanca (1921-2007) theatre and television director, playwright.
36. Dan Nasta (1919-2015) poet, actor, theatre director and art collector.
37. GeorgeRafael (1920-1984) theatre director.
38. Radu Stanca (1920-1962) poet, playwright, theatre director, theatre theorist.
39. Crin Teodorescu (1925-1970) theatre director.
40. Vlad Mugur (1927-2001) theatre director, theatre professor, artistic manager of National
Theatre in Cluj (1965-1971).
41. Ion Cojar (1931-2009) theatre director, theatre professor, artistic manager of National Theatre
in Bucharest (1997-2001).
42. Miron Niculescu (born 1930) theatre director.

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

the Bucharest National Theatre), informally organised as “The V. I. Popa circle

of young directors”, and took frequent and acid positions in Contemporanul.
At the same time, they wrote well-founded essays of theatre aesthetics, but
also critical articles of the daily theatre life in Bucharest and in the country, or
reviews dedicated to the theatre education; most of the essays were published
in Teatrul magazine43.
The concept of re-theatricalisation was introduced by Radu Stanca, in
his two essays dedicated to theatre aesthetics, and was taken over by Liviu
Ciulei in a famous study about scenography; the term was, in fact, a bridge
towards the large-scale movement of theatricalisation (aesthetic modernist
marking of the artistic autonomy of stage direction, in relation to literature
and film) that had taken shape between the wars; it was theoretically
founded by the Russian avant-garde and discussed in a Romanian context
especially by the famous theatre directors Ion Sava, Ion Aurel Maican and
Victor Ion Popa.
This artistic and generational conflict was sustained from the shadows
by the very authorities responsible with theatre at the time: the young
literature professor Paul Cornea44 had recently been nominated as a director
of the Performance Arts Directorate in the Ministry of Culture. He was the
one to draw the seemingly peace-making conclusions of the debate in
Contemporanul, from September 1956, and at the same time the person allowing
the young directors of the `circle` to present a separate report from the one
drawn by his own Directorate, called `Referat`, in the framework of the
history-making Forum of theatre makers in December 1956. The forum often
fell pray to angry exchanges of opinions and accusations; but, to the surprise
of `the old guard`, in the closing argument, Paul Cornea congratulated the
young group and programmatically took over some of their remarks.
How did Sică Alexandrescu feature in this small turmoil? His artistic
path seemed to go through a paradoxical phenomenon. On the one hand,
some of the young directors that had launched the polemic waves started
attacking him indirectly, or even by name, as early as March-April 1956. On

43. Miruna Runcan, Teatralizarea Şi Reteatralizarea În România. 1920-1960 [The Theatricalisation

and Re-Theatricalisation in Romania], Second ed. (Bucharest: Editura Liternet, 2012).
44. Paul Cornea (born 1923) comparative literature academic, author of numerous research
volumes in literary aesthetics and literary sociology. In his youth, he was a communist
activist, and was the director Performance Arts Directorate in the Ministry of Culture
(1956-1958) and the director of the Cinema Directorate of the same Ministry (1958-1968).

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the other hand, the regime rewarded him with the very first international
tour that a Romanian theatre, the National, would be allowed since the end
of the Second World War.45
The attacks started, for instance, with an article by Mihail Raicu, who
indirectly referred to the press and public failure of Sică’s (one and only)
attempt at staging a Shakespeare play, King Lear to be exact, in the summer
of 1955:

No doubt that it is also the diplomatic tone of the Theatre Directorate

whenever an Honour or People’s Artist ought to be criticised that
contributes to the lukewarm hushing of any difference in opinions.
At the same time, theatre directors seldom notice new insights when
they appear in their theatres, so as to be able to promote or harness
them.46

Yet it was George Rafael, the excellent stage director at Teatrul Tineretului
(The Youth Theatre and later Nottara), who had the huge courage of passing
straight to concrete examples. The young directors, he claimed, were held
in a sort of reserve pool in the big theatres, or even boycotted by the actor
crews with resounding names, something that took place with the direct
support of the older stage directors - who were neither interested in teaching
anybody anything, nor capable of accepting that other visions than their
own were possible. The theatre institutions, such as they were organised
and functioning at the time, not only did not encourage young talent, but
were suspicious of newcomers and held them back, whenever they were
not working them out plain and simple:

Because, paradoxically, Teatrul Tineretului has not trained, since it was

established, any young stage director. Similarly, Teatrul Municipal has
not trained so far any young director, with the exception of Dan Nasta,

45. “To whom do we owe this happy, unexpected result? (A.N.: the success of the Paris tour in
1956) First of all, we owe it to Caragiale and to the people taking charge today of the
destiny of our country, whom we will never be able to thank enough for helping us reach
this summit for Romanian theatre: we owe it to the party, which so lovingly fosters art
and its servants, to our wise and generous government, who put their faith in us and sent
us to Paris with dear sacrifices.” Sică Alexandrescu, Caragiale în timpul nostru (Caragiale in
our times), Editura pentru literatură, Bucharest, 1962, p. 135.
46. Mihail Raicu, “Meşteşugari Şi Artişti [Artisans and Artists],” Contemporanul, March 16, 1956.

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

who trained himself. (...). How come comrades Sică Alexandrescu, W.

Siegfried or Mony Ghelerter have not trained at least one youngster
each, how come they haven’t helped at least one person grow and
promoted them as a stage director?47

Sică Alexandrescu would only join the debate at a late stage, allowing
first the floor to a deliberately dogmatic first line including Academy members
Eftimiu48 and Călinescu49, his colleague and competitor Ion Şahighian50 (whose
acidity against the younger generation was only matched by the mechanical
proletarian jargon he used, typical for the public lynching specific to the political
trials of the age), director Marin Iorda51, actor and professor Ion Finteşteanu
and theatre historian and party activist Simion Alterescu52. All these voices
changed the direction of the discussion, accusing the youngsters of arrogance,
impatience in allowing themselves to grow up, contempt for the `fundamental
primacy of the text`, but also for the actor’s artistic contribution. The sparring
between the youngsters, backed up by professor G. Dem Loghin53 and other
important voices, among whom even Tudor Arghezi 54 and the old guard
would go on for months on end.
It was only in September that the voice of master Sică was to be heard,
after coming back all glorious from the Paris tour, where, in the Festival Thèâtre
des Nations, the National had presented O scrisoare pierdută, but also Ultima
oră by Mihail Sebastian, directed by Moni Ghelerter. Despite its shortness and
the fact that it is written more as a pamphlet than as a response to the complex
issues that had been raised by most of his interlocutors, his article, called ”Let

47. Rafael George, “Regizorii Tineri, Presa Şi Altele... [Young Directors, Press and Other
Matters...],” Contemporanul, April 6, 1956.
48. Victor Eftimiu, “Regizorul Şi Textul [The Stage Director and the Text],” Contemporanul,
April 13, 1956.
49. George Calinescu (1899-1965) was a famous and influential literary critic and historian.
50. Ion Şahighian, “Problema Regiei Într-Un Punct Critic [The Issue of Directing at a Critical
Point],” Contemporanul, April 20, 1956.
51. Marin Iorda, “Câteva Aspecte Concrete Ale Muncii Regizorului [Some Concrete Aspects
of the Stage Director’s Work],” Contemporanul, May 18, 1956.
52. Simion Alterescu, “Îndrăsneală Şi... Încă Ceva [Daring And... Something Else],” Contemporanul,
May 4, 1956.
53. Dem G. Loghin, “Arta Regiei Nu a Rămas În Urma Artei Actoriceşti [The Directing Art
Has Not Remained behind the Acting Profession],” Contemporanul, August 22, 1956.
54. Tudor Arghezi (1880-1967) One of the most prominent Romanian poets, writers and journalists
of the XX century.

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us be more optimistic!” was one of the most obvious, but also most perverse
attacks of the ”old guard” . Sitting comfortably not only on the Paris tour
pedestal (about which he would later, in 196855, publish a book that included
more work-related travels), but also on the comfortable position of common
sense, Sică Alexandrescu gave the impression that he agreed with and even
encouraged the purpose of the “debate”. Yet his intervention appeared to be
eager to draw conclusions and close the discussion, diluting the concepts and
levelling the very conflict at its core.

We can face the future with faith. And we must not forget that
there are stage directors who have rightly been awarded the title of
Honour Masters, people who have dedicated their lives to this craft
since 1944: Finţi, Moni Ghelerter, followed by a flock of promising
talents in stage directing. I call them «promising», because, however
talented and in a hurry these youngsters may be, the profession of
stage director remains one that requires some maturity.
As these new elements will reach their maturity, they will fortunately
replace the “empirical craftsmen”. But until then, let us give praise that
Romanian theatre, as good or bad as it is, is capable of representing us
honorably in international competitions like the one this year in Paris,
and that the National Theatre, with its hybrid crew (as described by
a collaborator to the official magazine Teatrul) manages to gain a top
place among the world’s nations.56

Despite the ironic tone (which would earn him an irate answer, in
Teatrul magazine, signed by Ştefan Aug. Doinaş57, a temporary editor of the
said publication), the motif that Alexandrescu attacked most profoundly
was the distinction between craftsman and artist, present in the title of the
previous Mihail Raicu article (the one that caused the most annoyed reactions
on the side of the “maestros”).

55. Sică Alexandrescu, Cu Teatrul Românesc Peste Hotare [Taking Romanian Theatre Abroad]
(Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1968).
56. Sică Alexandrescu, “Să Fim Mai Optimişti! [Let Us Be More Optimistic!],” Contemporanul,
September 7, 1956.
57. Ştefan Augustin Doinaş, “Argumentele Unui Optimist [The Arguments of an Optimist],”
Teatrul, no. 7 (July 1957): 85–86.

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

In our environment, most youngsters, if they have had the chance

to run a show once, wish for nothing less than to run the show by
themselves for good. (...) It is on purpose that I call it a craft. One of
the articles is called «Artisans or artists?». This is a dangerous
choice. And I think this is the very core of the problem. All of us
who do this work – or, if you do not like the word, this profession –
must be, as much as possible, masters of our craft. We must be good
craftsmen and, those who have it in them, artists (...) Whoever tries
to jump over the first step without treading on it solidly is wrong
to think that they will be able to balance on the top step of the art
of directing.58

Underneath the thinly spread layer of false modesty, the director

positioned as patriarch ended the intervention with normative definitions
that, in hindsight, are deliciously empty, proving once more a lack of
interest for any authentic theatrical culture and a complete mismatch with
the very essence of the debate that had already gone on for half a year:

Stage direction is not, nor should it ever be, as some claim “an art in
itself”. It should remain a subordinate art, an interpretative art. One
can have a “personal style”, one can become a “personality”, one
can dare all sorts of things, but the limit of daring is betraying the text.
One can be Yehudi Menuhin or Lipatti – in their art – yet the job is
to strictly follow what the inspiration of Beethoven laid down on the
staves. And that does not mean superficially “holding to the letter”59
of the author’s indications, but trying to understand and render
their deeper meaning.60

The fact that the debate slowly faded out in 1957, leaving a significant
imprint on the series of ever more brilliant performances of the years 1956-
1960, signed by the new directors caught up in the re-theatricalization fight,
but also by others who had just finished the university did not seem to put
Sică Alexandrescu’s mind at ease. This is possibly why he came back,
sarcastically, in the winter of 1958 (a rough year, with new arrests and

58. Alexandrescu, “Să Fim Mai Optimişti! [Let Us Be More Optimistic!].”

59. Sică Alexandrescu refers here to a previous article of G. Dem. Loghin.
60. Alexandrescu, “Să Fim Mai Optimişti! [Let Us Be More Optimistic!].”.

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persecutions, a time when the young editors at Teatrul, dedicated to the re-
theatricalization trend, Şt. Aug. Doinaş, Ioan Negoiţescu and I. D. Sârbu,
were all in prison!), by planting a new attack:

If a stage director has been successful, it is because, while present in

the performance, he was not visible to the public (...). We state this
because, again, I can see writers in the press agitating now, in the
sixth decade of this century, rediscoveries of issues that were being
discussed in 1922, regarding the «theatricalization» of theatre. I feel
as if I can see, at the core of this pompous problem stating, a huge
and ridiculous soap bubble. Theatre is theatre of it is nothing at
all. (…) We will continue also in the future to stay away from such
traps, even if some highly refined theatre scholars might consider us
out of fashion.61

Being contemporary with the first performances of Brecht’s plays,

staged by Lucian Giurchescu and Horea Popescu, which were accompanied
by debates on “the theory of distancing effect” and enjoyed enormous audience
and critical success, the vitriolic intentions of the statements above are drowned,
up to this day, in an involuntary ridiculousness.

Ending and apotheosis

After many performances and master classes abroad, granted to him

by the authorities over time (Finland, Germany, Belgium, Poland), Sică
Alexandrescu was, almost inexplicably, sent into retirement from the National
Theatre in 1967. However, he would not withdraw without having been
organised the exit of a big aristocrat: he would emphatically stage Apus de
soare (Sunset) by Delavrancea – in the same set design signed by Mircea
Marosin, with the same costumes and with over 60% of the cast (including
George Calboreanu in the leading role) of the same text directed in 1956
by… Marietta Sadova and Mihai Zirra! Not only did “no one remember”
the performance put on 11 years before, but the echoes of the 1967 one
would become a legend, especially due to the show’s filming and repeatedly
broadcasted, for decades, on television. At the end of his last season,

61. Sică Alexandrescu, “Drumul Teatrului Nostru E Bun [Our Theatre Is on a Good Path],”
Teatrul, no. 11 (1958).

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Alexandrescu staged the classic Răzvan şi Vidra by B. P. Hasdeu, taking

advantage of the anniversary of the writer, and the official press applauded
with gusto:

The making of this performance has been awarded – a tout seigneur,

tout honneur – to Sică Alexandrescu, certainly the most adapt
among our directors to faithfully translate the spirit and the flesh of
such a masterpiece, through the spirit of the National Theatre and the
sense of a commemoration of wide historic and cultural resonance.62

It would, however, not be a real retirement: starting in September, he

would be the director-manager of the State Theatre in Braşov (that he would
rename Teatrul Dramatic and would end up, today, bearing the name... Sică
Alexandrescu). The local authorities would afford him a personal car with a
chauffeur and even a superb nationalized villa in the old town, with a garden
going up to the mountain Tâmpa promenade. He would programmatically
introduce a full-year schedule, as in SCITA, taking out the summer holidays.
For his own work, he generally reset old stuff (including the recent Apus de
soare, with the same set and bringing in the leading actors of the Bucharest
national, who were paid a fortune). The truth is that even since the 50’s he had
put on the same Bucharest shows, for good money, throughout the country,
taking advantage of a permissive system.
The repertoire of the six Braşov seasons reminds one, to some degree,
of the repertoires at Teatrul Nostru or at Comedia: a mix of classic, Romanian
and foreign titles (Labiche, Scribe, Alecsandri, Caragiale, Zaharia Bârsan, V.I.
Popa) and more or less commercial comedies written by friends (Mircea
Ştefănescu, Baranga, Gheorghe Vlad) or even adaptations that he claimed as
his own [see Băieţaşul tatii sau Napoleon era fată (Daddy’s boy or Napoleon was
a girl), with a billboard stating ”an adaptation by Sică Alexandrescu of an
American farce”! – the real author is called Margaret Mayo]. Of course, by
the standards of the time, Soviet authors were well represented.
Alexandrescu invited a majority of directors from the older generations,
among which, gallantly, Marietta Sadova, whose Apus de soare he had
subtly taken over, and who found a collaborative refuge in Braşov for years
after that. The dusty repertoire and the distance between the top young
actors and the old invited directors generated a small press revolution: in
January 1969, some of the young crew (Maria Velcescu, Ştefan Dedu Farca,

62. Radu Popescu, “Răzvan Şi Vidra de B. P. Haşdeu,” România Liberă, February 25, 1967.

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Dan Săndulescu, Mihai Bălaş, Mircea Andreescu, Costache Babii, Luminiţa

Blănaru) organised in the Astra magazine a round table, moderated by the
just as young critic Ermil Rădulescu. They asked for new directors to be
invited, people with wider visions and more aware of the theatrical realities of
their time (the names of Radu Penciulescu and David Esrig were mentioned);
they strongly claimed a renewal of the repertoire and the setting up of an
experimental studio63. The heated atmosphere would soon be calmed, without
the director giving up the ”permanent season”: Alexandrescu would hire Eugen
Mercus, a stage director who had recently enjoyed great success in Târgu
Mureş and invite, next to people in his generation, a few younger directors
who stageed texts that had more to do with the spirit of the times [Aceşti
îngeri trişti (These sad angels) and Pisica în noaptea anului nou (The cat on
New year’s eve) by D.R. Popescu, The Price and The Crucible by Arthur Miller
etc.]. In the years to come, a relative peace was to follow.
People’s Artist Sică Alexandrescu would die of a stroke, while on
holidays in Cannes, on the 6th of August 1973. He is still considered, to this
day, a “classic” figure of Romanian stage direction.

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Abroad]. Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1968.
Alexandrescu, Sică. General La Patru Ani [A General at Four Years Old]. Bucharest:
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63. Ermil Rădulescu, “Masă Rotundă Cu Actorii Tineri [A Round Table with the Young
Actors],” Astra, February 1969.

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Paraschivescu, Constantin. Teatrul Sică Alexandrescu, Braşov. Monografie [Sica Alexandrescu

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(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.06

Ancient choreia in neurocognitive context

TOMASZ CIESIELSKI1

Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of difficulties in the detailed

reflection of the ancient aesthetic terms, in this case choreia - triune of dance,
music and singing. The paper hypothesis is that an important contribution to
understanding of choreia can be brought from contemporary cognitive sciences
and neurosciences. Firstly, an outline of the key historical and anthropological
research on the ancient term is presented, attained from classical sources as
well as the recent analysis. The issues that need clarification are then listed.
In the context of choreia it is primarily the type or level of experience, in which
the unity of music, singing and dancing would emerge. Analysis of the neural
correlates of predominantly motion, but also music and language perception
entails to recognize in them the potential basis for a unity of artistic elements
particularly in the cognitive experience of both the performer and spectator.
Further analysis within the cognitive theories regarding movement control
and the origins of the language contrives to see choreia as a specific cognitive
quality. The conclusions from these considerations are then applied to the
analysis of the performances of CHOREA Theatre Association, which refers to
ancient patterns. It leads to a further refinement of the choreia’s analysis and
indicate possible directions for further research.

Keywords: ancient dances, dance reconstruction, cognitive aesthetics,

neuroaesthetics, sensorimotor aesthetics, joint action

Introduction

Ancient choreia, despite years of scientist’s studying and artist’s

experimenting its heritage, remains mostly a blur fantastic wish or romantic
dream of both of these groups. The first, approach the problem from different
perspectives at the end having them, as Graham Ley state, paradoxically

1. Faculty of Philology, University of Łódź, Poland. ciesielski_t@[Link]

 TOMASZ CIESIELSKI

obscuring their view on the case2. The second, on the other hand, rely on their
intuition, which tends to be strongly affected by their modern craftsmanship
and current trends. This last assessment can be easily assigned to anybody
trying to work with Greek tragedy, as it always means dealing with foundations
of Western culture, therefore also using history to express our own needs and
desires. Nevertheless, there are some apparent facts to which we can refer to.
Attempting to keep to those mostly approved, I will try to show in the current
study if modern cognitivism and neurosciences can shed light on our
understanding of the experience of choreia, as well as its indisputable importance
for the theatre.
To pursue the methodological endeavor of this article I begin by gathering
the findings of historical research on the essence of the ancient choreia. Thus,
the term is defined in a broad manner and put in the right theoretical and
historical context. This indicates the directions in which choreia can be possibly
recontextualized using theoretical and conceptual apparatus of modern
cognitive science and neuroscience. In particular, the research on the neural
correlates of motion control and perception, as well as proposals for binding
them to the processing of music and language are at stake. The conclusions of
this section are further correlated with the contemporary theatrical practice,
which attempts to performatively reconstruct the cognitive and aesthetic
quality of the ancient choreia.

Choreia – the unity of three

“Choreia, of course, is dance and song taken as a whole” (Laws, II,

654b)3, says Plato in the Laws, in a passage that directs my reflection.
Although the philosopher is not mentioning here “words” or “action”, it is
clear that they were also a part of it, which makes choreia a total form of
art4. If turning around this statement we may also say after Ley, that most
probably there was no poetry without music5.

2. Graham Ley, The Theatricality of Greek Tragedy: Playing Space and Chorus (Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 2007).
3. Interestingly, the same passage form Laws is also translated “Choir-training, as a whole,
embraces of course both dancing and song” Plato, Laws, ed. and trans. R.G. Burry, Loeb
Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990, p. 93.
4. A.P. David, The Dance of the Muses. Choral Theory and Ancient Greek Poetics (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2006), 35.
5. Ley, The Theatricality of Greek Tragedy: Playing Space and Chorus, 133.

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 ANCIENT CHOREIA IN NEUROCOGNITIVE CONTEXT

David is fulfilling this picture arguing that the very base of Greek
poetry – the metre – is by all means a residue of the movement:

…it is far more likely that what is called a metre in ancient Greek
was always, to begin with, a dance measure (even if modified by the
epithet ‘iambic’). The elements of metre are feet! […] Plato is explicit
that metres measure bodily motion, not speech…6

In another fragment, David becomes even more straightforward:

Metres, we are likely to be told, are abstract systems of formal

constraints. But think about the nature of a foot: there is nothing
either abstract or formal about it; it is, in fact, the most pedestrian
thing there is. A poetic foot in Greece was a dance step […] If a
dance began […], on the right foot for luck, and ended on the right
foot as well in the final antistrophe or epode, we have a hypothesis
for reconstructing the steps of an ode. One need only remember, as
a general maxim, to put one foot after another; or to put it another
way, the left foot must come between successive steps of the right.
If my reader can walk, or has seen people walk, he will quickly grasp
the real constraints inherent in Greek metre.7

Thus, David closes the circle of dance – poetry – music – dance – etc.
with the very dance at the beginning as an extra-linguistic origin of metre
in Greek poetry8. Therefore, dance marked the musicality of poetry or even
ancient Greek language in general:

Ancient Greek is already musical, measured as it is purely by the

short or long of the syllable, and not subject to variable or discretional
stress (which he terms accent) as in modern meters. The rhythm is
inherent in the words: “The syllables themselves are the rhythmic
matter from which a rhythm originates.9

6. David, The Dance of the Muses. Choral Theory and Ancient Greek Poetics, 27.
7. David, 37.
8. David, 30.
9. Thrasybulos Georgos Georgiades, Greek Music, Verse, and Dance (Cambridge, MA: Da
Capo Press, 1973), 55.

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 TOMASZ CIESIELSKI

This takes us back to dance or wider – movement as an original

source. It is actually misleading to even consider this relation as a circle of
dependence as presented above, as for the ancient Greeks dance, music and
poetry most probably existed almost as one entity. This is valid at least
until the development of tragedy, which disunited them. An important
moment of this process is the exclusion of the actor from chorus, which led
chorus to become representational.

What had been a composer’s orchestra was obliged to become a

dramatist’s vehicle, costumed and perhaps even masked: a chorus
of old men, or libation-bearing women, or Furies. Unlike music and
dance, which need not be imitative, the phenomenon of the dramatic
personation and representation of myth could be linked directly to
depictions in the visual and the plastic arts, and imitation became the
central concern of philosophical approaches to poetry and poetics.10

This process seems to be irreversible. Music, dance and poetry

separated and evolved alone, making it if not impossible for contemporary
artist to perform them together, then mostly recognised only as virtuosity.
Classical music is to be listened by a static spectator, dancing to it often rather
disturbs the experience then strengthens it. Moreover, ironically, the same
audience usually does not understand the words sung if not following libretto,
which also underscores the distance between once joint qualities of choreia.
What is gone from the cultural point of view (even though many
artists attempt to challenge themselves with creating performances somehow
actualizing ancient chorus) paradoxically seems to never have happened for
the human mind. I will argue below, that choreia is the ever-actual modality
of perception.

Neurocognitive perspective

The breakthrough discovery that allows such speculations and fertilizes

many other fields of humanities is the existence of so called “mirror neurons”
in human brain. By the end of the 20th century Italian neurobiologists found
neural networks that activate both when one performs a certain task, e.g.
opening the door at the time of observing the same action. For the first time

10. David, The Dance of the Muses. Choral Theory and Ancient Greek Poetics, 25.

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 ANCIENT CHOREIA IN NEUROCOGNITIVE CONTEXT

this mechanism has been observed in macaque monkeys, when examining

the reactions of selected areas of the monkey’s brain whilst performing specific
tasks (in this case grabbing of a fruit). Electrodes placed in the macaque’s brain
were signalling the stimulation of selected areas of the central nervous
system. To scientists’ surprise, at the moment when a monkey was idle, and
one of the researchers caught the fruit, the electrodes received a strong signal.
Neurons responded the same way as when the macaque was catching the
legume itself. Scientists have poetically called discovered cells “the mirror
neurons”11 – name as appealing as misleading. These cells are in fact only a
part of a complex structure – as called by Emily S. Cross – Action Observation
Network12. It includes, in anatomical terms: cells that encode only movement,
canonical neurons coupling movement with objects, simulation/mirror cells
and other supplementary circuits. AON plays a crucial role of solving almost
all the calculations needed to perceive and perform physical actions. All
determined by an inherent economy of human brain – the less effort the
better. The economy or optimization rule serves its purpose on every level of
the process. Therefore, it is easier to relay on the same mechanism of the action
processing and apply it whenever needed than create each time a precise picture
of it. Likewise, it is more efficient to use the same circuits for both performing
and observing similar actions done by others, than double the information in the
memory for each modality of its usage. Considering a wide discussion on the
importance of such neuronal multimodality for social interaction, it can be also
seen as a premise for a joint action and synchronisation of ancient chorus13.
The very same economy leads to the coupling of sounds and actions. As
proved in later research of the Italian scientists, the macaque’s mirror neurons
reacted also when it only heard the sound of the action14. Speech and sounds

11. Vittorio Gallese, “Embodied Simulation: From Neurons to Phenomenal Experience,”

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 4, no. 1 (March 2005): 32, [Link]
s11097-005-4737-z; Vittorio Gallese et al., “Action Recognition in the Premotor Cortex,”
Brain 119 (1996): 593–609; G Rizzolatti et al., “Premotor Cortex and the Recognition of
Motor Actions.,” Brain Research. Cognitive Brain Research 3, no. 2 (March 1996): 131–41,
[Link]
12. Emily S. Cross, “Building a Dance in the Human Brain: Insights from Expert and Novice
Dancers,” in The Neurocognition of Dance. Mind, Movement and Motor Skills, ed. Bettina Bläsing,
Martin Puttke-Voss, and Thomas Schack (Hove - New York: Psychology Press, 2010), 210.
13. Yuval Hart et al., “Individuality and Togetherness in Joint Improvised Motion,” Plos One
9, no. 2 (2014).
14. Marc Jeannerod, Motor Cognition: What Actions Tell the Self (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2006), 111.

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in general are most probably encoded audiomotorically, once again partly by

the circuits involved in action processing15. However, this relation is not only
anatomical. Cognitivists propose that action programs operated by AON
when memorizing the movement are based on Basic Action Concepts16. These
can be described audibly, verbally and visually. For example, a fundamental
for classical ballet plié (bending of the knees) can be considered as such an
action concept, which can be repeated with a “fitting it” resonant name. That
does not mean, however, that BACs necessarily relay on representation. It is
worth noting particularly when considering the not-obvious relation between
the sound and movement, for example in karate, which tends to be rather a
dynamic coherence and not a relation of representation17. These two issues
link us back to David’s insistence on keeping the metre underfoot. Brain is
apparently inherently linking sound and dancing step, both on a hardware
level of anatomical region used during dancing, and software level of
dynamically joint performance of voice and foot. When recognized, such a
synchronized activity might be rewarded by the pleasure mechanism in the
brain, as a sign of subject’s or potential partner’s health, but also stimulate
the search for meaningful symmetries in the environment - for example a
symmetrical body of a dangerous predator18. Therefore, symmetry in space
and time (synchronization) can be considered – as Ramachandran proposes –
as a neurophysiological aesthetic law. Tragic choreia must have been a great
example of fulfilment of such a rule, with the pursuit of the artists to achieve
perfect harmony within the chorus’ performance. Oppositely, if this is correct,
it supports the hypothesis, that choreia was not only an aesthetic artefact, but
also a certain cognitive competence.
The discovery of the mirror neurons provoked a large discussion on
the spectators’ experience in the theatre, which I present and discuss in detail
elsewhere19. Also, Greek audience must have made large use of simulating

15. Ivar Hagendoorn, “Some Speculative Hypotheses about the Nature and Perception of
Dance and Choreography,” Journal of Consciousness Studies 11, no. 3–4 (2004): 96–97.
16. Bettina Bläsing, “The Dancer’s Memory: Expertise and Cognitive Structures in Dance,” in
The Neurocognition of Dance. Mind, Movement and Motor Skills, ed. Bettina Bläsing, Martin
Puttke, and Thomas Schack (New-York: Taylor & Francis, 2010), 84.
17. Tim van Gelder, “What Might Cognition Be, If Not Computation?,” Journal of Philosophy,
no. 91 (1995): 345–81.
18. Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for
What Makes Us Human (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011), 234.
19. Tomasz Ciesielski, Taneczny Umysł. Teatr Ruchu I Tańca W Perspektywie Neurokognitywistycznej
(Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2014).

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neurons, as they themselves were in all likelihood very familiar with the
dances and songs of the choreia and thus enjoyed the embodied recognition
of the performance20. This is true at least for the early tradition of dancing in
the circle21. Regardless of how interesting it would be to discuss this problem
further, it does not advance us in the search for neurocognitive choreia. Until
now, only the connection between dance and music was indicated, not
including the poetry or even simply the words. Answers might be provided
by canonical neurons mentioned above. In the frontal areas and in the
parietal association cortex areas (considered to be responsible for analysing
the stimulus) a number of motor neurons of specific properties were discovered.
Some of them are active both during the execution of the action, and the
passive observation of possible objects of this action22. The study proved their
visuomotor character, which develops probably not right away, but gradually
with growing up. In addition to the basic function, they have the ability to
represent activities related to the item’s specified class. In other words, the
canonical neurons represent objects in terms of possible actions to take
against them: a small nut will release the program of a precise grip, while a
big apple – an action requiring use of the whole hand, followed by a broad
opening of the mouth23. The same simulation mechanism probably allows one to
understand names of given objects24. Numerous experiments have demonstrated
the existence of an equivalent area of canonical neurons in humans25. Interestingly
enough, this particular area of a monkey’s brain is phylogenetically equivalent to
the place, which in human anatomy is known as the Broca's area; its involvement
in the use of language has been repeatedly clinically documented. Of course,
enacting through human canonical neurons such advanced features as
recognition and naming of objects is possible thanks to a much greater
complexity of these structures than in monkeys. In fact, the parietal areas are

20. Corinne Jola et al., “Motor Simulation without Motor Expertise: Enhanced Corticospinal
Excitability in Visually Experienced Dance Spectators,” Plos One 7, no. 3 (2012).
21. David, The Dance of the Muses. Choral Theory and Ancient Greek Poetics, 41–42.
22. Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese, “The Neural Correlates of Action Understanding
in Non-Human Primate,” in Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of Brain and Language, ed.
Maxim I. Stamenov and Vittorio Gallese (Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Publishing Co, 2002), 15.
23. Fogassi and Gallese, 28.
24. Jeannerod, Motor Cognition: What Actions Tell the Self, 162.
25. J Grèzes et al., “Activations Related To ‘mirror’ and ‘canonical’ neurones in the Human
Brain: An fMRI Study.,” NeuroImage 18, no. 4 (April 2003): 928–37, [Link]
pubmed/12725768.

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one of the most developed in the course of evolution of the human in relation
to other primates. Psychologists provide additional evidence for the hypothesis
of performative perception. Among others, the early research by Jean Piaget
and Ulric Neisser confirmed that preliminary knowledge of infants is being
developed thanks to built-in motor skills, unconscious knowledge of basic laws
of physics and regularities of temporal and causal relationships26. Mediated
in this data are the ability to interact with the environment and the mirroring
capabilities of the same brain networks; it is the key to the knowledge and
understanding of the world. In cognitive studies such idea can be simply
defined as “the embodied mind”27.
To better present the consequences of such a concept, I shall recall the
George Lakoff’s concept of the metaphor, considered not as a language-
based poetic tool, but the fundamental structure of human interaction with
the world:

Metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and

the rhetorical flourish—a matter of extraordinary rather than
ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as
characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than
thought or action. For this reason, most people think they can get
along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on the
contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in
language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual
system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally
metaphorical in nature28.

Metaphor, as Lakoff describes it, exists between what we can experience

through the senses, and the terms on which this knowledge is mapped. In
other words, the understanding of concepts is embodied – structured by
the constant relationship and interaction with the world through the body,
including the brain. Thus, Lakoff’s proposal, lately developed and reshaped

26. Jeannerod, Motor Cognition: What Actions Tell the Self, 169.
27. Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch, The Embodied Mind: Cognitive
Science and Human Experience (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1991); George Lakoff and Mark
Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind & Its Challenge to Western Thought
(New York: Basic Books, 1999).
28. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1980), 4.

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together with Vittorio Gallese, can be defined as the interactive theory of

meaning29. According to it, there is no separated brain module dedicated to
linguistic and abstract reasoning, since those are based on the same multimodal
sensorimotor systems of the brain as other aspects of human consciousness.
This is also consistent with the principle of optimization – if it were otherwise,
the data would have to be doubled in the mind and constantly "translated"
from one language of processing to the other. A prerequisite for relying all
mental processes on the same neural structures is their multimodality. This
feature constitutes sensorimotor neural networks – AON – that are responsible
for simulation and processing of action. They respond to visual, auditory
and proprioceptive stimuli, and so they are a part of neurological base for the
embodied mind. It needs to be noted here, that “multimodality” is radically
different from "supramodality" - that is combining various modalities of
experiencing by the higher associative areas, which can be understood as
rational thinking. That is not necessary for the processes of constructing
metaphors, because combining data is performed on the lower levels of
processing30.
However, only now, with the development of modern neurosciences
and subordinate technologies, these hypotheses can benefit from more
empiric evidences. The way our consciousness functions in the brain circuits,
although still very unclear, is presenting itself as extremely complex, multimodal
and most of all non-hierarchical. Lower processes can strongly affect high
reasoning as well as oppositely, the need of organizing our experiences in a
“reasonable” way often changes the initial stimulus (top-down and bottom-
up connections). All of these are happening not as a computation, but rather
as feedback negotiations of the “sense” with our body and environment and,
as I expect, can be successfully correlated with the latest proposals on non-
representative intelligence models31. In such a context, dancing, demanding
extensive use of the crucial motor brain networks, appears to be an external
representation of a deep reflection32. Joined by song and poetic words that

29. Vittorio Gallese and George Lakoff, “The Brain’s Concepts: The Role of the Sensory-Motor
System in Conceptual Knowledge,” Cognitive Neuropsychology 22, no. 3–4 (2005): 456.
30. Gallese and Lakoff, 459.
31. In particular, swarm intelligence models can be an example here. See Tim van Gelder,
“What Might Cognition Be, If Not Computation?,” Journal of Philosophy, no. 91 (1995).
32. Corinne Jola, “Research and Choreography: Merging Dance and Cognitive Neuroscience,”
in The Neurocognition of Dance. Mind, Movement and Motor Skills, ed. Bettina Bläsing, Martin
Puttke-Voss, and Thomas Schack (Hove - New York: Psychology Press, 2010), 210.

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can originate from the same bodily source, a dance performed by the ancient
chorus – choreia – is a staged metonymy of the processes presented above.
Oppositely, choreia can be seen as a performative model of the embodied
acting or even cognition.

Artistic endeavour for cognitive choreia

Unfortunately, when applied to the history of theatre, the embodied

mind seems only a hypothetical statement; it might be proven, however, to
a certain extent, by modern practices of reconstructing Greek theatre. The
theatre association from Łódź (Poland), appropriately called CHOREA33,
could be a perfect example. Created from the two research groups: The
Antique Orchestra and The Dances of the Labyrinth, it was fully devoted
for several years to researching the qualities of ancient choreia. Importantly,
only limited part of that research was devoted to a strict reconstruction. The
group was mostly trying to create modern choreia, which recall the core
qualities of ancient, ritualistic performance, but not its aesthetics and context.
The artists created, on the base of both scientific and artistic inquiries, a unique
method of developing a “multidimensional actor”.
Actor’s training in CHOREA is multimodal, but based on physical
training, or perhaps more accurately dance and acrobatics. This includes both
bodily techniques derived from Eastern traditions, as well as original material
developed by members of CHOREA. Also further aspects of the performer’s
training are built on the movement. Only after appropriate preparation of the
body during a warm up, the development of vocal material may begin. It is not
yet then treated in a musical way, but, so to speak, physiological – attention
centres to bodily aspects of creating sound. Musicality is introduced also through
dance exercises, joint with characteristic for ancient Greek music complex
and odd rhythms. Generally, at this stage, actor is opened for interaction with a
partner or even with a group. It is the building of the support in partnering
and common rhythm that turns out to be crucial for the later work with the
voice. This is achieved by simple tasks focused on linking motion with the
sound, and subsequently harmonizing it with the group. Alternatively, the basis
for the introduction of musicality is the observation of the dialogue between
different rhythms based on the same beat, minted in motion by other performers.

33. [Link] [10.04.2015]

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In the same way word and text are introduced. They arise in connection
with the music, or directly through working with the body. A common task at
this stage is to create one’s own movement alphabet through improvisation.
Giving the inspiration of images representing non-Latin alphabets often supports
the creative process. In effect, each performer creates his limited, primary
alphabet, based on which he improvises with a partner. On the one hand, it is
therefore the task of creating a performative language (parole), and on the other,
bonding activities and intentions with the visual stimuli. Only after such
introduction the actual speech begins to appear, which would never break away
from its bodily basis during the performance.
Clearly, the above-described evolution of the workshop is in practice
rarely present, and the training of CHOREA’s actors includes all these
elements in an order matching current production. Nevertheless, the process is
always based on physical training, which through work with voice is the output
for music and word. Most of the exercises can therefore be considered as tools
improving cognitive abilities and the search of organic connections between the
elements of choreia – learning embodiment. As surveys show, the performers of
the Theatre CHOREA are obtaining in this way also a unique presence on stage.
In addition to the synergistic use of multiple artistic media, it is considered
by spectators to be the greatest value of the theatre’s performances34.
Extremely important for theatre performances of CHOREA is also the
emphasis on group work and the search for common rhythms, which can be
read as a reversal of the process of separation of the protagonist from the
ancient chorus. Moreover, in the cognitive context, CHOREA’s practice can
be recognised as an attempt to reconstruct a truly embodied and profound
social relationship, into which the audience is also drawn. Viewers are
invited to be a participating witness of the events on the stage, not the distant
observer. Given such audience, performer becomes truly vulnerable.
A significant final example of the creative process in CHOREA might
be here the production Grotowski. An Attempt to Retreat. Six performers under the
supervision of (participating in the stage action) director – Tomasz Rodowicz –
try to reference their practice to the activities of Jerzy Grotowski. This appeal
seems to be in the context of my reflection an added value. Grotowski, at the
early stage of his career, postulated "art as vehicle" – a term created by Peter

34. The research was made for the TAKE OVER: Seeing theatre through young audiences eyes
project ran by CHOREA Theatre Association as a partner of British Council.

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Brook35 – that allows the performer transcend the average reality of his or her
life36. Not coincidentally, he also referred to the ritualistic origins of the theatre,
where choreia certainly should be placed. Therefore, the led discourse can
be hypothetically opened to social neurosciences, which opens a possible
new research area.
The performers in the show are acting almost purely as a joint choir –
everyone always remain active on the stage. Between the moments of common
singing combined with the movement there are also solo fragments.
However, as in ancient processions performer separates only for a moment
from the choir, to express the concerns of the society. Even if he or she relay
strongly on his or her own creative process, they are always in a rhythmic,
musical or simply physical way accompanied by other actors. Importantly,
all the (para)solo performance pieces also are prepared through teamwork,
so that, from the beginning, they emerge in relation to a common organic
rhythm of the group. In the same time, this builds the expected presence of
the performers, which does not depend here only on their individual
commitment and competence.
The musical and rhythm structure of the performance is evident. In a
symbolic way, water drops falling from the [Link] measure time and set
the rhythm. More important, however, it is the music composed by Tomasz
Krzyżanowski. It organizes a performance, but not a narrative, which itself
breaks down in a seemingly loose associations and correlations. They remain,
however, "sensible" thanks to the multimodality of the experience of both
artists and audience – it does not make sense narratively, but produces
meaning in an experiential and perceptual way. In particular, this is visible
in the scene of peculiar procession, which transforms into a living sculpture
created out of the actors’ bodies. The process is accompanied on the one
hand by the monologue of the actress, and on the other by the emerging
from the performers’ movement common singing. None of these elements
fit to the other.
Analysis of the CHOREA’s performances proves to be ineffective, if
based on the classical methods of cultural studies, even taking into account their
postmodern proposals. Their semiotics and narrative entangle, not following

35. Peter Brook, “Grotowski, Art as Vehicle,” in The Grotowski Source Book, ed. Richard
Schechner and Lisa Wolford (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 381–84.
36. Carla Pollastrelli, “‘Art as Vehicle’: Grotowski in Pontedera,” New Theatre Quarterly 25,
no. 4 (November 18, 2009): 333, [Link]

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 ANCIENT CHOREIA IN NEUROCOGNITIVE CONTEXT

any rational logic. Without a doubt, however, the production forms a coherent
whole, felt and understood by the viewer. It seems that it is precisely this
type of performances in a specific way closer to achieving quality similar to the
ancient choireia. Obviously, they also suggest that not only intersubjective
unity of art was the essential element of the antique performance, but also a
common experience of the members of the choir37.

Conclusions

The arguments quoted at the beginning of the paper undoubtedly

indicate that ancient chorea was some form of the unity of music, movement
and speech. In cognitive sciences, it can be described as a special symmetry
and synergy of the cognitive control of movement, perception of rhythm and
music, and the usage of abstract concepts - poetic language. But there is no
certainty what, in fact, would be this unity in terms of its structure and
mechanisms.
As proposed here, it seems it was not limited to the aesthetic coexistence
of different artistic elements on the stage. This is not apparent either from the
descriptions of ancient chroniclers, or preserved treaties (especially Aristotle’s),
or ethnographic and anthropological researches. Thousands of years of the
evolution of theatre blurred the ancient quality and developed a dominancy of
the forms focusing separately on the word, music and dance. Hope to reconstruct
the meaning of the ancient choreia seems to be given by contemporary
cognitive science, which through the embodied mind concept allows us to
see the coexistence of these forms of human activity as an inherent feature
of the mind. If we agree to accept such hypothesis, it is worth paying attention to
contemporary artistic activities that attempt to restore choreia to life by the
artistic tools.
CHOREA’s actors seek in their work the “unity of three”, mastering
the skills of using them on the stage. Through demanding training and hours
spent in the studio, they attempt to overcome inner boundaries and awaken
organic qualities of an actor’s performance to achieve intense stage presence.
The intensity of the spectacles of CHOREA is extraordinary and in a very
specific way stimulates the audience, as I argue, the choreia should do. At the

37. Mariusz Bartosiak, “Chorea – Próba Odwrotu Czy… Powrót?,” Kultura I Spoleczenstwo
56, no. 2 (January 1, 2012), [Link]

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 TOMASZ CIESIELSKI

same time, in the practice of the CHOREA’s actors all distinct elements of
which it is composed are clearly present. Perhaps, then, watching artistic
strategies they use could be fruitful not only for understanding the embodied
acting but embodied mind in general. Particularly important here seems to
be the question of rhythm, as an element connecting movement, music and
language and the various stages of linking them into the performance.
Modern neuroscience is often accused of bringing humanistic,
philosophical problems to physics and chemistry governing the functioning
of human brain38. Even though cells and neurotransmitters are indeed its
field of interest, the conclusions that can be derived from their studies are
much more far-reaching. They do not question the authenticity of aesthetic
experience, but consequently prove its existence and even deepen its possible
outcomes. These can be even deepened by broadening the terms that are crucial
for understanding of performing arts, and ancient choreia is one of them – a
term that could be revised thanks to contemporary science. In return, such
research might be inspiring for the cognitive studies, by revealing the aspects of
the embodiment that are still in question.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my very great appreciation for CHOREA Theatre

Association for being allowed to be the member of the group participating in its
creative process and, at the same time, being an external observer of their
achievements. I also wish to thank Professor Mariusz Bartosiak for his critical
suggestions and assistance of my own research.

References

Bartosiak, Mariusz. “Chorea – Próba Odwrotu Czy… Powrót?” Kultura I Spoleczenstwo

56, no. 2 (January 1, 2012). [Link]
Bläsing, Bettina. “The Dancer’s Memory: Expertise and Cognitive Structures in
Dance.” In The Neurocognition of Dance. Mind, Movement and Motor Skills, edited
by Bettina Bläsing, Martin Puttke, and Thomas Schack. New-York: Taylor &
Francis, 2010.

38. Bruce McConachie and F. Elizabeth Hart, “Preface,” in Performance and Cognition. Theatre
Studies and the Cognitive Turn (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 2006.

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 ANCIENT CHOREIA IN NEUROCOGNITIVE CONTEXT

Brook, Peter. “Grotowski, Art as Vehicle.” In The Grotowski Source Book, edited by
Richard Schechner and Lisa Wolford, 381–84. London and New York: Routledge,
2006.
Ciesielski, Tomasz. Taneczny Umysł. Teatr Ruchu I Tańca W Perspektywie
Neurokognitywistycznej. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2014.
Cross, Emily S. “Building a Dance in the Human Brain: Insights from Expert and
Novice Dancers.” In The Neurocognition of Dance. Mind, Movement and Motor
Skills, edited by Bettina Bläsing, Martin Puttke-Voss, and Thomas Schack.
Hove - New York: Psychology Press, 2010.
David, A.P. The Dance of the Muses. Choral Theory and Ancient Greek Poetics. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2006.
Fogassi, Leonardo, and Vittorio Gallese. “The Neural Correlates of Action
Understanding in Non-Human Primate.” In Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of
Brain and Language, edited by Maxim I. Stamenov and Vittorio Gallese.
Amsterdam–Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co, 2002.
Gallese, Vittorio. “Embodied Simulation: From Neurons to Phenomenal Experience.”
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 4, no. 1 (March 2005): 23–48.
[Link]
Gallese, Vittorio, L Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi, and G Rizzolatti. “Action Recognition
in the Premotor Cortex.” Brain 119 (1996): 593–609.
Gallese, Vittorio, and George Lakoff. “The Brain’s Concepts: The Role of the Sensory-
Motor System in Conceptual Knowledge.” Cognitive Neuropsychology 22, no. 3–
4 (2005).
Georgiades, Thrasybulos Georgos. Greek Music, Verse, and Dance. Cambridge, MA:
Da Capo Press, 1973.
Grèzes, J, J L Armony, J Rowe, and R E Passingham. “Activations Related To ‘mirror’
and ‘canonical’ neurones in the Human Brain: An fMRI Study.” NeuroImage
18, no. 4 (April 2003): 928–37.
[Link]
Hagendoorn, Ivar. “Some Speculative Hypotheses about the Nature and Perception
of Dance and Choreography.” Journal of Consciousness Studies 11, no. 3–4 (2004):
96–97.
Hart, Yuval, Lior Noy, Rinat Feniger-Schaal, Avraham E. Mayo, and Uri Alon.
“Individuality and Togetherness in Joint Improvised Motion.” Plos One 9, no. 2
(2014).
Jeannerod, Marc. Motor Cognition: What Actions Tell the Self. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2006.
Jola, Corinne. “Research and Choreography: Merging Dance and Cognitive Neuroscience.”
In The Neurocognition of Dance. Mind, Movement and Motor Skills, edited by
Bettina Bläsing, Martin Puttke-Voss, and Thomas Schack. Hove - New York:
Psychology Press, 2010.

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Jola, Corinne, Ali Abedian-Amiri, Annapoorna Kuppuswamy, Frank E. Pollick, and

Marie-Hélène Grosbras. “Motor Simulation without Motor Expertise: Enhanced
Corticospinal Excitability in Visually Experienced Dance Spectators.” Plos One
7, no. 3 (2012).
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind & Its
Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books, 1999.
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1980.
Ley, Graham. The Theatricality of Greek Tragedy: Playing Space and Chorus. Chicago:
Chicago University Press, 2007.
McConachie, Bruce, and F. Elizabeth Hart. “Preface.” In Performance and Cognition.
Theatre Studies and the Cognitive Turn. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Plato. Laws. Edited by R.G. Burry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.
Pollastrelli, Carla. “‘Art as Vehicle’: Grotowski in Pontedera.” New Theatre Quarterly
25, no. 4 (November 18, 2009): 333. [Link]
Ramachandran, Vilayanur Subramanian. The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest
for What Makes Us Human. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.
Rizzolatti, G, L Fadiga, V Gallese, and L Fogassi. “Premotor Cortex and the Recognition
of Motor Actions.” Brain Research. Cognitive Brain Research 3, no. 2 (March
1996): 131–41. [Link]
Gelder, Tim van. “What Might Cognition Be, If Not Computation?” Journal of
Philosophy, no. 91 (1995): 345–81.
Varela, Francisco J., Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive
Science and Human Experience. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1991.

Tomasz Ciesielski: Performer, dancer, theatre researcher. Since 2009 member of the Theatre
Association CHOREA, worked within the projects (workshops, performances) issuing the
experiences of Jerzy Grotowski and especially ancient music and dance: Antic/Dance in Re-
Construction 2010, Koguty, Borsuki i inne Kozły 2011, Oratorium Dance Project 2011. In
2011 started cooperation with Granhøj Dans (Aarhus, Denmark) finalized with the international
productions Men&Mahler oraz Rite of Spring Extended, both awarded Årets Reumert Vinder.
Following the individual doctoral studies program at the University of Lodz concentrated on
the anthropology of theatre, possibilities of applying neurosciences and cognitive sciences into
dance and theatre studies. Author of the first polish monograph presenting advances in dance
neuroaesthetics: “The Dancing Mind. Dance and Movement Theatre in Neurocognitive
Perspective”. Leading workshops on the same topic in Poland. Secretary of the editorial board of
polish Dictionary of Dance in XX and XXI centuries.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 131 - 141
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.07

Gianina Cărbunariu's theatre, a form of memory

in recent history

OLTIȚA CÎNTEC1

Abstract: My paper highlights the way in which, by documenting some

Romanian histories from our recent past, Gianina Cărbunariu’ theatre fuels
our colective memory. Cărbunariu picks topics avoided by authorities, not
enough or not at all analyzed by historians or sociologists, themes that are
aesthetically treated focusing on small histories, real facts forgotten by
researchers, facts that are pointed out through theatrical expressiveness. My
study is build around the methodology developed by Paul Ricoeur in his
book, Memory, history, forgetting, which I use as frame of my analyze. As
content I have chosen a few of the most succesfull shows created by Gianina
Cărbunariu and the most relevant in this analitic context.

Keywords: drama, Gianina Cărbunariu, recent history, memory.

In Memory, history, forgetting2, when speaking about the Phenomenology

method whilst developing its principles, Paul Ricoeur substantiates the
relationship between the concepts giving the title of the book by asking
three questions: 1. What do we remember? 2. Whose memory is it? 3. How do
we remember and fuel our memory?. According this pattern, I will analyse
the manner in which, by examining some significant recent events using
theater-specific methods, theatre maker Gianina Cărbunariu3 actually puts

1. Faculty of Theatre, “George Enescu” National University of Arts, Iaşi. oltitacintec@[Link].

2. Paul Ricoeur, Memoria, Istoria, Uitarea (Timişoara: Amarcord, 2010).
3. Gianina Cărbunariu (n. 1977) (born 1977) is a theatre maker, graduate of the Faculty of
Theatre Directing at the University of Bucharest. Among her recent creations as a theatre
maker: Ordinary people (National Theatre „Radu Stanca” Sibiu, 2016), Solitaridy (co-production of
the National Theatre „Radu Stanca” Sibiu, National Theatre in Brussels and Avignon Festival as
part of the project Cities on Stage/Villes en Scene, performance presented in 2014 Avignon
 OLTIȚA CÎNTEC

public memory to the test. In the book I mentioned as the “frame” of my

study, the French filosopher makes a clear distinction between the cognitive
side of memory, consisting in searching and recognising past events, and
the pragmatic side, that of acting once the memories have been triggered.
Remembering doesn’t just mean getting, re-acknowledging an image of the
past, but searching for it, «doing» something in this regard, as Paul Ricoeur
would say. It is my belief that Gianina Cărburariu’s interest in revealing
sequences omitted by recent history is filed, in artistic form, in such an
endeavor of the pragmatics of remembering, of anamnesis. By doing shows
that document events that are significant for community awareness, the theatre
maker proposes a collective approach of shared memories.

What do we remember?

For about a month, in 1981, on the panels that stood as boundaries

around a building site in Botoşani, as well as on the walls of the surrounding
buildings, chalk inscriptions hinting towards rebelling against the communist
regime had appeared. In full alert, the political police – Securitate in the town, as
well as that in the neighboring county of Suceava, thoroughly investigated
and found out that the culprit behind this very brave form of protest was
Mugur Călinescu, a 17 year old student attending one of the city’s high schools

Festival official selection), For Sale (co-production of the Odeon Theatre and the State Theatre in
Hamburg as part of the international project Hunger for Trade, 2014), Typographic Capital
Letters (co-production of Odeon Theatre, dramAcum Association and Divadelna Nitra Festival
as part of the Parallel Lives project - 20th Century Through the Eyes of Secret Police, 2013), Sibian
Tiger (dramAcum production at the Comedy Theatre, 2012), X mm of Y km (a collective
production Paintbrush Factory in Cluj, 2011), Sold Out (a production of Kammerspiele Theatre
in Munich, 2010), 20/20 (dramAcum production and Yorick Studio in Târgu Mureş, 2009).
Participation in international festivals: official selection of the Festival of Avignon, the
Biennial New Plays From Europe, Wiener Festwochen Festival, TransAmerique Montreal
Festival, Festival Dialog from Wrocław, Divadelna Nitra in Slovakia, LIFT London, Festival
Kontakt in Torun, New Drama in Budapest, New drama in Moscow etc. The scenarios of the
performances were translated and put on stage by other directors. The play Kebab was translated
and had more than 20 stagings in theaters around the world, including the Royal Court in
London, Schaubühne Berlin Kammerspiele in Munich. The performances start from contemporary
themes or question certain aspects of recent history. These topics were documented through
interviews and archival research and the documentation process was followed by improvisation
with the actors. The script created was one of fiction where sometimes they incorporated elements
of reality (excerpts of interviews with real people, real pictures of documents, objects etc.).

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 GIANINA CĂRBUNARIU'S THEATRE, A FORM OF MEMORY IN RECENT HISTORY

“A.T. Laurian”. The case was subject of an inquiry, code name “The Student”,
and the files have been archived in the Securitate vaults up until the historian
Mihail Bumbeş found it and brought it to light4. With the exception of the
boy’s family, very few people remember in the post-communist years that a
kid had had enough of queuing for hours just to buy food, of enduring
censorship, ideological control and, influenced by the polish model of which
he had randomly heard on the Europa Liberă radio had acted and pushed
for people to rally together and to stop accepting the daily humiliations that
the communist regime induced. The drama of Mugur Călinescu is that, after
he and his family experienced first hand the gruesome methods of one of the
most violent branches of political police, the Romanian Securitate, he fell ill
shortly of leukemia (1983) and died in 19855.
Mihail Bumbeş has studied the records of the inqueries in the archives
of the Securitate, looking into the minutes, tracking reports, documentation
regarding decisions, informative notes, he spoke with his mother, friends,
former class mates (some of them appeared in the records as information
sources for the investigators), but he also spoke with two of the officers who
worked on the case (this happened in 2007). Gianina Cărbunariu took full
advantage of this “readymade” material and created a show Typographic Capital
Letters in which 4 actors take turns interpreting different parts, encompassing all
of the characters involved in the drama, from the police officers to his family
and school environment, using a young actor to fill the role of Mugur Călinescu.
The docu-fiction created by Gianina Cărbunariu uses the case as an opportunity
to remind the viewers of what used to be an unusual dissidence in the
communist era (according to statistics, from a total population of 22 million,
there were over 11.000 employed by the Securitate, and over half a million of
informants, Mugur Călinescu being himself offered to become an informant
to escape the consequences of his actions. Just to compare, now there are
15.000 employees in the Romanian Secret Services, from a total population of
19 million!) and of the lack of desire and action from the post-communist
Romanian authorities to elucidate the decades of political police repressions.
Gianina Cărbunariu’s theatre isn’t just a docudrama one, hat re-enacts real
events from the past. It starts from documenting the subject in the archives,

4. Marius Oprea, Şase Feluri de a Muri (Iaşi: Polirom, 2009).

5. There are some rumors not yet proved that the Securitate used to irradiate the ones considered
enemies of the regime. Mugur Călinescu's family think that this might be the case for their
son.

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 OLTIȚA CÎNTEC

holding meetings and talking with the ones involved or with general relevant
people to the topic. She just uses this valuable material she has gathered through
solid research and shapes it in artistic format, transposing it into a docu-fiction.
In a particular way, she uses recent history as o source of inspiration, picks some
eluded sequences of our past and dramatizes those in a theatrical manner. In
her creative work, the artist builds an aesthetic representation of the past that
acts equally on the public’s memory and imagination, methods of knowledge
who stimulate each other, offering her audience a spectacular way to branch
back into the past. The audience is always a “character” in the show. Upholding
the strict guidelines of documentary theatre, Cărbunariu always keeps her
distance, detailing the subject from as many perspectives and angles as possible,
letting the audience pass judgement on what they see. In Typographic Capital
Letters the viewers are integrated into the show – two spotlights reminiscent
of the interrogation lamps are flashed right through their eyes, highlighting
them, everyone being very close to the stage, filmed live while the images are
broadcast onto a screen in front of them.
In an interview she did with Europa Liberă Radio, Gianina Cărbunariu
mentioned: „I think that what theatre can do, what a protest can do, what
activists can do is bring a whole new agenda into focus and, again, to apply
pressure onto decision makers”6. Reexamining recent history through artistic
manners combines the objective dimension of research and documenting
with the subjective one that comes from choosing the topic, from the way in
which the script is structured. This type of theatre does not issue rulings, does
not pretent scientific objectivity, although it does refer to expert materials
constantly.
Gianina Cărbunariu’s theatre forces the viewer to process the variety
of things discoverable in the acting space. In this regard, it is a participatory
theatre as well. The theatre maker is attracted by „unclear, ambiguous things”,
by pages of history lost willingly or unwillingly, that she can bring back into the
general attention through theatre. A political theatre, socially engaged but
equally valuable from an aesthetic point of view. Despite its’ fragility from
the perspective of temporal durability, her theatre is much more effective in
impacting the public by being a living type of art. Her creation speaks of recent
history through forgotten episodes, usually pertaining to a smaller chain of

6. Lucian Ştefănescu, “Mesajul unui gest de revoltă din trecut: libertatea şi democraţia nu vin de-a
gata, ele trebuie recâştigate zi de zi,” Radio Europa Liberă, 2014, [Link]
a/mesajul-unui-gest-de-revolta/[Link].

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 GIANINA CĂRBUNARIU'S THEATRE, A FORM OF MEMORY IN RECENT HISTORY

events, closer to all of us, that the larger picture, the official speech has
officially lost sight of. What Cărbunariu is doing is solid proof that history
is an infinite source of new ideas and the small scale of history is also very
important for any society.
Gianina Cărbunariu’s theatre is a special kind of “mark” of history:
the script (attested testimonies, but also a few subjective ones), the show (as a
message aimed towards the public), talk-back sessions. Each time, the accuracy
of information primes, alongside the combination between documentary
and fiction in the scenic style chosen by the creative team. Her theatre has a
dimension of recovering recent history, an ethical dimension driven by the
point to point aesthetic intervention in which history has failed.

Whose memory is it?

Gianina Cărbunariu is known beyond the borders of Romania, particularly

in Germany where she worked on a few projects. At Münchner Kammerspiele,
for instance, she created Sold Out7, a performance about the massive migration
of Saxons from Romania to Germany in the 70s and 80s, when, according to
statistics, around 14.000 Romanian citizens with German origins have left the
country. Not by following immigration procedures though, but by paying
considerable sums to the communist state. Between 1967 and 1989, over 225.000
Romanians citizens with German origins were sold by the Ceauşescu regime
to the Federal Republic of Germany, the whole business totaling, according
to German statistics, up to approximately DM [Link]. The price varied
depending on how much the Romanian state considered they had “invested”
in those who wished to leave: young people were at the top of the selling
range, students in particular, the top of the gruesome catalogue being formed
by graduates.
The sums have varied across the years, the average being 7 000 – 8 000 per
immigrant8.

7. Kammerspiele, München – Sold Out by Gianina Cărbunariu. Translator: Ina Tartler. Directing:
Gianina Cărbunariu. Sets nd costumes: Dorothee Curio. Lights: Christian Mahrla. Visuals:
Daniel Gontz. Music: Pollyester. Assistant director: Carmen Coţofană. Dramaturgie: Malte
Jelden, Julia Reichert. With Sylvana Krappatsch, Lasse Myhr, Hildegard Schmahl, Lenja
Schultze, Edmund Telgenkämper şi Michael Tregor. 2010.
8. According to the quoted book: someone with high level of education – DM 11.000 (approximately
USD 3.000), an undergraduate – DM 5.500 (approximately USD 1.506), a technician – DM 2.900
(approximately USD 792), a person without education – DM 1.800 (approximately USD 490).

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 OLTIȚA CÎNTEC

Gianina Cărbunariu discovered the topic by reading about it on

various blogs and an interview with Ernst Meinhardt, a German journalist
who documented the issue. Captivated by the phenomenon, one that escaped
the interest of historians or sociologists, Cărbunariu tracked how the members
of the two communities involved in the process, Saxons and Swabians
holding Romanian citizenship on one side, and Germans from Germany on
the other, have assessed this topic in our recent history. Staying true to her
method of operating when social situations catch her eye, Gianina Cărbunariu
has again developed a resourceful operation of theatre anthropology, learning
through talking to a lot of people involved in the past in the process, the ones
who had agreed to discuss their own experience. The story of the show is
fictional, but it has been built on the basis of interviewing 40 subjects, all of
them respondents to the press add she had put out. “Many of the ones
interviewed wished to remain anonymous as some agents of the political
police are still active today”, Cărbunariu points out in the newspaper
“Abendzeitung”9. She has massively relied on their testimonies to validate
the truth of the text, to very accurately depict the way in which communist
authorities would obtain money. Not only members of Securitate took
advantage of this type of trade, but also those who brokered the deals, from
party members to customs workers. The totalitarian regime is also evoked
on stage through Daniel Gontz’s visuals: the Ceauşescu couple at one of the
Plenary Meetings of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist
Party, at Sala Palatului and an image with the map of the Socialist Republic
of Romania surrounded by sparkling rays of sunlight, one of the cliché
propaganda images specific to the years of Ceauşescu’s communism. At the
end of the show, actors also read fragments from the interviews that have
stood at the basis of the script. Although inspired by real events, the show
is not one of pure documentary theatre and, to facilitate its way towards the
public, the creation team presented the real life situations with a touch of
absurd humor. Relative to the way in which, as an artist, she relates to reality,
Gianina Cărbunariu believes that the tension between reality and fiction is
always important and inspiring. Countless sequences of recent history are
neglected, even though they will have a long term effect and would explain
certain specifics the Romanian society confronts now. A society that still
contemplates pages of a long gone history, exaggerating their importance,
but one that does not take enough care of the stages closer to our time.

9. Irina Wolf, “Sold Out – Un Spectacol Despre Vânzarea Etnicilor Germani [Sold out - a Show
about the Selling of Ethnic Germans],” Teatrul Azi 9–10 (2010), 93.

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 GIANINA CĂRBUNARIU'S THEATRE, A FORM OF MEMORY IN RECENT HISTORY

The aesthetic approach of historical themes could be a smoother way of

displaying delicate issues and, all the while, of answering questions relating
to more obscure, less known parts of history. Through this project, the artist
has proven that recent history can be reactivated through theatrical means,
through memories brought back into artistic attention, sparking the curiosity
of specialists, starting from objective, direct testimonies from those involved,
from journalistic investigations and ethical obligation of carefully researching
a topic, reinforcing it by adhering to a variety of sources. “Apart from the
phenomenon of «selling», the theme has seemed important to me because it
steers the discussion towards the entire communist era and the relationship
between the East and the West, towards the theme of immigration and identity
(what is it like being a German citizen and German Romanian citizen or German
Turkish or, in a broader term, what is it like today to be a European citizen – in
the sense that some are more «European» than others”10, Gianina Cărbunariu
points out.

How do we remember and fuel our memory?

Gianina Cărbunariu focused on european citizens and community

equality in another project of hers – Speak Silence?/Sprachen Sie Schweigen?11,
in which she tackles a phenomenon that, so far, has not been approached by
neither sociologists nor historians. Her theatrical approach shines a light on a
special type of mimesis that focuses on the present and recent past, aesthetically
questioning a wide range of social issues treated with indiference by the
authorities, turning the public attention towards dire circumstaces currently
ignored by the community. The theatre maker identifies and broadcasts
situations ignored by the larger scope of history, or the official history if you
will, but that impact people, showing circumstances with social significance.
In this case, the artistic theme has been the freedom of the workforce to
circulate in Europe, the hypocrisy of the continental authorities as its’ basis,

10. Oana Stoica, “Statul Român şi-a abandonat cetăţenii - Interviu cu Gianina Cărbunariu [The
Romanian State Abbandoned Its Citizens - Interview with Gianina Cărbunariu],” Dilema Veche,
August 12, 2011.
11. National Theatre "Radu Stanca" Sibiu (2017), a show by Gianina Cărbunariu, set design and
visuals: Mihai Păcurar, Assistant Director: Sanda Anastasof, music: Alex Halka, documentation:
Gianina Cărbunariu and Andrei Ioniţă, translation: Fabiola Eidloth and Daria Hainz, with:
Emőke Boldizsár, Daniel Bucher, Ofelia Popii, Valentin Späth, Marius Turdeanu.

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translated through silence and lack of intervention in the countless situations in

which the Eastern Europeans, not the ones from the „brain drain”, but the
simple ones, who work meanial jobs, are sconsidered different from the Western
Europeans. European legislation exists, theoretically it’s mandatory and always
applied, it’s just that reality offers numerous examples of circumstances in
which it is bypass, to the loss of those who are not protected by the system. The
employent areas Gianina Crbunariu focuses on are those avoided by westerners,
of physical labour, paid worse, like constructions, looking after the elderly,
slaughterhouses and, in patches, agriculture. Press articles, talks, mostly with
Elvis Iancu, one of the Romanian born workers who, in 2014, have protested at
the Mall of Berlin – Mall of Shame, because not all the rights of the employees
there were respected12, interviews and improvisations have been the means
of research of the cases that have become the subjects in the show. The idea
behind the text of the show comes from the organic connection with facts,
the real cases, relevant to the topic, blunt realities, depicted by intertwining
reality and fiction.
The sense of empathy with the subjects and the difficult situations
they are in is normal, it comes from the fact that the theatre maker decides
to choose their stories, she binds them in fragmentary scripts, structured in
sequences, presented from multiple angles. Cărbunariu’s creations manage
to maintain a precious balance between the information in the field and the
aesthetic/emotional traits, a condition which tremendously helps in building
credibility. Although belonging to political theatre, they steer far away from
ideology and promoting various thesis, all the while being convincing,
offering a considerable plethora of sources and a wide range of perspectives.
All wrapped up in theatre specific forms. Her shows have a perfect simetry,
an expression of her director logic and of total creative control when using
the tools of documentary theatre. In the procees of gathering informations
and building characters, the artist uses both direct testimonies, creating sort
of a diary or intermediary journal consisting of opinions and impressions of
those involved. For Speak Silence?/Sprachen Sie Schweigen? the people did
not intend or did not know how to keep personal journals, so the artists’
creative team intervention has managed to collect an adequate piece of
material. When effectively constructing the show, this piece of oral history,

12. Paralel networks that have brought contruction workers from Eastern Europe, including
Romania, treated them unfairly, making them work overhours, paying their salaries with
big delayes or not paying it at all, threatening and forcing them to lie in front of authorities.

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 GIANINA CĂRBUNARIU'S THEATRE, A FORM OF MEMORY IN RECENT HISTORY

undoubtedly subjective, has become, through assuming, selecting and building,

part of a dramatic docufiction script. The preparatory operations thus become
journeys into memory, rememberance, whose purpose is reflect and warn
against a few unfortunate facts that plague the essence of European democracy.
The script is brilliantly built, perfectly balancing the documentary basis
with the scenic form imagined (fashion show, multiple part lesson, job fair
presentation, scenic action etc.), going through different theatre moments in
terms of content and build, using means specific to mockumentary too.
Speak Silence?/Sprachen Sie Schweigen?’s cast includes Emőke Boldizsár,
Daniel Bucher, Ofelia Popii, Valentin Späth, Marius Turdeanu, each having
tight connections with the artistically analysed theme, being brought on
board for this reason precisely. Apart the fact that they are very good actors.
In the structure of the show, therefore, multiple layers of information and
meaning are combined, offering up a complex multi angled depictment of
the problem. There are life details that the audience discovers in the intro, built
like an awards show, on a huge red carpet where actors present one another.
The selected elements of biography are funny and are all in connection with the
theme theatrically debated. Daniel Bucher is a true blooded German, but he
fell in love with Romanian actress Fatma Mohamed and, to be with her, has
moved to Romania. Marius Turdeanu wanted to emigrate to USA, but tried
an unusual route to get there – Ukraine, Russia, Alaska – only to be found
in Vladivostok and sent home by the police. In one of his student break he
went to Germany to make some money, got a job working in constructions,
but then lost all his earnings in a local pyramid based game. Emőke
Boldizsár is the most multi-cultural of them all: born in a Hungarian family
in Bistrița, graduated a German high-school, her parents work in EU and
she uses the money that they sent her to complete her university studies.
Ofelia Popii has collaborated with a Theatre in Sttutgart, so has worked in
the West, in a project undertook by the National Theatre "Radu Stanca", and her
brother works in Germany. Valentin Späth is a young actor born and raised
in Germany who, to the complete amazement of his family and friends, has
decided to accept the offer of being a paid actor in Romania.
The script signed by Gianina Cărbunariu collects episodes significant
to her topic, with a close timeframe to the present, but barely if at all known to
the public, keeping the required grave tone but sprinkling in some humour into
the real or docu-fiction situations presented from Germany and Romania.
The actors create an alternate world on stage, inspired by true facts, a world
from the underground of the EU, inviting us all to think about what the

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 OLTIȚA CÎNTEC

european community really is and how equality in rights is really undertstood

and applied. Romanians are „the cheapest offer on the market” and this
inferior position is triggered by their lack of options and the poverty sweeping
the nation. Of the „culture of silence” as an element of EU hypocrisy nothing is
being said! Gianina Cărbunariu’s theatre pushes the viewer out of his/her
traditional comfort zone, shining a light on history which „fabricates” reality,
revealing situations that decision makers prefer to ignore. It’s not the first
time she is preocupied by freedom of expression as a democratical base. In
Regular People13 she brings up on stage warnings on integrity and corruption in
various EU countries by presentin several cases of whistleblowers.”These
people have lost their careers, jobs, sometimes even families and health, their
houses, all the while being under extreme pressure. They did not, however,
give up their cause because in their hearts they believed what they were doing
was right, that they own the moral high ground in a tough situation in which
they are being forced to choose. People like them have always existed, yet new
means of broadcasting a message into the public domain (internet, media),
play a crucial role in sharing cases to a much larger audience. What this picture
still needs is a legal framework that protects and rewards as opposed to the
punishments they currently receive. The project harbors 8 cases of whistleblowing
in Italy, United Kingdom and Romania, european countries in different
development stages and with different legal frameworks in terms of integrity
issues”, Gianina Cărbunariu mentiones in the show’s booklet.
Multilingualism is an European trait and it is imprinted into Speak
Silence?/ Sprachen Sie Schweigen?’s. Texts are spoken/translated into/from
Romanian, German, Hungarian, but they have been rehearsed in English,
the „official” tongue of the project. The clever, poignant irony is another
quality of the show (red carpet to the EU, „the German kebab”, when first
arriving in Romania Daniel Bucher’s passport had expired but not him, nor
the border police noticed the „detail”, his family’s reactions when hearing
that Späth had decided to take a job with a theatre in Sibiu etc.)

13. National Theatre "Radu Stanca" Sibiu, set design and visuals: Mihai Păcurar, music: Bobo
Burlăcianu, video documenting: Veioza Arte - Tania Cucoreanu & Andrei Ioniţă, cast: Florin
Coşuleţ, Mariana Mihu, Ioan Paraschiv, Ofelia Popii, Dana Taloş, Marius Turdeanu. The
show is part of Be SpectACTive!, project co-financed by Creative Europe Program, together
with Capotrave/Kilowatt Festival Sansepolcro (IT), Bakelit Multi Art Center Budapesta
(HU), B-51 Ljubljana (SL), Domino- Perforacije Festival- Zagreb (HR), London International
Festival of Theatre (UK), Tanec Praha (CZ), York Citizens Theatre Royal (UK).

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 GIANINA CĂRBUNARIU'S THEATRE, A FORM OF MEMORY IN RECENT HISTORY

Part of the experimental platform Human Trade Network, Speak Silence?/

Sprachen Sie Schweigen?’s is a political creation about the double standards
ot the EU, about hidden agendas and, in it’s subtext, but in an equal way,
about the blame attributed to disinterested Romanian authorities who couldn't
care less about the status of his citisens abroad. It’s a show about defending
the defenseless, those who would need protection the most.
A special form of memoirism, Cărbunariu’s theatre art dusts off from
forgiveness, through relevant samples, important historic events, perfectly
placed between the historic document and the aesthetic medium. An active art
form, the theatre Gianina Cărbunariu produces is one that mediates, targeting
pages that are harder to absorb for the official history from the near and very
near past. It is valuable proof that theatre and history can intersect in favour of
the truth. And they have to do so. In the end, both theatre and history can
be seen as journals in which forgotten situations can be noted and revealed.

References

Dobre, Florica, Florian Banu, Luminita Banu, and Laura Stancu. Acţiunea “Recuperarea”.
Securitatea Şi Emigrarea Germanilor Din România (1962-1989) [Action “Recovery”.
The Securitate and the Migration of Germans from Romania (1962-1989)]. Bucharest:
Editura Enciclopedica, 2011.
Oprea, Marius. Şase Feluri de a Muri. Iaşi: Polirom, 2009.
Ricoeur, Paul. Memoria, Istoria, Uitarea. Timişoara: Amarcord, 2010.
Ştefănescu, Lucian. “Mesajul unui gest de revoltă din trecut: libertatea şi democraţia
nu vin de-a gata, ele trebuie recâştigate zi de zi.” Radio Europa Liberă, 2014.
[Link]
Stoica, Oana. “Statul român şi-a abandonat cetăţenii - interviu cu Gianina Cărbunariu
[The Romanian State Abbandoned Its Citizens - Interview with Gianina
Cărbunariu].” Dilema Veche. August 12, 2011.
Wolf, Irina. “Sold Out – un spectacol despre vânzarea etnicilor germani [Sold out -
a Show about the Selling of Ethnic Germans].” Teatrul Azi 9–10 (2010).

Oltița Cîntec is a theater critic and scholar, artistic manager of Luceafărul Theater in Iaşi
and President of the Romanian Section of AICT/[Link] Group.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 143 - 159
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.08

La théâtralité du tableau vivant dans le théâtre de

Samuel Beckett : une perspective néo-avant-gardiste

ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU1

« La peinture est une poésie muette, la poésie, une peinture parlante »

(Plutarque)

Abstract: The theatricality of the living pictures in Samuel Beckett’s theatre: a Neo-
Avant-guard perspective. Samuel Beckett’s theatrical work has been quite
often compared, especially in the recent literature, to the abstract directions
in modern painting and sculpture, but there was no attempt to analyse its
relationship to its contemporary artistic movements taking their roots in the
historical Avant-guards. The present article proposes to revisit Samuel
Beckett’s theatre through a new perspective, mainly that of the theatricality
of the living pictures (tableaux vivants) present in his stage conception,
through the bias of European and American Pop Art, Assemblagism, New
Realism and other Neo-Avant-guard artistic movements. Reconsidering thus
an essential moment of theatre history, with the instruments of theatre
iconography, we try to open new doors in the understanding of his work as
a playwright and as a stage director, by replacing it in the right context of
visual and performing arts.

Keywords: Samuel Beckett, tableau vivant, Pop Art, Nouveau Réalisme,

théâtralité

En déclinant le paradigme de l’éternelle attente dérisoire, la critique n’a

jamais omis de remarquer que le théâtre de Samuel Beckett manque de véritable
mouvement et que, dans son évolution des premiers drames des années 50-60
aux dramaticules des années 70-80, il semble vouloir réduire au maximum le

1. Université Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca. pop_curseu@[Link]

 ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU

dramatique même, en remettant en question des éléments clés comme l’action

ou la fable, l’espace-temps et le personnage-acteur. Cependant, en dehors de
quelques études plus récentes, on a rarement recouru à la comparaison directe
avec les arts plastiques pour essayer de comprendre les raisons profondes de
la bizarre construction de ses pièces qui lui font faire figure à part dans la
dramaturgie et sur la scène du XXe siècle2.
Comment expliquer le fait que malgré l’invasion du narratif et du
poétique, malgré le choix du « statisme » et du « minimalisme », son œuvre
donne vie à une théâtralité intense, étrange, souvent insoutenable ? Notre
principale hypothèse est que nous avons dans le cas de du théâtre beckettien, à
un niveau dramaturgique, ce qu’Arthur Danto désigne comme état un concept
clé dans le cas de l’esthétique et de la poïétique des nouvelles avant-gardes
picturales, du Pop Art et du Nouveau Réalisme : la transfiguration du banal3.
Afin de tracer quelques réponses et d’essayer de valider l’hypothèse
formulée, nous nous proposons de regarder le théâtre de Beckett avec une
loupe différente, qui est celle du « tableau vivant », et cela, avec les yeux
d’un visiteur passionné de musées d’art moderne.
Ainsi, si nous définissions le tableau vivant, d’après Diderot, comme la
« mise en scène d’un ou plusieurs acteurs immobiles et figés dans une pose
expressive suggérant une statue ou une peinture »4, plusieurs éléments
essentiels doivent-ils retenir notre attention quant au déplacement de ce terme
dans le théâtre de Samuel Beckett : l’immobilité, l’expressivité du corps dans
cet arrêt momentané, et le renvoi, la ressemblance à un objet d’art plastique,
par définition dépourvu de mouvement (sculpture, peinture). Analysons donc
ces trois aspects de l’image théâtrale, scénique, proposée par Beckett tout en
gardant à l’esprit ses possibles connexions avec les œuvres d’art plastique
et les installations spécifiques à la culture néo-avant-gardiste, moderne et
post-moderne contemporaines de Beckett (La Pop Art européen e américain,
l’Assemblagisme, le Nouveau Réalisme français, l’art Funk).

2. Jamoussi Lassaad, Le pictural dans l’œuvre de Beckett. Approche poïetique de la choseté, (Tunis-
Bordeaux: Sud Editions, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2007) ; Porter H. Abbott, « Samuel
Beckett and the Arts of Time : Painting, Music Narrative », in Lois Oppenheim (ed.), Samuel
Beckett and the Arts : Music, Visual Arts, and Non-Print Media, (New York: Garland Publishing,
1999), p. 7-24 ; Betty Rojtman, Forme et signification dans le théâtre de Beckett, (Paris: Nizet,
1987) ; Roger Blin, « Conversation avec Lynda Poskine », in Revue d’esthétique, numéro
spécial hors-série, Samuel Beckett, éd. par Pierre Chabert, (Toulouse: Privat, 1986).
3. A. Danto, La transfiguration du banal, Une philosophie de l’art, (Paris: Seuil, 1989).
4. Diderot, De la poésie dramatique (1758), (Paris: Classiques Larousse, 1975), 110.

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1. L’immobilité

Omniprésente autour des personnages beckettiens, l’immobilité est

comme une maladie chronique qui paralyse leurs élans physiques et psychiques,
c’est le gris, la décrépitude, c’est la mort lente avant la mort définitive, c’est
l’impossibilité d’agir, l’action désirée mais interdite, par manque de libre arbitre
ou par impuissance acquise. « Nous sommes sur terre, c’est sans remède »,
disait Hamm dans Fin de Partie, immobilisé dans sa chaise, si semblable aux
êtres condamnés au plâtre, conçus par George Segal (fig. 1). Les personnages
beckettiens n’ont pas le choix : concrètement, Vladimir et Estragon ne peuvent
qu’attendre, Pozzo et Lucky ne peuvent que rester liés l’un à l’autre, Clov

Fig. 1 : George Segal, Man Sitting at a Table, 1961,

134.5 x 122 x 122 cm.

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 ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU

ne peut que servir Hamm, Nell et Nagg ne peuvent que rester dans leurs
poubelles, Winnie ne peut que se laisser engloutir par le mamelon, La bouche,
dans Pas moi, ne peut que parler, La femme, dans Berceuse, ne peut que se
bercer et se taire, le Souvenant de Cette fois ne peut que se souvenir, et ainsi de
suite. Réduits à la stagnation, actifs uniquement au niveau intérieur (autant
que leur langage peut nous le faire transparaître), ces êtres sont condamnés
à l’immobilité ou à la fausse mobilité, les deux prouvant être des données
existentielles pour tous ces personnages au fond banals, communs, mis en
évidence seulement à travers leur sélection et leur emplacement particulier
dans l’espace scénique.
Ces personnages acquièrent ainsi le statut d’images métonymiques de
l’humanité post-moderne. Et la scène beckettienne concrétise ces images en
leur attribuant des qualités plastiques à grande force centripète, en les rendant
non seulement visibles, mais hyperboliquement présentes dans le champ
visuel de la scène de théâtre.
Ces qualités plastiques sont dues non seulement à l’étrange expressivité
des corps, isolés dans l’espace, mais aussi à l’association d’un corps immobile,
ou quasi mobile, à un objet qui reprend et assume une partie significative des
qualités du corps avec lequel il entre en contact. Il en est ainsi du fauteuil
roulant, des poubelles, du magnétophone, du mamelon de terre, de la berceuse,
de la table (Impromptu d’Ohio) ou de l’oreiller (Cette fois). Et nous voyons
que déjà en 1948, l’attention de Beckett, parlant de la peinture moderne,
dans son texte Les peintres de l’empêchement, était attirée par l’absence de
qualités actives, référentielles de l’objet figuré et par l’utilisation brute de son
image plastique : « Le premier assaut donné à l’objet saisi, indépendamment
de ses qualités, dans son indifférence, son inertie, sa latence »5. Pourtant, bien
que les objets beckettiens émanent à leur tour de l’indifférence, de l’inertie,
de la latence, ils participent à la circonscription de l’espace vital de chaque
personnage à moitié réifié. Ils établissent un cadre figé, en mettant en évidence
cette « choseté » que Beckett décelait dans le travail des peintres modernes
car, même là où mobilité il y a, son caractère répétitif, circulaire et mécanique,
annule l’idée de toute évolution ou changement possible des personnages
ou de leur relation quasi figée avec les choses qui les secondent.

5. Beckett Samuel, Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment, ed. Ruby Cohn,
(Londres: John Calder, 1983), 135.

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D’ailleurs les paroles de Beckett lui-même résument le mieux la situation

existentielle dans laquelle il place ses propres personnages, si nous leurs
attribuons ce qu’il dit à propos du peintre contemporain Bram Van der Velde :
« est le premier à admettre qu’être artiste c’est échouer, comme personne n’a osé
échouer, que l’échec est son domaine. », mai qu’il fait « de cette soumission,
de cette adhésion, de cette fidélité à l’échec, une nouvelle occasion, un nouveau
terme de la relation et de l’acte que, incapable d’agir, obligé d’agir, il produit,
un acte expressif, ne fût-ce que de lui-même, de son impossibilité, de son
obligation. »6
C’est ainsi par l’intermédiaire de l’incapacité d’agir allié à l’obligation
de l’acte expressif que le tableau vivant peut prendre forme dans l’horizon
imaginal beckettien : Prenons le cas de Oh les Beaux jours ! Voici les premières
didascalies de la pièce, qui ne manquent d’ailleurs pas d’inclure déjà des renvois
à des techniques picturales, plus ou moins composites voire contradictoires, la
simplicité et la symétrie allant main dans la main avec le style pompier :

Étendue d’herbe brûlée, s’enflant au centre en petit mamelon [(fig. 2)].

Pentes douces à gauche et à droite et côté avant-scène. Derrière, une
chute plus abrupte au niveau de la scène. Maximum de simplicité
et de symétrie.
Lumière aveuglante.
Une toile de fond en trompe l’œil très pompier représente la fuite et la
rencontre au loin d’un ciel sans nuages et d’une plaine dénudée.
Enterrée jusqu’au-dessous de la taille dans le mamelon, au centre
précis de celui-ci, Winnie. La cinquantaine, de beaux restes, blonde de
préférence, grassouillette, bras et épaules nus, corsage très décolleté,
poitrine plantureuse, collier de perles. Elle dort, les bras sur le
mamelon, la tête sur les bras. A côté d’elle, à sa gauche, un grand
sac noir, genre cabas […] Un temps long.7

6. Dans le dialogues avec Georges Duthuit, « Three dialogues », in Disjecta, Miscellaneous

Writings and a Dramatic Fragment, édition et préface de Ruby Cohn, (Londres: John Calder,
1983), 145, apud Casanova Pascale, Beckett l’Abstracteur, Anatomie d’une révolution littéraire,
(Paris: Seuil 1997), 132.
7 Samuel Beckett, Oh les beaux jours, suivi de Pas moi, (Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 2004
(1ère éd. 1963-1974)), 11-12.

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 ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU

Fig. 2 : César, Sein, 1967, Fig. 3 : Claes Oldenburg, Free Stamp,

Fondation Giannadda, Suisse. années 90.

L’immobilité du tableau est interrompue par l’irruption brutale du

son dans le paysage initial, qui oblige le personnage à réagir. « Une sonnerie
perçante se déclenche, cinq secondes, s’arrête. Winnie ne bouge pas. Sonnerie plus
perçante, trois secondes. Winnie se réveille. La sonnerie s’arrête. Elle lève la tête,
regarde devant elle. Un temps long. » C’est le deuxième moment d’immobilité
et donc deuxième pose du tableau vivant. « Elle se redresse, pose les mains à
plat sur le mamelon, rejette la tête en arrière et fixe le zénith. Un temps long. »
C’est le troisième moment d’immobilité. Puis elle commence à parler, l’acte
est entamé, mais la difficulté et la lutte permanente avec l’échec de mener à
bien une action ininterrompue a comme résultat la confrontation du spectateur
à une longue alternance de bouts de phrases et de pauses, semblables à une
suite d’arrêts sur image (stop cadre) cinématographiques ou à des prises de
vues en rafales d’un appareil photographique : « un temps », une action, des
paroles, « un temps », etc.
N’est-ce pas toujours Diderot qui anticipait cette vision quasi-
cinématographique en disant que « le spectateur est au théâtre comme devant
une toile où des tableaux divers se succéderaient comme par enchantement » et

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qu’« il faut mettre les figures ensemble, les rapprocher ou les disperser, les
isoler ou les grouper, en tirer une succession de tableaux, tous composés
d’une manière grande et vraie » ?8
Chez Beckett, pourtant, la diversité n’est qu’apparente et, il est vrai,
beaucoup plus présente dans les premières pièces. Plus on avance vers les
œuvres des années 80, plus les dramaticules acquièrent un caractère statique
et narratif, et plus les personnages se suffisent scéniquement à eux-mêmes,
en devenant le centre d’une image visuelle unique. Et, même seuls, sans la
présence des objets adjuvants9, ils sont souvent de trop, trop visibles, et c’est
le tour de l’éclairage d’intervenir pour amputer certaines parties de ces corps,
devenues inutiles ou inutilisables (dans Cette fois, 1976, Pas moi, Catastrophe,
1982). Le minimalisme devient ainsi un instrument de focalisation de l’attention
du spectateur sur quelques détails surdimensionnés par contraste : noir –
blanc, plat – enflé, lumière – obscurité, prévisible – imprévisible. Détails qui
se chargent d’une expressivité particulière et qui ont réussi à fourvoyer la
critique de spécialité puisqu’ils ont valu au théâtre beckettien l’insertion dans
la catégorie de l’absurde, alors qu’il ne s’agissait que d’une manière plastique,
poétique et dramatique de marquer les vides et les protubérances réelles
mais cachées de toute une époque. Nous ne pouvons pas nous empêcher de
reconnaître ici, comme le faisait Peter Szondi à propos du drame moderne en
général, « les demandes techniques du drame comme reflet de demandes
existentielles »10, qui trouvent leur pendant dans les recherches des autres
domaines artistiques de cette même époque comme, par exemple, chez
Giacometti (fig. 4), qui anticipe en quelque sorte le dramatisme figé beckettien.

2. L’expressivité plastique du corps scénique

En tant que deuxième élément caractéristique du tableau vivant,

l’expressivité corporelle va de pair dans le théâtre de Beckett avec la focalisation
du regard du spectateur sur la condition existentielle des personnages, rendue

8. De la poésie dramatique, 110.

9. Voir aussi l’article de Catherine Naugrette, « Études des objets dans En attendant Godot et
Oh les beaux jours », in Marie Claude Hubert, Lectures de Samuel Beckett, (Rennes: Presses
Universitaires de Rennes, 2009), 75-86.
10. Dans l’« Introduction » à la Théorie du Drame moderne 1880-1950, (Belval: Circé, « Coll.
Penser le théâtre », 2006).

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 ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU

Fig. 4 : Alberto Giacometti, Table, 1933, plâtre 148,5 x 103 x 43 cm.

de manière très plastique. Le corps des personnages beckettiens, et

implicitement des acteurs, est toujours mis à l’épreuve. Ce n’est quasiment
jamais le corps humain dans ses positions naturelles. Comme le remarque
aussi Marie Claude Hubert dans son article « Evolution de la mise en scène
du corps »11, sans faire malheureusement de comparaison avec les arts
plastiques, chez Beckett, les corps sont de plus en plus souffrants, et portent
les marques de tares profondes. Et, effectivement, l’expressivité de cette douleur
qui a laissé son empreinte dans la chair est telle que ces personnages se

11. Marie Claude Hubert, Lectures de Samuel Beckett, « Evolution de la mise en scène du corps
de En attandant Godot à Oh les beaux jours », op. cit. p. 119-126.

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transforment en images, en effigies, en métaphores mi-vivantes, mi-statuaires :

le corps aveugle toujours assis de Hamm (image royale de la supériorité
décrépite), le corps courbé sur des jambes qui ne peuvent jamais s’asseoir
de Clov (image de l’éternel esclave, cheval de trait), le corps à quatre pattes
marchant à reculons de Willie (image de la régression), le corps englouti par la
terre de Winnie (image de l’élan brisé, dont Beckett lui-même parlait lors de la
mise en scène de Oh les beaux jours, à Londres en 1979), encore et toujours
des métaphores de la condition humaine, du grand drame fragmenté de
l’humanité12.
D’ailleurs, si nous regardons du côté de la manière dont Beckett lui-même
travaillait en tant que metteur en scène avec ces corps estropiés, nous
remarquerons, avec Dina Mantchéva, que « les mises en scène de Beckett
suivent deux tendances fondamentales – la quête d’une unité visuelle maximale
et le refus de mouvement dramatique : le plus souvent, l’auteur organise ses
spectacles autour d’une image dominante qui constitue le noyau sémique »13.
Ces corps expressifs, qui s’érigent en images dominantes et obsessives,
ont tous perdu leur souplesse originaire et la raideur est devenue une de
leurs caractéristiques communes, remplaçant peu à peu les traits qui les
individualisaient dans les premières pièces. « Aussi ressemblants que possible »,
portant de longs vêtements noirs, blancs ou gris, de « longs cheveux blancs ou
gris », ce sont des êtres vivants dans des corps de plus en plus momifiés,
réifiés, plastifiés presque, qui font tableau après tableau, dans une véritable
gamme iconologique que le spectateur se doit de déchiffrer. Icônes qui
acquièrent incontestablement un caractère universel, mais qui portent en
même temps la marque indubitable de leur contemporanéité. Ce sont des
portraits dont la « biographie dramatisée » est à reconstituer par le spectateur
à partir des bribes données.
Si nous revenons à l’exemple de Oh les beaux jours !, Winnie n’est-elle
pas d’un côté une Marylin déchue, une beauté blonde accrochée à son miroir, à
son rouge à lèvres et à sa brosse à dents, puis d’un autre côté, l’effigie de la
femme universelle, célébrée du temps qu’elle était belle, comme disait
Ronsard mais « enterrée vivante » une fois sa gloire passée ? (fig. 5 et 6)

12. Pour une étude plus poussée sur la métaphore et l’image philosophique chez Beckett
voir Uhlmann Anthony, Samuel Beckett an the Philosophical Image, (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2006), 54 et suiv.
13. Dina Mantchéva, « Les carnets de mises en scène de Samuel Beckett et la cohérence de
son écriture dramatique », in Revue d’Histoire du Théâtre, (n°249, 2011-1), 71.

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Fig. 6 : Roy Lichtenstein, Girl with mirror,

Fig. 5 : Mimmo Rotella, Marilyn, 1963. 1964.

En opposition avec l’acte, le tableau, précise Patrice Pavis, dans son

Dictionnaire du théâtre, est « une unité spatiale d’ambiance, de caractérisation
d’un milieu ou d’une “époque” ; c’est une unité thématique et non actantielle »14.
En effet, chez Beckett, il n’y a pas de véritable chaîne actantielle dans le sens
classique du terme, mais un circuit fermé dans les limites d’un seul cadre
avec une forte unité thématique. Pourtant, la caractérisation du milieu et de
l’époque se fait bien autrement que par une unité spatiale d’ambiance. Un
très bon exemple en ce sens serait le dramaticule Catastrophe, que l’auteur
dédie à Vaclav Havel. Tout le mouvement se fait du côté du metteur en
scène, de son assistante et du technicien des lumières, alors que le Protagoniste,
lui, est dans un statisme complet. Afin d’obtenir l’image forte de la catastrophe,
après plusieurs essais insatisfaisants, le metteur en scène demande qu’on
« coupe l’ambiance » en ne gardant « Rien que la tête. » Le corps du Protagoniste
« rentre lentement dans le noir. Seule la tête éclairée. Un temps long. » et M dit :

14. Dictionnaire du Théâtre, Termes et concepts de l’analyse théâtrale, (Paris: Éditions sociales,
1980), 393.

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« C’est beau ». Tant que la tête du protagoniste reste baissée, la catastrophe est
là, le tableau est complet, muet, sans signe de vie. Mais la force de la métaphore
beckettienne (dans ce cas précis une splendide métaphore politique) réside
justement dans le tableau vivant, qui refuse vivement de se taire complètement :

Seule la tête éclairée. Un temps long. Formidable ! Il va faire un malheur.

J’entends ça d’ici. Un temps. Lointain tonnerre d’applaudissement. P.
relève la tête, fixe la salle. Les applaudissements faiblissent, s’arrêtent.
Silence. Un temps long. La tête rentre lentement dans le noir.15

Avec les tableaux vivants de Beckett nous sommes loin de ce tableau

qui fournirait le cadre nécessaire à une enquête sociologique ou à une
peinture de genre ; pourtant, la vision « picturale » de la scène, qu’implique
l’esthétique du tableau au théâtre, garde des liens profonds avec le monde,
avec la société dont il est, volens nolens, le produit artistique, avec tous les
paradoxes et les déchirures qui la traversent. La vision picturale de la
deuxième moitié du XXe siècle n’est plus celle du XVIIIe, mais – si nous
reprenons les formules de Diderot, en leur appliquant les changements
radicaux soufferts par l’art moderne16 – nous remarquerons que certains de
ces propos gardent toujours leur validité17. « Un tableau bien composé,
disait-il, est un tout renfermé sous un point de vue, où les parties concourent
à un même but et forment par leur correspondance mutuelle un ensemble
aussi réel que celui des membres dans un corps animal. »18
Nous avons bien vu jusqu’ici que le tableau vivant beckettien est
effectivement un tout refermé sous un point de vue, et où les parties concourent
à un même but, à la création de la même image dominante, au même noyau
sémique. Mais la réalité de l’« animal » moderne et post-moderne est différente,
pour Beckett comme pour bien d’autres artistes dramatiques et plastiques des

15. Catastrophe et autres dramaticules, (Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1997), 80-81.

16. Cf. Maliţa Liviu, Extremele Artei (Les extremes de l’Art), (Cluj-Napoca: Editions Accent, 2010).
17. L’affirmation comme quoi le tableau au théâtre est « une disposition (des) personnages sur la
scène, si naturelle et si vraie que, rendue fidèlement par un peintre, elle me plairait sur le
tableau » est, bien sûr, impossible à appliquer à l’esthétique moderne et la question du « naturel »
ouvre un débat qui ne trouve pas sa place dans la présente étude. Diderot, De la poésie dramatique,
110. Pour Diderot, le tableau est aussi l’image dominante qui hante en quelque sorte l’auteur :
« La pantomime est un tableau qui existait dans l’imagination du poète, lorsqu’il écrivait, et qu’il
voulait que la scène montrât à chaque instant lorsque l’on joue. »
18. Diderot, article « Composition » de l’Encyclopédie, III, 772a.

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années 60 : c’est la dégradation, l’amputation, l’aliénation, l’exhibition de soi

dans la vitrine consumériste et la perte de l’individualité dans la sérialité
(fig. 7).

Fig. 7 : George Segal, The gas station, 1963-64.

3. La ressemblance à un objet d’art plastique

Depuis ses premières pièces, Beckett regroupe très souvent ses personnages
de manière à ce qu’ils fassent tableau, mais non pas dans le sens de l’esthétique
classique : la ressemblance, contrairement à ce qu’envisageait Diderot, ne se fait
pas seulement en tant que reconnaissance formelle mais en tant qu’étonnement,
choc et provocation du spectateur. Il s’agit d’investir et d’occuper l’espace
autrement que dans la vie courante ou sur la scène traditionnelle, d’arrêter
l’existence dans son développement monotone, d’interroger, de faire penser, de
reconnaître ces effigies humaines des multiples et pourtant uniques, universelles,
joies et souffrances.
Beaucoup de peintres et artistes plastiques de son temps suivaient une voie
similaire. Pourtant, à part les quelques rapprochements avec la sculpture de
Giacometti, que Beckett appréciait énormément, la plupart des études critiques
ont insisté sur le caractère abstrait des formes et des personnages beckettiens :

Le caractère abstrait des individus dans les mises en scènes de Beckett

affirme Dina Mantchéva, est accentué par l’ambiguïté de leurs rapports
sur le plateau. […] L’ambiguïté recherchée par Beckett dans son travail
scénique n’est pas sans faire penser à celle des derniers ouvrages où elle
devient le principe structurel fondamental.19

19. Dina Mantchéva, « Les carnets de mises en scène de Samuel Beckett et la cohérence de
son écriture dramatique. », 69.

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 LA THÉÂTRALITÉ DU TABLEAU VIVANT DANS LE THÉÂTRE DE SAMUEL BECKETT

Ou bien, comme le dit Pascale Casanova, il s’agit plutôt de transposer

la révolution de l’abstraction ou, plus largement, la mise en cause
des présupposés de la figuration à la littérature.20

Pourtant, à notre avis, cette étiquette de l’abstraction n’est pas véritablement

justifiée. Les personnages beckettiens, bien qu’épurés de tout le surplus
naturaliste-vraisemblable et ambigus dans leurs rapports sur scène et avec
leur spectateur, ont des contours bien précis et concrets. Ils sont là, vivants,
dans le cadre emprisonnant de la scène-tableau, espace concentré de leur
propre existence à trous et à protubérances.

Fig. 8 : De Kooning, Fig. 9 : Martial Raysse, Fig. 10 : Martial Raysse,

Women singing, 1966. France Miroir, 1962. Peinture haute tension, 1965.

Winnie et Willie ne ressemblent pas aux personnages de De Kooning,

par exemple, que métaphoriquement parlant, alors que les similitudes nous
semblent beaucoup plus significatives avec certaines tendances des mouvements
plastiques du Pop Art et surtout du Nouveau Réalisme, des années 60-70 :
l’accumulation des objets autour de Winnie, ces objets qui l’aident à continuer, et
dont elle dépend au premier acte, mais qui deviennent inutiles et inutilisables au
second, ne s’apparentent-ils pas aux accumulations de Martial Raysse ou de
Spoerri ? Winnie n’est-elle pas au cœur même d’une installation scénique, un
tableau vivant qui se charge de toutes les caractéristiques des nouvelles recherches
qui révolutionnent les arts plastiques, dans la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle ?

20. Casanova Pascale, Beckett l’Abstracteur, Anatomie d’une révolution littéraire, 130.

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 ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU

Regardons aussi un peu Claes Oldenburg et la manière dont il met en

scène l’espace et ses objets surdimensionnés (fig. 3), gonflés, qui inversent
la relation entre consommateur et objet consommé, l’être moderne étant happé
par ceux-ci, à l’exemple du mamelon de terre qui consomme lentement l’être
qu’il devrait nourrir (si l’on pense à la fausse « terre nourricière » et aux œuvres
métonymiques de César, fig. 2). La bouche de Pas moi, les têtes suspendues dans
le noir, à trois mètres du sol, ne fuient-elles pas le réalisme scénique classique,
par la transfiguration du banal, tout en restructurant le figuratif d’une manière
plastique, en hyperbolisant la forme et en déstructurant les contenus ? La
métonymie iconique, cette hyperbolisation d’une partie du corps qui prend
sur elle le poids de l’être dans sa totalité, tout en accentuant le vide qui l’accable,
que l’on retrouve si souvent chez Andy Warhol et dans le Pop Art (fig. 11),
n’est-elle pas aussi une métonymie existentielle chez Beckett : « l’être tout
entier... (sus)pendu à ses paroles... » ?

Fig. 11 : Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe’s lips, 1962.

D’après l’étude de ses cahiers de notes de mise en scène, il semble que

Beckett ne fût pas du tout indifférent au pouvoir expressif de la peinture car
ses « remarques scéniques y accordent une attention accrue aux nuances des
couleurs, aux pantomimes, à la richesse des images plastiques ». Et si, sur le
plan textuel, nous sommes d’accord que « tous ces signes visuels tendent à
remplacer l’absence de cohérence syntagmatique dans la fable, par un nouveau
type de cohésion, associative et paradigmatique, caractéristique du texte lyrique »21,
il faut ajouter qu’au niveau scénique, le poétique est associé aux dispositifs
du tableau vivant, véritable image-support pour le spectateur moderne.

21. Dina Mantchéva, « Les carnets de mises en scène de Samuel Beckett et la cohérence de
son écriture dramatique. » 69.

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 LA THÉÂTRALITÉ DU TABLEAU VIVANT DANS LE THÉÂTRE DE SAMUEL BECKETT

En conclusion, nous dirions que Beckett ne réduit pas le dramatique, il le

réinvente, le transfigure (en passant ainsi au sens propre au-delà du figuratif classique
devenu impossible). La forme du drame beckettien est le correspondant vivant
de la forme plastique que revêt la nouvelle réalité des années 60. Si le théâtral
dans un tableau dépend de la capacité de l’artiste de rendre le mouvement ou les
effets de mouvement, chez Beckett la théâtralité est étroitement liée aux efforts dans
la direction du mouvement, aux envols brisés, aux élans coupés, à l’esquisse d’un
mouvement et non à son accomplissement. Et si le poétique et le narratif occupent
une place essentielle dans ces pièces, la scène n’est jamais abandonnée en tant
qu’espace privilégié de la rencontre des regards. Le theatron, lieu où l’on donne
à voir est on ne peut mieux servi : car le face-à-face acquiert un nouveau type
de proximité. Ce qui est donné à voir est ce que l’on doit voir : le ici et le maintenant
scénique. Le rideau se lève sur la parole en présence de l’image, même en l’absence
de l’action. Puis, dans ses derniers textes, c’est la lumière qui fait office de rideau,
elle fait découvrir, elle dévoile, elle met en marche le mécanisme de l’installation
théâtrale, du tableau qui prend vie et voix, de la voix qui se fige en tableau sous les
yeux du spectateur et du critique ébahi.

Fig. 12 : Jasper Johns, The critic sees, The critic smiles, Summer critic (1961-1969).

157
 ŞTEFANA POP-CURSEU

References

Abbott Porter H., « Samuel Beckett and the Arts of Time : Painting, Music Narrative », in
Lois Oppenheim (ed.), Samuel Beckett and the Arts : Music, Visual Arts, and
Non-Print Media. New York: Garland Publishing, 1999.
Casanova Pascale, Beckett l’Abstracteur, Anatomie d’une révolution littéraire. Paris:
Seuil 1997.
Beckett Samuel, Disjecta: Miscellaneous Writings and a Dramatic Fragment, ed. Ruby
Cohn. Londres: John Calder, 1983.
Beckett Samuel, Oh les beaux jours, suivi de Pas moi. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit,
2004 (1ère éd. 1963-1974).
Beckett Samuel, Catastrophe et autres dramaticules. Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1997.
Blin Roger, « Conversation avec Lynda Poskine », in Revue d’esthétique, numéro spécial
hors-série, Samuel Beckett, éd. par Pierre Chabert. Toulouse: Privat, 1986.
Danto Arthur, La transfiguration du banal, Une philosophie de l’art. Paris: Seuil, 1989.
Diderot, De la poésie dramatique (1758). Paris: Classiques Larousse, 1975.
Diderot, article « Composition » de l’Encyclopédie, III, 772a.
Hubert Marie Claude, Lectures de Samuel Beckett. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de
Rennes, 2009.
Lassaad Jamoussi, Le pictural dans l’œuvre de Beckett. Approche poïetique de la choseté.
Tunis-Bordeaux: Sud Editions, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2007.
Maliţa Liviu, Extremele Artei (Les extremes de l’Art). Cluj-Napoca: Editions Accent, 2010.
Mantchéva Dina, « Les carnets de mises en scène de Samuel Beckett et la cohérence
de son écriture dramatique. », in Revue d’Histoire du Théâtre, n°249, 2011-1.
Pavis Patrice, Dictionnaire du Théâtre, Termes et concepts de l’analyse théâtrale. Paris:
Éditions sociales, 1980.
Rojtman Betty, Forme et signification dans le théâtre de Beckett. Paris: Nizet, 1987.
Szondi Peter Théorie du Drame moderne 1880-1950. Belval: Circé, « Coll. Penser le
théâtre », 2006.
Uhlmann Anthony, Samuel Beckett an the Philosophical Image. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.

Ştefana POP-CURŞEU, Ph.D at the University of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, in Theatre and
Scenic Arts, is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theatre and Television of „Babeş-Bolyai”
University Cluj-Napoca, where she teaches antique and medieval theatre history and modern
theory of theatre. She published many articles in the domain of Theatre, in France and Romania.
She translated alone or in collaboration with Ioan Pop-Curşeu a dozen of books from French
to Romanian, such as Samuel Beckett, Sfârșit de partidă, 2000, L.-F. Céline, Convorbiri cu

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 LA THÉÂTRALITÉ DU TABLEAU VIVANT DANS LE THÉÂTRE DE SAMUEL BECKETT

Profesorul Y, 2006, Pascal Vrebos, Avarul II, 2010, Gilles Deleuze, Imaginea-mişcare, 2012),
and is author of the book: Pour une théâtralité picturale. Bruegel et Ghelderode en jeux de
miroirs, Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, Cluj-Napoca, coll. Teatru-Eseuri, 2012. She wrote in collaboration
with Ioan Pop-Curșeu two theatre scripts and directed two performances based on these scripts
(Killed by Friendly Fire, 2014 and Every Tzara has his Dada 2016). She is also, since 2011,
the artistic director of The National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 161 - 171
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.09

The Evolution of the Milicier Film Genre

in Communist Romania

ION INDOLEAN1

Abstract2: In order to observe the manner in which the image of the Romanian
militiaman is perpetuated throughout the movies produced during Nicolae
Ceauşescu’s regime (1965-1989) we will analyze the most important detective
films of that period. This will allow us to recognize a series of characterological
and professional attributes present in the protagonists of these narratives which
claimed to have come from reality. All of these heroes are shrewd, tenacious
and well-intentioned because the official propaganda wanted to deliver a certain
beautified image of the Romanian agent, about whom these films suggested
having the mental and physical capabilities to be successful against any kind
of villain and therefore being able to protect his country with a great sense of
duty and commitment.

Keywords: Cultural politics, Film, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Communism, Espionage,

Industry, Censorship, Propaganda.

“Milicier” defines the type of police films with law enforcement made
during Nicolae Ceauşescu’s regime. The term is a combination of the “policier”
cinematographic genre and the Romanian noun “milițian” which in communist
countries defined the now globally used “policeman” (en) / “policier” (fr) /
“poliţist” (ro) / “poliziotto” (it) etc.3

1. Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

[Link]@[Link].
2. Translated into English by Ilinca Hărnuţ.
3. I arrived at this term intuitively, but then I found it used by the researcher Bogdan Jitea, in
his unpublished doctoral thesis entitled Dizidenţă şi conformism în cinematografia regimului
Ceauşescu (Bucharest, 2015), where he had the historian Lucian Boia as his scientific supervisor
So I can say that I invented the term milicier instinctively, without knowing that someone
else had previously thought of it Because I am not the first to drive it into public space, I need to
specify this.
 ION INDOLEAN

As we comprehend, the original “polis” has Greek origins (“politeia”)

and it firstly meant “city” (e.g., “acropolis”: “upper city”). In time, the term
obtained more meanings, one of them being “regulation and control of a
community”4, which in fact refers to keeping order in a certain place by
means of police. On the other side, “militia” is a Latin word, which – understood
in the way we are interested in – emerged during post-revolutionary Russia,
being intended to draw a distinction between the new Soviet law enforcement
agencies and the disbanded Tsarist police5. In opposition to the western
police, the newly-formed communist militia (also written as “militsiya”) was
based on repressive principles, being a tool of state ideology, controlling the
entire society by means far-reaching functions that touched the life of every
citizen6.
In order to observe the manner in which the image of the Romanian
militiaman modifies throughout the movies produced during Ceauşescu’s
regime (1965-1989), we will start with the Miscellaneous Brigade7 series and
we will try to build the portrait of this agent-character, taking into account
the following titles: Adventures by the Black Sea8, Seven Days9, The Magic
Circle10, The Man in the Overcoat11, The Investigation12, A Girl’s Tear13,
Blackmail14, The End of the Night15, To Kill a bird of Prey16.

4. Online Etymology Dictionary [Link]

5. Louise Shelley, Policing Soviet Society: The Evolution of State Control (New York: Routledge,
1996) 19-37.
6. Louise Shelley, Policing Soviet Society, p xiv.
7. Mircea Drăgan director, Brigada Diverse (series of three films) by Nicolae Ţic, Studioul
Cinematografic Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on December 14, 1970, June 26, 1971, respectively
December 20, 1971.
8. Savel Stiopul director, Aventuri la Marea Neagră by Tudor Popescu, Studioul Cinematografic
Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on May 29, 1972.
9. Mircea Veroiu director, Şapte zile by Nicolae Ştefănescu, Casa de filme Unu, Buftea,
premiered on September 24, 1973.
10. David Reu director, Cercul magic by Nicolae Mărgeanu, Cora Vulcănescu, directed by
David Reu, Casa de filme Patru, premiered on 1975.
11. Nicolae Mărgineanu director, Un om în loden by Haralamb Zincă, Nicolae Mărgineanu,
Casa de filme Unu, Buftea, premiered on April 16, 1979.
12. Constantin Vaeni director, Ancheta by Florin N Năstase, Casa de filme Patru, Buftea,
premiered on November 10, 1980.
13. Iosif Demian director, O lacrimă de fată by Petre Sălcudeanu, Casa de filme 5, Buftea,
premiered on November 3, 1980.
14. Geo Saizescu director, Şantaj by Rodica Ojog-Braşoveanu, Geo Saizescu, Casa de filme
Unu, Buftea, premiered on February 2, 1981.

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 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILICIER FILM GENRE IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA

At that time, these milicier films were made with at least two
purposes: political and entertainment. Some promoted, in a veiled manner,
the industrialization of the country while drawing a fabricated portrait of
Romania and its relations with Western countries. The others simply talked
about professional and well-trained agents who are doing their job beyond
reproach.
If we watched these films without knowing the context in which they
were made, we could easily conclude that Romania’s enemies could not have
been native mobsters, criminals or traffickers – it is suggested that the system
had dealt with them a long time ago – but either Westerners who were trying to
steal plans and valuable achievements of Romanian scientists or citizens who
did not adapt and were wrong because they did not want to understand
the undeniable advantages of communism.
This nationalist double rhetoric (we won’t sell our country and are we
exceptional) has become permanent in the highly popular slogan used by
neo-communist politicians. It is a speech that still works; we have to look
no further than the December 2016 parliamentary elections17.
But the position defining this type of slogan was false even before
1989. Romania’s economic co-operation with the West had been extended
during the Ceauşescu regime; it was just that the authorities kept it secret
for ideological reasons.
From 1964 onwards, Romanian advertisements sponsored by the
Government of Bucharest started appearing in western newspapers, they
were meant to attract western tourists18. This was the case, in one form or
another, in all fields. Constantin Pivniceru, managing director of Buftea

15. Mircea Veroiu director, Sfîrşitul nopţii by Marian Iordache, Casa de filme Patru, Buftea,
premiered on May 23, 1983.
16. Iosif Demian director, Lovind o pasăre de pradă by Petre Sălcudeanu, Casa de filme Patru,
Buftea, premiered on November 7, 1983.
17. “REZULTATE EXIT POLL PSD a câştigat ALEGERILE PARLAMENTARE 2016”, Gândul,
accessed October 15, [Link]
[Link]: in this period of the electoral campaign for the 2016
parliamentary elections, the rhetoric of many parties focused on the nationalist direction, a
fairly sensitive trajectory that was adopted both by the “traditional” parties and by new
parties that stood out from the very beginning by means of adopting this position The
people who have entered the campaign with this message are PSD, who somehow continue
in this manner their speech at the Euro-parliamentary and presidential elections in 2014,
when they declared themselves “proud that we are Romanians”.
18. Adam Burakowski, Dictatura lui Nicolae Ceauşescu 1965-1989 (Iaşi: Polirom, 2016), 88.

163
 ION INDOLEAN

during 1970-1989, recalls that in the mid-1980s Romaniafilm bought a

whole page in Variety magazine for $ 5,00019, to facilitate co-productions
with the West.
The favorable opinion Ceauşescu benefited from materialized in mutual
visits of high-ranking officials such as the arrival of the President of France,
Charles de Gaulle in Bucharest from May 14 to 18, 1968, and, perhaps the most
important PR coup of them all, the visit of the US President, Richard Nixon, on
August 2-3, 1969. The reception of the American delegation took place one
year after Romania’s refusal to partake in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
This positive opinion lasted for a while, as suggested by the Ceauşescu’s
visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland between
13-16 June 1978, at the invitation of Queen Elisabeth II.
Diplomatic relations helped Romania become a member of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the International Monetary Fund and
the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. All in 1971
and 1972, with discreet US help20.
Even after serious misconduct, such as human rights abuses in the Paul
Goma affair (1977), or the flee to the West of foreign intelligence deputy Ion
Mihai Pacepa (1978), Romania still required and received Western aid. In
June 1981, the IMF provided a substantial credit ($ 1.3 billion), provided it
reduced consumption, transferred the bulk of investment from the heavy
industry to the agriculture and boosted foreign trade21.
Therefore, the muffling of Romania’s relationship with the West could
only be imposed by the official propaganda of the PCR. Most negotiations
with foreign countries were kept secret to the Romanian people in order to
promote the idea of overcoming difficulties with their own forces22, a slogan
promoted by the authorities immediately after the 1975 floods, which
emphasized that the country is doing very well on its own account.
This position was also imposed when it came to the cinematographic
production, so it was also the case of the milicier films. They pointed out
that society had long overcome the mistakes of the Gheorghe Gheorghiu-
Dej regime, and well trained people had taken the place of the gross,
illiterate and unprepared activists.

19. Constantin Pivniceru, Amintiri din actualitate 50 de ani de cinematografie în România (Bucureşti:
Tritonic, 2012), 21.
20. Adam Burakowski, Dictatura, 192.
21. Ibid., 284-285.
22. Ibid., 233.

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 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILICIER FILM GENRE IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA

We notice in milicier films, like in all now and about films, an embellished
world, but where, however, you can notice certain shortcomings and problems
of the system. In these police films, ethical and principled investigators
skillfully and enthusiastically conquer any offense against the law or the state
property. Dangerous elements, few of which still exist, come from outside
the country or from some natives who were wrongly trained during the Dej
regime. Guilt is thus transferable, outsourced or attributed to the past.
Next, we’ll look at the films in chronological order to see more clearly
the evolution of the agent’s image over time.
The evolution of the agent-character begins with the Miscellaneous
Brigade series, produced between 1970 and ‘71. Even if it’s seen as a comedy,
the story is filled with militiamen and it allows us to include it as a milicier.
The Miscellaneous Brigade squad, marginalized within the militia, is the
department responsible for dealing with the smallest illegalities, with petty
theft that are rather funny than serious.
There’s a dog, a painting, something that’s stolen from a shop or a house,
but everything remains at the level of a farce. Understanding the derision of the
chosen situations, the filmmakers assume a self-ironic attitude: militiamen
and thieves always stumble, but the moralizing end makes criminals pay
for what they did.
More serious events than these petty robberies happened, however,
in Romania, but censorship made sure they did not appear in the press.
This censorship is known as “censorship by omission”23.
Romania was one of the most under-informed countries in Europe and
in the former Soviet bloc, and the press was one of the most supervised and
controlled national mass information systems24. The informative role of the
press has been replaced by the educational role, the main objective being the
propagation of political, ideological and moral teachings by use of the
printed word25; The press communicated ideas, not information, the party’s
representation of the world, not events, the ideological activity of the party,
not the immediate reality26. Therefore, more serious deeds than stealing a
dog or a painting had to be omitted from public discourse and from a public
debate. The ordinary citizen was presented only with the positive aspects of
the new man, displayed as honest, fair, working, non-polemic, and obedient.

23. Iulian Boldea, “Cenzura şi teatrul”, Apostrof, October, 2009.

24. Emilia Șercan, Cultul secretului Mecanismele cenzurii în presa comunistă, (Iaşi: Polirom, 2015), 15.
25. Ibid., 15.
26. Ibid., 15.

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 ION INDOLEAN

The press omitted not only serious crimes, but also accounts of any form of
damage to the “public good”27 or women and minors working in industrial
night-shifts, occupational illnesses, and accidents at work, living standards
or the hygienic-sanitary situation of the population28.
In this context, Miscellaneous Brigade contributes to prolonging censorship
through omission. However, the problem of political decision-makers in relation
to BD was one of nuance: no matter how likeable, the protagonists were
prejudicial to the image of law enforcement. The militiamen were decredibilized
in the public eye, this course of actions being afterwards perpetuated in a
post-revolution TV series, aired by PRO TV, featuring the policemen Garcea,
an organ dwelling on the shores of idiocy.
This mockery of the authorities led to the seize of the production of
the next eight films that the authors of the series had scheduled. Film critic
Dumitru Ion Suchianu’s intervention regarding the third BD series – named
B.D In the Mountains and by the Seaside29 – issues an interesting parallel debate.
Suchianu states that he personally would have preferred comic situations to be
more of and more consistent, concluding that the unfavorable chronicles of
some of the critics will perhaps bring about such improvement30. So we
have to ask ourselves if the position of film critics was so significant that their
written intervention could change the course of the history of a cinematic
project and its degree of popularity. Who read it, how many readers and, in
particular, how did the opinions expressed affect the viewers / performers?
Another critic, Mircea Alexandrescu also had a negative opinion about the
film, saying that we are witnessing a third series of comedic adventures of
B.D. with a feeling bordering hopelessness31.
Lead actor of the series, Sebastian Papaiani remembered that a certain
general Constantin ascertained the parodic nature of the story only after the
third film had been released and thus stopped the series: “He was a general.

27. Ibid., 142.

28. Ibid., 143.
29. Mircea Drăgan director, B.D la munte şi la mare by Nicolae Țic, Mircea Drăgan, Studioul
Cinematografic Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on December 20, 1971.
30. Dumitru Ion Suchianu, “B.D la munte şi la mare”, review of B.D la munte şi la mare by
Nicolae Țic, Mircea Drăgan, directed by Mircea Drăgan, Studioul Cinematografic Bucureşti,
Buftea, premiered on December 20, 1971 România literară, January 13, 1972.
31. Mircea Alexandrescu, “Să vorbim cu durere despre comedie”, review of B.D la munte şi la
mare by Nicolae Țic, Mircea Drăgan, directed by Mircea Drăgan, Studioul Cinematografic
Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on December 20, 1971 Cinema, January, 1972.

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 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILICIER FILM GENRE IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA

General Constantin. A smart man stopped the movie. He was sharp as a razor!
Brilliant! He stopped the film because he felt we were mocking the militia.
It took him three movies but he got it. Do you get how smart he was?! [...]
He didn’t provide any more uniforms; he didn’t provide us any more blank
bullets. He didn’t allow the militia to come on the set with us”32.
After the well-known theses of July 1971, when the stricter control of the
ideological direction also influenced the Romanian cinema, the first milicier
was Adventures by the Black Sea (1971). Agent George Martin (Florin Piersic)
appears to be a transition character. In his record, a proper instruction is mixed
with the fact that he is a womanizer and sometimes unreliable. He is reminiscent
of the BD series militiamen, but he is more professional and works at a higher
level. He manages to vanquish a whole network of capitalist spies. Their
portraits, parodic and unbelievable, can be the delight of an audience favoring
action comedies – like BD or the popular Sergiu Nicolaescu’s movie Uncle Marin,
the Billionaire33. What Adventures by the Black Sea suggests is that socialism
excels technologically and scientifically, and that capitalism seeks to appropriate
its achievements, led by its inability to produce quality inventions. The film
critics of the time emphasized that there were still no people trained to make
proper police films in the country.
Following this semi-failure, Seven Days (1973) begins, in a somewhat
atypically manner, the series of milicier films meant to change once and for
all the image of the law man, (in)voluntarily ridiculed by Miscellaneous Brigade
and unconvincingly built by Adventures by the Black Sea. Mircea Veroiu’s
Seven Days really shows an attentive counterintelligence agent who takes
his job very seriously; so seriously that Veroiu, in a work of fiction that claims to
have a documentary quality, follows the character for seven days as he tails a
band of foreign agents who steal a sample of steel created by Romanian
inventors with the purpose of exporting it. Veroiu’s suggestion, perhaps
imposed by the propaganda, would be that the authorities are working so well
that criminals do not even realize that they are under observation. Beyond
the subject and the foreseeable resolution in the end (good overcomes evil),
what is surprising about Seven Days is the fact that there isn’t much talking,

32. “Dezvăluire inedită despre unul dintre cele mai iubite filme româneşti”, Gândul, accessed
October 15, 2017, [Link]
cele-mai-iubite-filme-romanesti-15074387, personal translation.
33. Sergiu Nicolaescu director, Nea Mărin miliardar Vintilă Corbul, Eugen Burada, Amza Pellea,
Casa de filme Patru, Buftea, premiered on February 5, 1979.

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 ION INDOLEAN

at a time when the Romanian films were over-saturated with slogan-lines.

Having the experience of co-directing The Stone Wedding34, Mircea Veroiu’s
feature film debut is an image and style exercise, remarkable first and foremost
because of the spectacular quality of the trivial fact.
The Magic Circle (1975) seems closer to the wishes of the propaganda
concerning the clarity of the story and the thoughtful use of the film. Octavian
Cotescu interprets a tenacious militiaman who, alongside his colleague,
manages to make the most improbable connections and thus solve the case of
a double homicide, a process during which he demonstrates almost magic
capabilities. In all respects, this film complies with the Party’s demands: agents
are serious, good professionals, much more intelligent than criminals, who,
in the meantime, completely unjustifiably commit murder, simply because they
cannot integrate into the system called socialism. In spite of the obligatory
diplomacy of the time, perhaps also forced by the circumstances in which such a
film, portraying the good practice of law enforcement, could not be blamed,
in film critic Dan Comşa’s text there is some reticence over the quality of
this project that can be sensed. The author aims more to find mitigating
circumstances for the film, rather than unfavorable arguments; it is as if
Comşa himself tries to find excuses for the film, saying that, maybe, “the
cursed charge” of the conflict is to blame and the slightly vague psychological
mechanisms, feeling somewhat morally forced, which are finally the answer
to all the questions35.
Perhaps the milicier that’s best aligned to the rigors of the policier genre,
as it was produced in France or the United States, is The Man in the Overcoat
(1979). The film has a solid intrigue and a fluid deployment of action. Judging
by his understanding of story building, we can boldly say that Mărgineanu
offers a lesson of style to the more tenacious Sergiu Nicolaescu. If at the level of
his narrative structure, The Man in the Overcoat is beyond reproach, the subject
it approaches becomes slightly politicized when the protagonist, engineer
Stamatiad (Victor Rebengiuc), brings to light the story of a former friend of
his, who used to be in the legionary movement, who is now seeking revenge
at any cost. Having returned from abroad, where he had lived for thirty years,
this Westerner by adoption, harboring pathological resentment, cannot separate

34. Dan Piţa, Mircea Veroiu directors, Nunta de piatră by Dan Piţa, Mircea Veroiu, Studioul
Cinematografic Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on January 29, 1973.
35. Dan Comşa, “Cercul magic”, review of Cercul Magic by Nicolae Mărgeanu, Cora
Vulcănescu, directed by David Reu, Casa de filme Patru, 1975 Cinema, August 1975.

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 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILICIER FILM GENRE IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA

himself from the past. Even though in this case as well the winner is the right
one, the militia does not solve the case easily and doesn’t establish impossible
connections. Things flow naturally, and Mărgineanu almost diverts from the
propaganda through the detached and emphatic way he relates to his subject. If
we follow The Man in the Overcoat and The Magic Circle, we can see that it’s
sufficient if the difference resides in nuance and how one is positioned
related to the subject.
Another film that fits the idea of the unprecedented professionalism of
the Romanian agents is The Investigation (1980). The explosion of a 4300-ton
Kauper furnace at a steel mill in Galaţi triggers the investigation conducted by
party activist Ştefan. The film promotes, among other things, the industrial
sector as well, suggesting that the people employed in it are willing, ambitious
and eager to do their best. This is the source of their involved behavior. All
the characters are critical of themselves, even though the explosion is due to
bad weather conditions. The implacable, unforgiving destiny, nature claiming
it’s due, these remain flagships in the world of ideas of communist cinema.
Nature seems the only potential obstacle to the completion of socialism. Besides,
we can notice in The Investigation at least two details which were perpetuated
in several films: a) the stories occur all over the country, so that spectators can
identify themselves more easily with the characters; and b) major activists living
in large, elegantly furnished houses, build during the monarchy in Romania.
Although these activists were building up communism and the “new man”,
they were addicted to bourgeois prosperity, their fight against it taking place
only at a declarative level.
A Girl’s Tear (1980) shows a Romanian village, where the suspicious
death of a young lady is investigated. The militiamen that come from the
city discover a patriarchal mentality, which objectifies women. They don’t have
the same rights men do, they are not allowed to emancipate, it is suggested
that they are guilty for any physical of psychical aggression. Demian brings
front this attitude, challenging it. The outside intervention coming from an
urban, civilizing world is the only one that can penalize the villagers.
Alongside Mircea Veroiu and partly Nicolae Mărgineanu, Demian creates a
more realistic image of the Romanian agent.
Blackmail (1981) builds a plot around engineers who have fraudulently
obtained their diplomas. The topic is delicate because it relates to an issue of
the multilaterally developed society. But the film remains just moralizing; it
does not aim to solve the problem, but rather punish these impostors. Because
the engineers who bought their diplomas have to pay at least from a moral
point of view, an unknown man, in a hoarse voice, blackmails them, through

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 ION INDOLEAN

phone calls, asking them to help with industrial espionage for a for a group
outside the country. This narrative scheme seems to comply perfectly with
the type of milicier demanded by the Party. Promoting the industry goes well
hand in hand with the spectrum of external danger and the Romanian secret
services which impeccably defend the country. Agents are moving fast, they
have the making of great detectives and they go straight to the heart of
things. They are so precise that their leader corrects her younger colleague
who didn’t remember correctly the phone number at which a possible illegal
call had been made: “57 57 56, not 57 57 57!”36. No matter which of them had
been right, this number, too easy to remember, is part of the shaky logic the
film is built on. The head of the investigation squad manages to surpass the
gender barrier through a humorless and hardworking attitude. In a society
as patriarchal as the communist one, whose problems we exposed in a more
nuanced manner in A Girl’s Tear, this agent is the example of an exemplary
woman who has to work twice as much to be considered equal to men. 1983
brings along the films The End of the Night and To Kill a Bird of Prey. Veroiu
and Demian continue well, in line with what they had begun in Seven Days
and A Girl’s Tear. They do not resort to prefabricated models of events and
characters, but instead they try to question the society by interrogating the
narrative details they work with. The plot of the two films is similar: a traffic
accident, after which a young woman loses her life. We notice that in most
films the victims are women. This choice would be interesting to analyze in a
separate article.
The End of the Night shows Toma (Gheorghe Visu), a young motorman
who has been ill influenced all his life. The escape, for one like him, appears to
be a benevolent agent who chooses to neglect even his personal life in order to
bring him on the right track. To Kill a Bird of Prey also features a goodhearted
agent who would be willing to help the guilty provided they would also
agree to change.
However, the antagonists won’t or can’t change and are, therefore,
punished rather by nature or by faith than by the system.
After watching these milicier films, one can notice two directions:
Romanian felons can get a second chance if they will ask for it; but when it
comes to foreign agents, the state is merciless. Investigations often function
as pretexts meant to highlight the professionalism of the agents, some issues
the system is trying to repair, and the idea that The Party sees everything.

36. “Santaj 1982 Film Romanesc”, Youtube, accessed October 12, 2017, [Link]
watch?v=t3BcAtLg72A.

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 THE EVOLUTION OF THE MILICIER FILM GENRE IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA

References

Alexandrescu, Mircea. “Să vorbim cu durere despre comedie”, review of B.D. la

munte şi la mare by Nicolae Țic, Mircea Drăgan, directed by Mircea Drăgan,
Studioul Cinematografic Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on December 20, 1971.
Cinema, January 1972.
Boldea, Iulian. “Cenzura şi teatrul”, Apostrof, October 2009.
Burakowski, Adam. Dictatura lui Nicolae Ceauşescu 1965-1989. Iaşi: Polirom, 2016.
Comşa, Dan. “Cercul magic”, review of Cercul Magic by Nicolae Mărgeanu, Cora
Vulcănescu, directed by David Reu, Casa de filme Patru, 1975. Cinema,
August 1975.
Pivniceru, Constantin. Amintiri din actualitate. 50 de ani de cinematografie în România.
Bucureşti: Tritonic, 2012.
Shelley, Louise. Policing Soviet Society: The Evolution of State Control. New York:
Routledge, 1996.
Șercan, Emilia. Cultul secretului. Mecanismele cenzurii în presa comunistă. Iaşi:
Polirom, 2015.
Suchianu, Dumitru. Ion, “B.D. la munte şi la mare”, review of B.D. la munte şi la
mare by Nicolae Țic, Mircea Drăgan, directed by Mircea Drăgan, Studioul
Cinematografic Bucureşti, Buftea, premiered on December 20, 1971. România
literară, January 13, 1972.

Ion Indolean has BA and MA in Film Studies and is a Ph.D. candidate with a thesis
about film on contemporary subjects produced in Communist Romania. Writes for various
cultural Romanian newspapers and collaborated with Astra Sibiu, TIFF and Comedy Cluj
Film Festivals. Directed the feature film Discordia that won the debut prize at TIFF in
2016 and was nominated at GOPO Awards in 2017.

171
STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 173 - 186
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.10

To curate a part of one’s soul.

Transplanting a performance in three (radically) different spaces

RALUCA LUPAN1

Abstract: The curating process of a performance like 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah

Kane constitutes a reflection of a round, back and forward act of doubt and
belief. A suitable or a malicious managerial decision in chancing a given
data in the performance can determine the path and the course of the show.
Every act or management action can alter the channels of communicating
with the audience and its perception and reception of the performance.

Keywords: curating, interaction, independent theatre, space, distance, audience

Contemporary Romanian theatre succeeds in making room for new

aesthetics and in meeting its audiences’ expectations both in state-financed
institutions that provide a cultural offer satisfying the needs of a broad,
multicultural audience, and in an independent sector which focuses mostly
on social and documentary theatre, exploratory performances, musicals
and theatre-dance.
Transplanting a show designed for a state institution onto the stage of
an independent theatre implies major changes in the curating methods of
that production. Most of the time, the independent companies use non-
conventional spaces, and by this we understand any space from cafe to
apartment or industrial hall, whose main use is not, in itself, cultural, and
this directly influences the relationship between the actor and the audience.
An independent theatre company can provide and generate a large palette
of performative shows and products.
Moving a show meant to be performed in a state institution in an
independent company means redefining it. Trying to re-brand a theatrical
product in transition requires a coherent curating program from its producers,

1. Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

 RALUCA LUPAN

which consists in keeping active and efficient the actor’s and director’s
resources in a precarious medium that lacks the credibility of a long-
established cultural institution. It is this lack of credibility that makes the
local or county administration treat independent companies unfairly. Still,
it would be unjust not to mention their support in the last two years. The
plays designed and performed by the independent companies are becoming
more and more present on the map of the national and international festivals,
as well as in the marketing strategies of the local cultural institutions or of
those supporting cultural events.
The need for this transition arises from the artistic team’s desire for
the survival of their product. Most of the cultural marketing plans aim at
the longevity of the product. This kind of work, which intends to develop the
show and keep it on the market through personal limited means, resembles
a curator’s work.
When curating a show, things happen following a different set of rules
than in the case of another works of art. The procedural framework is conceived
according to the audience’s needs and expectations, as well as to the actor’s
intellectual availability and his physical and mental energy, according to the
material resources, space and time, all these being under a continuous financial
pressure.
Even though the coherence of the message that the show delivers is
based on a pattern, a set of rules, the type of interaction changes in order to
offer the audience a different experience. The forms of interaction in a show
from the independent field can contain a multitude of performative frames.
The spectator of the independent theatre expects to experience something
different. That is why the set of rules changes depending on the public attending
the performance. This usually happens mainly in the case of cafe/club theatre.

Theatrical context 2009-2011

Being formally introduced in the artistic field as a theatre actor, I was

trained and conditioned to work in a state institution. Starting from Sarah
Kane’s text, Psychosis 4.48, I created a one-woman show for my master
dissertation at the Theatre Department. The show has the pattern of a
product that can often be seen in a state institution. Performing it in an
independent company was not viable since the theatrical field in Transylvania
lacked in alternative spaces and this type of institution. Given the circumstances,
together with the director, Alexandra Felseghi, we decided to focus on creating

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 TO CURATE A PART OF ONE’S SOUL

a show “as if it were” in a state institution, though the main aim was the
In-Yer-Face2 dramaturgy. In that period, Sarah Kane’s writings were up to the
minute. In the 2000s most of the Romanian directors, and not only, expressed
their preference for the playwright of “blood and sperm theatre”.
The dramatic style named by Aleks Sierz, In –Yer-Face3, the new type of
theatre that came into being in Great Britain in the 90s arrived in the Romanian
theatrical background after a decade. We could even say, theatrically, that
the British were coming.
Among those who considered that the “plays of blood and sperm” are
worth seeing by the Romanian audience, we would like to mention: Tudor
Ţepeneag who puts on 4.48 Psychosis with Maia Morgenstern, at Act Theatre
(2004), Mihai Mănuţiu who directs Phaedra’s Love at Ioan Slavici Theatre, Arad
(2006) and 4.48 Psychosis at Lucian Blaga National Theatre (2008). Răzvan
Mureşan approaches the same 4.48 Psychosis differently from his colleague
and presents it the same year, 2008, at Lucian Blaga National Theatre. In 2009
Andrei Şerban puts on Cleansed on the stage of the same theatre. Theodor
Cristian Popescu (director) and Eugen Wohl (translator, essayist and professor)
start translating more texts by Sarah Kane. In order to highlight the newly
discovered dramaturgy and its mark, Sarah Kane is dedicated a three day
festival at the National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca - Sarah Kane’s Days. Despite the
critics’ controversial feedback and the audience’s reaction (some of them leaving
the hall feeling disgusted), Andrei Şerban’s Cleansed was both awarded
national prizes and praised internationally.
It is obvious that the number of directors who have stood the risk of
putting on Sarah Kane’s plays in Romania is relatively small in the international
theatrical context. For the Romanian economic, social and cultural background
of that period (2000), these approaches were true acts of courage. As an
instrument of the culture you are part of, it is extremely difficult to change
the mentalities shaped by a socialist-communist history, liberating them.
It is within this context, confronting with a precarious economic reality,
that in 2011 we started to create a show-exam-research based on Sarah Kane’s
4.48 Psychosis.
In order to outline the moment of transition and structural transformations
of this show-exam-research directed by Alexandra Felseghi we need to
analyze the process of creation from the very beginning.

2. “What Is in-Yer-Face Theatre?,” In-yer-face Theatre, accessed July 9, 2017,

[Link]
3. Termen introdus de Aleks Sierz in cartea sa Aleks Sierz, In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama
Today (London: Faber & Faber, 2001).

175
 RALUCA LUPAN

The analysis of the show, the research-exam on Sarah Kane, the

interpretation of a crucial text, the examination of the means of training and
of acting methods, all took place along the preparation and performance of
the show.
The steps that we took to take the practical part of the exam were the
following:

Master student - directing department: Alexandra Felseghi

Master student - acting department: Raluca Lupan

Constructing the show - the university version

a) Choosing the text and sending it to the professors (Professor Mihai
Mănuţiu, Professor Laura Pavel).
b) Getting the permission to put on the show.
c) Deciding on the theme and message of the show: man’s reshaping/
reconstructing himself in the absence of love in all its forms. Severe depression
and its consequences. Suicide – from intention to decision.
d) Deciding on the theme of the research. The actor opted for the In-
Yer-Face type of actor, the viscerality, the organicity and performativity of an
actor formed by this type of text, patients with suicidal tendencies and
patterns of behaviour, means of incorporating an essence –text.
e) Research and documentation: the reading of all Sarah Kane’s texts
(both in English and in Romanian), readings on the In-Yer-Face phenomenon,
watching live and online shows, reading national and international critique;
documenting the psycho-emotional processes of the people prone to suicide.
f) The actor’s training: reshaping the body. The concept of movement
belongs to both the actor and the director. The theme chosen for the choreographic
scene: the effect of antipsychotics and anti-depressants on the patient’s body and
mind. The expressionist body-language of these moods.
g) The set of methods and exercises needed to construct the role will
be detailed later in this paper.
h) Scenographic elements: corner of a room, a watch, 7 pieces of white
chalk, 9 pebbles/stones, one cigarette.
i) Time: a 4-6 hour rehearsal/day/ 33 days.
j) Costs: 21 €.

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 TO CURATE A PART OF ONE’S SOUL

k) Rehearsals: depending on the available rehearsal spaces of the Faculty

of Theatre and Television (Babes-Bolyai University), the rehearsals took place
between 10-14 and 16-20.
l) Choosing a date when the examinations committee could watch the
show: 6.05.2011 (practical exam).

Fig. 1: Scene from 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane directed by Alexandra Felseghi,
one woman-show with Raluca Lupan, Maican Hall (FTT), May, 2011

The actor’s perspective on the show

a) Research on In –Yer-Face theatre or “the individual’s legitimate
strangeness”. Debates on “How do you plead for an In-Yer –Face play?” What
would be its aim in the theatrical context? Which are the performative means
that help you perform an essential –text?”
b) The essence text had Greek tragedy influences. Reading the text.
Choosing the paragraphs meant to support the director’s idea. Choosing the
theme of the play: lack of love and its consequences. Final text: 30 pages. The
re-arranging of the text was possible after both the actor and the director
agreed on the idea of a one woman-show.

177
 RALUCA LUPAN

c) Research on the psychological difference between mental disturbance

and mental disorder. Analysis of BPD (borderline personality disorder), ADHD
(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder),
bipolar disorder, personality disorder, anxiety, dysphoria, dyskinesia, severe
depression.
d) Analysis of the physical and cognitive degradations in the case of
the diagnosed patients, as it follows: body, nervous system, mood, thoughts,
behavior, social relationships, self-esteem, sexual impulses/ libido, emotions
and feelings, addictions, suicidal or self-mutilating behavior.
e) Documentation on the type of used medicines: typical antipsychotics
given to patients in psychiatric or normal hospitals.
f) Defining the character: he/she (the lack of name reinforces the idea
that any of those present could be the character they see, the gender being the
director’s choice and depends on the concept) – suburban individual diagnosed
with severe depression. Dramatic situation: 48 minutes before committing
suicide or the last 48 minutes of life. Since there were no biographical references
in the text, both the director and the actor decided to build the character
identifying with it. Key moments in the actor’s personal life were chosen and
superposed on the stage situations. The actor’s trial to completely identify
with the character was based on Stanislavski’s concept of “affective memory”.
Choosing to dig deep inside the actor’s affective memory was not the best
choice. By the end of the rehearsal the actor’s social behavior was severely
affected. Outside the rehearsal space, the actor developed an obsessive-
compulsive type of behavior. Both the actor and the director noticed this.
g) Character memorandum and journal, rehearsal journal.
h) Exploiting themes like: physical isolation, social isolation, chronic
depression, suicide in theatrical improvisations.
i) Corporality: body deformation –main reasons: severe depression and
medication. The elements of theatre-dance were meant to describe the body
transformed by isolation, medication, violence, weight loss, alienation, lack
of human affection.
j) The attempt to build the character’s body grammar (gestural semiotics):
lethargy, excess, physical violence, spasm.
k) Space: the corner formed of 2 walls 2m/2m. The exterior limit is
marked with chalk. The choice of the space insinuates, physically and fictively,
a patient’s padded cell in a psychiatric hospital.
l) Soundtrack: the ticking of a clock, Venetian Snares- Szamár Madár,
Radiohead-No Surprises.
m) Costume: grey men’s shorts, white T-shirt, the right wrist is bandaged.
n) Scenography: clock, rocks, chalk.

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Theatrical context 2011-2017

It is after 2000 that the first independent theatre companies make

extravagant changes in the Romanian cultural market. Cultural associations
formed by actors, directors, playwrights who wanted to create or could not
find a position in the state institutions, appeared as small associations. Young
and enthusiastic, they started founding an independent sector. Still, the
bigger institutions did not meet this openly, calling it a “trifle”, a refuse of
applying for a position in a state institution. It was seen as “unemployment”4
a probationary job, until the position of actor - service provider - was available.
The freelancer actor stood out. The alternative space becomes necessary for
an independent company to survive. The stage can be a cafe, a street, a disabled
industrial zone. Any space may become a stage.
The members of [Link], the independent association invest
their own resources in the company and try to rent low-priced shabby
spaces. Most of the marketing strategies of the independent companies are
online, on different media platforms and social networks. Since the aim is
to sell and not to identify the target audience, most of the independent
companies appeal to incoherent marketing strategies. The cultural offer of these
companies is diversified offering documentaries, sport theatre (improvisation
theatre), personal development workshops for all ages, shows for children,
theatre residences, performances, art therapy, happenings, exhibitions with
performative insertions, concerts, etc.
Some of the independent companies present on the local market in
Cluj Napoca are: Reactor de Creaţie si Experiment, Varoterem Project, Colectiv
A, Reciproca, Create. Act. Enjoy, GroundFloor, Shoshin.

Reconstructing the play/ show in the independent area

Starting with 1995 and continuing ever since Romania adopts the
international models and the first independent shows appear in the west of
the country as club or cafe theatre. Thus, for the first time, the alternative
spaces offer the graduates a new possibility to manifest their talent and
creative energy. The alternative space welcomes everyone who is willing to
reconsider their artistic product.

4. Sandu Gabriel, “De ce teatrele românești sunt conduse de actori și regizori cu mandate
infinite [Why Romanian Theatre Institutions Are Managed by Actors and Directors with
Infinite Mandates],” Vice, February 2, 2016, [Link]
teatrele-romanesti-sunt-conduse-de-actori-si-regizori-cu-mandate-infinite-577.

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 RALUCA LUPAN

Without being familiarized with the aesthetics of the independent

theatre, independent companies or alternative spaces, together with Alexandra
Felseghi, we tried to understand the new form of performance. In this theatrical
context the independent theatre becomes the opponent of the traditional state
institution. The message of the independent companies was one of opposition.
The show-research-exam 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane had an unexpected
trajectory. After my finishing the master studies, the show was put on and
played in an alternative cultural space: Fabrica de Pensule - The Small Hall.

Fabrica de Pensule - The Small Hall

The first re-location of the play took place in 2012. It left the university
space to be performed as a co-production with Fabrica de Pensule.
Transition- Stage 1
a) Evaluating the costs
b) Evaluating the auxiliary costs (sound, lights)
c) Promoting costs
d) Strategy costs
e) Copyright costs. The actor’s intention was to continue the master
research with PhD studies. Since the project turned into a PhD thesis included
in an educational program, there were no copyright fees
f) Setting-arranging the room/hall
g) Rehearsal program
h) Date of performance
Due to the lack of space (the Small Hall being less than Maican Hall
of the Faculty of Theatre and Television) there were some curatorial changes.
The corner of Maican Hall was on the left, whereas in the Small Hall we
had to use the right corner because of the windows. Changing the space
meant altering the whole form of the performance.
Windows are perceived as elements of the space that allow access.
The concept of the play was based on a closed space that did not permit the
way in and gave the impression of a claustrophobic space. The actor’s
training, direction and movements change in a different setting. The space
will influence the actor’s performance. In this regard, we have moved the
space from left side corner to right side corner. The shift of sides made the
actor’s training modify. The duration of rehearsals changed by increasing
the amount of time of the actor’s understating, doing and processing every
move. I, myself am a right handed actor, and transporting the performance

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 TO CURATE A PART OF ONE’S SOUL

from left to right transformed the time of rehearsal. The distance between
objects changed and the actor’s point of view had to vary. Every turn of the
head, every eye-contact, every move, every meaning that was in the original
performance had to be reviewed and modified.
As for the audience, since they were seated at a bigger distance from
the stage than in the initial performance, there was an alteration in the reception
of the show. We could say that those who saw once again the play in this
context had the experience of a different performance, a different play. First
time the performance was played, the audience had the possibility to seat on
cushions in the first row, at approximately 50 cm from the delimited stage.
But in the new space, at The Small Hall, we had to distance the audience from
the stage even more and also lift the seats higher from the ground by using
10, 15 and 20 cm platforms on which the chairs were placed. By distancing
and using a higher point of view, the visual perspective of the audience
shifted the degree of intimacy between the actor and his spectators. By doing
these modifications, the voice training, volume and diction suffered and
therefore the facial expression, masks and movement had to be reinforced by
exaggeration. So we can say that distancing or rising the surface on which
the public sits on has an effect on: the level of intimacy, acting (body image,
mind, thought, voice). The first idea of the performance endured an alteration,
the concept of telling and intimate story about a girl’s last 48 minutes of being
alive has been amended. It became a story told by afar.
Since the production costs would have increased, because the auxiliary
personnel should have been paid, the director decided to do the light and
sound technician’s job.
The strategy and marketing costs were covered by the actor and the
director.
The rehearsals were established according to the other productions
taking place in the Small Hall. The arrangement of the acting zone and the
steps for the audience became part of the actor and director’s job, the co-
producer not taking part in this process. Since the hall had recently been
renovated, both the director and the actor had to clean it which affected the
rehearsals, the actor’s mental and physical mood. Having to move these
steps daily prolonged the time the acting space was used. The actor and
director’s tiredness and exhaustion prevented them from being efficient, as
they also took care of the technical part. We had to reconsider every day and
every rehearsal. We had to calculate exactly how much it took to: move the
stairs for the audience from the back of the room to the stage, how much it took
to clean the space- stage and audience, how much time was left for actual
physical training, rehearsal for 45 minute, how much time to clean floor

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and walls after rehearsal, how much time to move the platforms back in their
initial space. The pressure of time and space improved our technical abilities,
but with the cost of the lower quality of the performance.
In transitioning and curating a delicate performance like 4.48 Psychosis
we need to pay attention to time, space and how we manage them. The
internal (body and mind) and external resources of the actor and of the
director have to be spent with the diplomacy of a business manager. The
management of resources needs to be trained and as a freelance actor and
director you need to have a clear vision on the possible turns that performance
will endure. Aspects like this have to be envisaged by the entire team that
is part of the curating process.
Transition Stage 2
Second re-location was from The Small Hall (The Paintbrush Factory)
to The Box Hall (Create. Act. Enjoy) in 2013. This re-location process was a bit
different from the proceeding one. The management process had similarities,
but the artistic stage underwent some big transformations.

Fig. 2: Scene from 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane directed by Alexandra Felseghi,
Raluca Lupan, The Box (Create. Act. Enjoy) Hall, 2016

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 TO CURATE A PART OF ONE’S SOUL

The curating process involved this steps:

a) Evaluating the costs
b) Evaluating the auxiliary costs (sound, lights)
c) Promoting costs
d) Strategy costs
e) Copyright costs. The actor’s intention was to continue the master
research with PhD studies. Since the project turned into a PhD thesis included
in an educational programme, there were no copyright fees
f) Setting-arranging the room/hall
g) Rehearsal program
h) Date of performance
In 2013 the show became part of the repertoire of Create. Act. Enjoy -
Independent Film and Theatre Company where both the director and the
actor worked. The place that this theatre company had to offer at that time
was a 30 square meter Hall called –The Box. The Box was actually a room in
an early 20th century bourgeois townhouse with white walls and parquet on
the floor.
We have to mention that in 2011 and 2012, the Maican Hall from FTT
(Theatre and Television Faculty) and the Small Hall from The Paintbrush
Factory both had walls painted black. So the first transition was made inside the
scenography of the performance, because we had to change the objects
used by the actor: the white chalk was replaced by a red one. Therefore
shifting from a black walled studio to an immaculate white stage made a
difference in approaching scenography, lighting designing as well as the
acting process.
The color of the walls could not be changed because other shows were
played there so, in order to keep the white features intact, we had to come up
with a solution. We made the decision to glue on the walls 12 1mx1m pieces
of white cardboard. This decision was approved by the Create. Act. Enjoy
manager. But this decision increased our production costs and understated
our promoting resources. Can we say that distorting the space can influence the
costs and resources? The answer is definitely yes.
A little element changed a lot. A small change that was voted by the
whole company corrupted the management and the creative process.
The color and the density of the chalk interchanged the relation of the
actor with the object and with the space. The moves that the character made
to sketch the people on the walls and on the floor had to be made with a

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 RALUCA LUPAN

bigger physical effort so that the chalk could remain on the wall and floor.
The unblemished image of the character- the suicidal girl- was marked with red
chalk at the end of the performance. This new image generated by a change in
the means of production made a stronger impact on the audience. If in 2011
and 2012 you could see the character with small white dots on her skin and
cloths, in 2013 you saw an all- red covered body of a girl shouting her last
words in 48 minutes. That is a powerful image that suggested the mess of a
dead body and the struggles of a human that fights for his/her last breath.
Regaining the public’s empathy by reducing the distance between the
actor and his audience had a huge outcome on both sides. The actor’s
interaction was more condensed and focused, and the audience’s attention
was sharper. Even though the performance was produced as a one woman-
show, minimizing the distance between actor/performer and audience
reconfigured this relationship. The public became a partner in the actor’s
stage moves, thoughts, actions, decisions. The need of interaction with the
audience grew as the actor was performing. The glimpse of someone else’s
eye intensified the scenic thought and action. Eye-contact was a significant
acting unit that the actor played with. Involving every member of the audience
and engaging them to keep the eye-contact for more than a few seconds made
them a part of the story, a partner in developing the character’s emotions
and actions. Although there were people who rejected a deep eye-contact
with the actor, their refusal was, for the actor, a positive response. It meant that
the new scenic situation pictured by the actor and designed by the director
was a “loud” and heavy one, just like in any respectable In-Yer-Face5 play.
From the actor’s perspective, this tiny change intensified the spectrum of
the imagination. Every picture created in his imagination had another meaning
than in the performance from 2011 or 2012. Changing the space influences
the image flux or flow of the imagination. For me, moving from a black
room to a white wall room took on another conceptual meaning. The room
I was imagining as the character’s room in 2011-2012 became in 2013 a clinical,
psychiatric hospital room in which the character was put in and could be
watched like an animal at the zoo. Thus we can say that space can sway the act
of imagination, on what the actor chooses to see and his operating means and
also what the audience will see. Of course, in the context of an independent
theatre company, space is a temporary asset and it must be regarded as so.

5. See Ozana Budău-Tunyagi, “The Psychological Mechanism of Trauma and Its Effects on
Sarah Kane’s Experimental Theatre,” Studia UBB Dramatica LIX, no. 2 (2014).

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The harsh change of spatial location intervened in the heart of the artistic
re-adaptation and the re-creative work. This step was taken when the slam of
the door in one of the rehearsal time drew the actor in another set of images
sliding before his eye. So the flunk of the door created the final picture of a tragic
finale. In this regard, the director and the actor made the decision to replace the
last song that the audience would hear at the end of the performance: The Heart
Black Procession- When you finish me.
Space and “audible space”6 was a magnificent element that allowed
the actor’s playfulness to rejoice in new body shapes and plastic images. A
white wall or the sound of the slamming door made the grains of imagination
blossom. A freed imagination was reinstated and the creative process was
linked to a wider view. After the first performance the audience sat in
silence for almost 3 minutes. No applauses, living the actor and the director
in a state of an immense surprise. The initial intimacy concept was reinstituted
and the original interaction with the audience was taken to a different level.
Just because the painting on the walls was white there were a lot of
alterations inside the artistic and creative shape of the performance.
As an actor when you are faced with a close interaction with the public
you will have to reconstruct your own training and acting method. A major
face and body exaggeration can emotionally distance the audience from the
character you are embodying. The choices you and the director make could
reform the plastic and aesthetic composition of the performance.
Every step you take as an actor in curating a performance is essential
and it can take you on a different artistic path. The managing and curating
process can make you reevaluate your training and active acting just by
taking a small decision as changing the space or the color of the object that
you character is interacting with.
At the end of a professional day, every commitment or managerial
modification could rebuild a lost sense or meaning of a show, could make
the audience “see” and “feel” a diverse point of view. You could retrieve,
revive, resurrect or resuscitate a stray conceptual idea that you or the
director had at the beginning of your work.
Curating 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane was a tough and delicate act
assumed by both the actor and the director. The director’s aim was to:
a) prolong the “life and the idea” of the performance; b) to find fresh ways

6. Patrice Pavis, Dictionary of the Theatre, Terms, Concepts and Analysis (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1998), 359–65.

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 RALUCA LUPAN

to resurge an old form; c) curate a part of one’s soul. On the other hand, the
actor’s purpose was to: a) find new ways in communicating the message of
the play; b) to learn how to bear the burden of such a character; c) curate a
part of one’s soul.
Curating a performance is an action made upon the soul of the artist.

References

Budău-Tunyagi, Ozana. “The Psychological Mechanism of Trauma and Its Effects

on Sarah Kane’s Experimental Theater.” Studia UBB Dramatica LIX, no. 2
(2014).
Gabriel, Sandu. “De Ce Teatrele Românești Sunt Conduse de Actori Și Regizori Cu
Mandate Infinite [Why Romanian Theater Institutions Are Managed by
Actors and Directors with Infinite Mandates].” Vice, February 2, 2016.
[Link]
de-actori-si-regizori-cu-mandate-infinite-577.
Pavis, Patrice. Dictionary of the Theatre, Terms, Concepts and Analysis. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1998.
Sierz, Aleks. In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber & Faber, 2001.
“What Is in-Yer-Face Theatre?” In-yer-face Theatre. Accessed July 9, 2017.
[Link]

Raluca Lupan graduated from the Babeș Bolyai University’s Faculty of Theatre and
Television with a BA in Acting. Between 2012 and 2017 she worked in independent theatre
as a member of the [Link] Theatre and Film Company. Presently, she is a PhD
student at the Faculty of Theatre and Television, participating, for research purposes, in
numerous workshops and international festivals, while also working as a teaching assistant
at the same institution. She is interested in theatre-dance, performance and contact-
improvisation.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 189 - 220
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.11

An Approach to Teaching Digital Interactive Performance

RODICA MOCAN1

Abstract: By its complexity, performance art remains one of the most

expressive art forms, although difficult to define, as some would argue. The use
of media technologies in performance brought a significant enrichment to the
artistic expression ever since the first experiments with video art, and broke the
barriers between visual arts, cinema, and performing arts. New media and the
revolution in communication brought by the Internet increased the complexity
of the artistic productions that incorporate digital interactive technologies, making
it very difficult to assess the artistic artefacts that tend to fall between art and
science. The paper is presenting an approach to teaching digital interactive
performance theory and practice, by providing a framework necessary for the
development of definitions and taxonomies as well as an understanding of the
interdisciplinary aspect of the practice of this emerging artistic genre. The
analysis of the narrative discourse that pertains to certain forms of digital
performance and the discussion about the esthetic, philosophical or technological
aspects is significantly improved by the identification of the main critical paradigms
that subscribe them. The paradigms discussed – subscribed to performance studies,
digital culture, performing arts and human computer interaction – were developed
considering the Romanian context of academic performing arts studies, that
focuses almost exclusively on theatre and lacks a tradition in performance
studies. The synthesis research about the digital interactive performance opens
the discussion about cultivating an educational context appropriate for training
artists capable to develop artistic productions relevant in the context of the new
arts. The current pedagogical approach needs to be replaced by a heutagogical
one, where practical and collaborative projects can be tackled in an innovative,
inter-disciplinary framework. Such an approach is not formally possible in the
current academic settings, but can be hosted by the university in interdisciplinary
research centers and other artistic production contexts.

Keywords: Interactive digital performance, performance studies, digital culture,

performance art, human-computer interaction.

1. Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Faculty of Theatre and Television.

[Link]@[Link].
 RODICA MOCAN

Introduction

In European and international universities, the teaching of artistic

disciplines has long been outside the traditional boundaries between the arts.
Although we encounter new techniques of artistic expression presented in
formal or informal contexts – exhibitions, events, performances or festivals –
there is no academic framework in Romania for the formal, programmatic
study of non-traditional art genres. Artistic education remains bound to art
fields and classical disciplinary specializations, insignificantly changed from
the beginning of the last century. This research proposes an integrative and
interdisciplinary vision to facilitate a formal understanding and openness to
the phenomenon of adopting and integrating new digital media technologies
into artistic productions.
The main objective is to identify an interdisciplinary theoretical framework
for the analysis of performative artistic productions incorporating digital
technologies in order to equip the artists with the skills and competences needed
in a multidisciplinary team able to perform intermedia productions. The
theorization of intermedia / multimedia artistic expressions, on the one hand, and
the development of an academic training program in art from an interdisciplinary
perspective, on the other hand, create the premises for the development of
new models of artistic education in Romania, aligned with the European and
international standards.

Literature Review

The first author to publish a reference work that places performance

arts in the history of arts Rosalee Goldberg2. Goldberg defines performance
as being “live art, by artists”, and is offering a historical look on performance
as a form of art. Starting with “The Untamable” manifest event of the Futurists
and the provocative cabaret of the Dadaist, she is addressing the notion of
the ideea as a basic element best expressed through performance and the
importance of conceptual art.
Marvin Carlson3 continued the attempts to define and delimit
performance as a concept and he set the basis for what performance studies

2. Roselee Goldberg, Performance. Live Art from 1909 to the present, (New York: Harry N. Abrams,
Inc. Publishers, 1979).
3. Marvin Carlson, Performance: a critical introduction (London: Routledge, 1996).

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would become as an academic discipline that analyzes performing arts from

the perspective of sociological, psychological, cultural studies or social issues
identified in the analysis of artistic discourse. Looking for an answer to the
question “What is Performance?” Carlson turns to social science issues first,
following a number of anthropological and ethnographic hypostases in culture.
He also addresses sociological and psychological perspectives, while his
linguistic approaches speak about the performativity of the language.
“Performance by its nature resists conclusions, just as it resists the sort of
definitions, boundaries and limits so useful to traditional academic writing and
academic structures.”4 Carlson looks at performance in terms of contemporary
theories, such as postmodernism, the issue of identity, or the perspective of
cultural and gender studies. Richard Schechner5 contributes to the development
of performance studies bringing the practitioner's perspective. His approach
is the foundation of the field of performance studies, analyzing the artistic
expression from an interdisciplinary perspective with approaches specific to
anthropology, philosophy, psychology or sociology, but also offering new
instruments, specific to theatricality. “[...] the process of seeking a possible
definition [is] more relevant than trying to impose an (unlikely) absolute
result,” comments Saviana Stănescu in introducing the volume6.
Carlson and Schechner represent the category of theoreticians who, by
focusing on theatre, theatricality and performance, have laid the foundation for
performance studies as open disciplines for specific approaches in philosophy,
anthropology, linguistics, cultural studies, etc.
Andre Helbo7, Henry Bial8, Johannes Birringer9 and Susan Broadhurst10
complete the list of theoreticians and practitioners who have consistently
contributed to the development of a specialized literature that became a
discipline of study in Anglo-Saxon space. Although none of these authors
neglect the influence of digital technologies on performing arts, Steve Dixon11,

4. Ibid., 189.
5. Richard Schechner, Performance - Introducere și Teorie, (București: Unitext, 2009).
6. Ibid., 10.
7. Andre Helbo, Theory of Performing Arts, (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1987).
8. Henri Bial, The Performance Studies Reader, (London: Routledge, 2004).
9. Johannes Birringer, Media and Performance - Along the Border, (Bltimore: The John Hopkins
University Press, 1998).
10. Susan Broadhurst and Josephine Machon, Identity, Performance and Technology: Practices of
Empowerment, Embodiment and Technicity, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
11. Steve Dixon, Digital Performance. A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance
Art, and Installation, (Cambrdige, Massachusetts: MIT Press 2007).

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 RODICA MOCAN

Chapple & Kattenbelt12, Bay Cheng & all13, Kwastek14 and Koosel15 paid
special attention to the intermedial performance practice.
Dixon makes a review of the history of digital performance from emerging
participative performance forms to the practice of contemporary interactive
digital performance, challenging some classical theoretical approaches and
instead suggesting the most complete presentation of digital performances
identified so far. Referring to the artistic productions or artefacts that incorporate
digital interactive technologies or media, Dixon consecrates the phrase
“interactive digital performance”, explaining each of these terms. Ben-Cheng &
all and Chapple and Kattenbelt appeal to the concept of intermediality when
deciphering performance incorporating digital interactive technologies.

Methodology

Performing art themes, in general, and interactive digital performance,

in particular, are extremely generous and lend themselves to multiple
approaches. The approaches range from historical, monographic or critical
studies centered on the work of authors, to studies stemming from practice
as research, as are many of the specialized literature reviewed. In this paper,
we have pursued the approach of the synthesis research16, designed to
integrate empirical research in order to create generalizations. That allowed
us to identify relevant theories and classifications and to make analyses of
the topics covered by the literature in this field. The choice was primarily
determined by the need to translate the conclusions into the Romanian
academic space. Thus, taking into account the very broad context of artistic
performance manifestations, the breadth of the field and the variety of
disciplines involved in analyzing their content, we have sought to identify

12. Freda Chapple and Chiel Kattenbelt, Intermediality in theatre and performance, (Amsterdam:
Rodopi. 2006).
13. Sarah Bay-Cheng et. al., Mapping Intermediality in Performance, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press, 2010).
14. Katia Kwastek, Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT
Press, 2015).
15. Stacey Koosel, “Surfing the Digital Wave: Digital Identity as Extension,” in McLuhan’s
Philosophy of Media Centennial Conference (Brussels: The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium
for Science and the Arts, 2012).
16. Harris Cooper and Larry Hedges, “Research Synthesis as A Scientific Process” in The
Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis, edited by Harris Cooper and Larry Hedges
(New York: Russel Sage Foundation, 2009), 6.

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some critical paradigms that subscribe common areas of interest found in the
themes addressed by theoreticians and reflected in the performance practice
that is representative for some recognized artists.

Performance art and performance studies

When discussing performance, Powell and Shaffer17 distinguish between

what performance studies as a discipline is and what performance practice
does. Traditionally, we refer to “performing arts” as being any kind of artistic
performances such as concerts, theatre or music events, while “performance
art” is more of an avant-garde genre derived from visual arts.
From this perspective, “performance” means bringing into being a fact,
pronouncing a certain state, inducing the sense of becoming, affirmation.
Carlson18 discusses how areas such as psychology, anthropology, sociology
or linguistics have influenced the concept of “performance”: “By its nature,
performance opposes the conclusions, just as it opposes those definitions,
boundaries and limitations that are so useful to traditional academic studies
and writings.”19
In his attempt to define digital performance, Dixon states that this genre is
opposed to Grotowski's approach of the “via negativa” – defined as the act of
stripping the theatre of all the elements added reducing it to the essence,
towards the empty space where the actor is the main element – being the very
embrace of a “via positiva”, an additive process in which “new technologies
are added [in performance], a new ingredient that is delicious for some but
tasteless for others.”20
The complexity of the elements involved in building interactive digital
performances requires complex interdisciplinary technical and conceptual
approaches, so that the analysis of the artefacts and performance genres can
be addressed from the perspective of disciplinary paradigms that subscribe
common themes and theorizations.
In our study, we stopped at four such paradigms.

17. Benjamin Powell and Tracy Stephenson Shaffer, “The haunting of Performance Studies,”
Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies 5, no. 1 (2009).
18. Marvin Carlson, Performance. A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.), (New York: Routledge, 2004).
19. Ibid., 189.
20. Steve Dixon, Digital Performance, 28.

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 RODICA MOCAN

Performance studies paradigm

From the perspective of performance studies, performance is seen as a

concept derived from theatricality, indicating the ability of speech to be more
than communication, to be an agent capable of building an identity, consuming
an action. In this sense, performance reverses the idea that gestures and
actions are the result of individual identity and address identity as the result
of a construct determined by behavior, gestures and actions.

Philosophy of technology
Together with Goldberg, Dixon, Carlson, Schechner or Helbo – who
have laid the foundation for performance studies as open disciplines for
specific approaches to philosophy, anthropology, linguistics or cultural
studies – Andrew Feenberg emphasizes the importance of understanding the
context of the philosophy of technology and the mechanisms that determine
how the individual is relating to the technological developments.
Feenberg systematizes the answer to two basic questions in a matrix
that includes the four categories of technology philosophies that represent
the major theories about technology and its relation to the human being. The
first question is: “Can people control the technology? Is it autonomous or
subject to human control?” The second question addresses the nature of the
technology: “Does the technology have value in itself or is it value-neutral? Is
there a connection between means (technology) and purpose (values)?”21
First of all, determinism considers that technological development is
autonomous and largely neutral, rather as a positive force that contributes
to the development of society, but technology has no value in itself, and people
have no control over its development. Technological development is autonomous
and the society is determined and even controlled by technological change,
which shapes it according to the needs of progress and efficiency.
For others, technology has no value in itself, but its development can be
controlled. Today, most tend to support this position, known as instrumentalism.
Even if technologies help us achieve our goals, we can and must control their
development and use. According to this perspective, technology alone does not
have the power to influence, but the way we use it, does. One of the favorite
slogans of the instrumentalists is: “not weapons kill people, but people kill
other people.”

21. Andrew Feenberg, “What Is Philosophy of Technolgy,” in Defining Technological Literacy,

ed. John Dakers (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

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Theories that regard technology as being loaded with value are called
substantivism. According to these theories, we do not choose technology just
to make our life more efficient, but we choose a lifestyle. Once committed to
technological development, society will be transformed according to its values,
such as efficiency and power. Traditional values hardly survive the challenges
of technology.
Critical theory, more nuanced and strongly advocated by Feenberg,
believes, like instrumentalists, that people have the opportunity to control
the development of technology and influence the consequences of using it by
setting up appropriate institutions to exercise control over them.
All of these concerns about technologies and how they affect lifestyles
in the information age are at the heart of the narrative discourse of artistic
expressions in digital-embedded performances.
A very good illustration of the anxieties generated by the effects of digital
technologies on human life in the information age and the dynamics of their
control is Le Sacre du Printemps, an interdisciplinary artistic production by Klaus
Obermeier, an intermedia artist.

Figure 1: Klaus Obermeier – Le Sacre du Printemps (2006)

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The images described by the dancer performing live on a stage are captured
and generated in real-time by stereoscopic cameras and by a sophisticated
computerized system, so that a complex image is projected into three dimensions
in a virtually immersive space accessed by stereoscopic glasses.
Thus, the human body becomes the interface between the real world
and the virtual one. Through 32 microphones, the entire orchestra is integrated
into this interactive process, because musical motifs, individual and instrumental
voices influence the shape, movement and complexity of the dancer's projections.
Music is no longer just a starting point, but a complement to choreography,
in a very successful illustration of the anxieties produced by the digital world,
which, spinning out of control, leads to self-destruction and dissolution in an
infinite number of entities.

The extension of the human body

The theme of the extension of the human body or of its faculties

through technology is an important philosophical starting point, but also a
favorite theme in experimental artefacts that incorporate digital technology.
The theory of extension – consecrated by McLuhan22, but previously formulated
in similar form by Kapp and Rothenberg23 – predicted the impact that new
media technologies would have on human life, including increased immersion
into media and dependence on digital stimuli.
After a phase that leads to a self-amputation form, the overloading of
sensory circuits due to stimuli coming from the new environments determines
the gradual installation of a numbness process. “Almost 50 years after
McLuhan explored the effects of our technologies on the psyche, research has
yet to move forward significantly, and we are still poised to rediscover the same
idea. This scenario would suggest a trend where technology may be infiltrating
our lives and sense at a much greater pace then our ability to understand the
effects and pressure they place on our sensorium and psyche.”24
Adopting generally a deterministic positivist perspective – understood
as a separation of means from purpose25 and representing a positive view of

22. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1964).
23. Philip Brey, “Theories of Technology as Extension of the Human Faculties,” Metaphysics,
Epistemology, and Technology. Research in Philosophy and Technology 19 (2000).
24. Koosel, “Surfing the Digital Wave: Digital Identity as Extension,” 3.
25. Feenberg, “What Is Philosophy of Technolgy.”

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the impact of technologies on humanity – posthumanism has a particular

impact on art in the information society and forms the basic concept of some
articulated performance instances.
Representative for post-humanist performing art, Stelarc is particularly
influenced by McLuhan's theory of extension of the human body through
technology and the developments in the field of artificial intelligence that
have triggered these openings. Illustrative to detail, his first performances
described more than two decades ago the effect of extension that technology
may have, from expanding the mechanical functions of the human body to
giving up control over it altogether and delegating it to the extended human
community.

Stelarc takes literally McLuhan’s notion that technological media are

extensions of the human senses, and all of his recent performances
demonstrate a perverse insistence on body modifications and the
redesign not of the space surrounding the body’s kinesphere but of
the body’s architecture, skin, and internal body spaces themselves –
‘the physiological hardware’, as Stelarc calls it.26

Figure 2: Stelarc – Ear on Arm, Media Gallery, Concorde University, 20

26. Johanis Birringer, Media and Performance - Along the Border (Baltimore: The John Hopkins
University Press, 1998), 61.

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From the Amplified Body, Laser Eyes and Third Hand (1975) to the ongoing
Ear on Arm (2010) body-modification performance, Stelarc is using innovative
performance practices to express his posthumanistic view regarding the human
body as being obsolete, inadequate and imperfect within the context of a digital
age.
By the complexity of his performative interventions - and here we are
not only referring to the degree of sophistication of the used technologies and
the chosen artistic solutions, but also to the depth and complexity of the ideas
represented and the application of the performance as a social concept - Stelarc
is defined as one of the most Representative artists of our times and the most
important exponent of Transhumanist art.

The digital culture paradigm

The second paradigm addresses the performance from the perspective

of digital culture, understood as the set of values, beliefs, artifacts, rituals and
other general characteristics of a culture, which develops as a consequence of
digital technological developments in the last decades and which form the
context of the current information society.
Although launched in the 1960s and introduced as an academic
discipline by Dick Higgins in 1968, the concept of intermedia was not included in
the dictionaries and is much less known and used than multimedia - a concept
that designates the use or integration of multiple media in an artefact.
Although only a limited number of specialists, most of them academics,
are concerned about the property of these terms, Friedman27, a practitioner who
becomes a theoretician, tries to clarify the differences between the meanings
of these concepts. In practice, the two are often confused or interchangeable.
Intermedia is a term used mainly in the academic environment, and may be
found in biology, chemistry and medicine publications. Multimedia appears
in databases a hundred times more often than intermedia, and although
there is a tendency to link the definition of new technologies lately, the term
is much broader.
However, while using intermedia and multimedia when describing the
complexity of the relationships between different types of media and how

27. Ken Friedman, “Intermedia, Multimedia, Media,” Artifact, 2007, 4.

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they are exploited in the context of different arts, most authors appeal to similar
definitions and meanings28.
Practitioners such as Johannes Birringer, Susan Kozel, and Lisa Naugel29
(Mullins, 2013) suggest that the digital technology they interact with during
digital performances can be perceived as a silent partner that influences them
and determines the course of their actions. Digital technologies allow the
building of fluid, dynamic spaces within which performers can evolve, while
at the same time determining the construction of new spaces through bi-
directional interfaces.
This perspective allows for a first classification of interactive digital
performances.

Derived performance

In derived performances, the movements of the dancer are captured

through an interface and then translated into digital information that is
processed through the computer. The final images generated by algorithms
are projected back to the surface of the performance space, all of these
processes occurring instantaneously in real time. Klaus Obermeier – one of
the first intermedia artists that experimented with responsive video
projection ever since the early 2000s – reached a high level of artistry with his
complex stereoscopic projection of Le Sacre du Printemps. Gideon Obarzanek
and the Chunky Moves Company have consecrated this genre with Glow, an
intermedia production presented at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Another
example of derived performances are the productions of Adrein M / Claire B,
a dance company that creates performances where the dancer is performing
within a three-dimensional space created and continuously transformed by
the movements of the dancer.

28. Sarah Bay-Cheng et al., eds., Mapping Intermediality in Performance (Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press, 2010); J Sage Elwell, “Intermedia: Forty Years On And Beyond,” Afterimage
33, no. 5 (2008); Friedman, “Intermedia, Multimedia, Media”; Hans Breder and Herman
Rapaport, “Intermedia: A Consciousness-Based Process,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and
Art 33, no. 3 (September 2011): 11–23, [Link]
29. Eric Mullis, “Dance, Interactive Technology, and the Device Paradigm,” Dance Research
Journal 45, no. 3 (2013).

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Figure 3: Adrien M / Claire B - Hakanai. (2013).

Immersive performance

When the performer is transposed through digital technologies and

performs in a digitally built virtual reality space, we are dealing with an
immersive performance. Stereoscopic glasses, body sensors, digital gauntlets -
are interface elements that collect motion-related data that your computer uses
to interfere with virtual space.

Figure 4: Gromla – Dancing with a Virtual Dervish (1993).

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Bi-directionality also exists here, the performer sails and explores a

“fluid” virtual reactive landscape. In this case, the audience cannot see the
interaction in which the dancer / performer is engaged, but may later be
invited to experience this kind of immersive interaction. Representative in
this sense is Dancing with a Virtual Dervish, a virtual reality work created in
1992 by designer Diane Gromala and choreographer Yacov Sharir.

Telematic performance

Networked performance – also called telematic – is a form of performance

that takes place on online, over the network, and involves the ability to create
telepresence through video and sound systems that capture movements
from remote locations and project them on a performing space.
In 1991, Troika Ranch produced the performance An Adjacent Disclosure.
The dancers were performing live in completely different locations, though
not so far apart from each other. The captured images were projected onto a
screen in which the two dancers seemed to dance together, though they
could not at all touch it.

Figure 5: Troika Ranch – An Adjacent Disclosure (1991)

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Technological challenges are complex in telematic performances, varying

from distortion of image and sound due to remote transmissions to echoes
or distortions of the sound. While the technical aspects were improved as
technologies advanced, and the use of broadband networks solved many of
the issues of the early productions, the fascination of interaction between
performers in different spaces and the effects of digital technology mediation
remains. In such experiments, the process is more important than the final
product.
Interactive digital performance – derived, immersive or telematic –
involve the use of technologies that affect in real time both the environment
in which it performs and the space shared by the public and the performer. The
dancer experiences a movement articulation that is amplified by technology
and affected by the environment that his movements create30.

Performing arts paradigm

The analysis of digital performance from the perspective of the paradigm

of performing arts inevitably touches some of the most important themes
specific to the theories of theatricality. Three of these are of the utmost
importance and are present in the analysis of the most important authors
(Birringer, 1998; Dixon, 2007; Kwasek, 2013; Bay-Cheng & all, 2010; Broadhurst,
2012). These are: body - embodiment, space - spatiality and time - temporality.

Body – embodiment

The dualist-Cartesian vision of the body is strongly influenced by the

antiquity writings of Socrates, Plato, and then by Rene Descartes, who – in
his Discourse on the Method – consecrated the philosophy of separation of mind
from body and the superiority of mind over body. “If we are ever to have
pure knowledge of anything, we must get rid of the body and contemplate
things by themselves with the soul by itself […]”, said Socrates31.
This philosophy, which would dominate Western culture for many
centuries, continues to influence modern thinking, although it is overcome
by other holistic approaches to the body, such as that which includes, along

30. Mullis, 113.

31. Steve Dixon, Digital Performance. A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance
Art, and Installation (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2007), 212.

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with body, mind and self. This explains the extremes we are witnessing in
relation to the human body in today's society, and obsession with the various
aspects of corporeality that contemporary cultural theories have.
On the one hand, we are witnessing an obsession fueled by the engines
of the Western marketing machine, linked to “body beautiful” - the perfect
body. On the other hand, many forms of artistic expression, collectively
reunited under the title of “body art”, creatively illustrate different views on
the body, especially in the antithesis, those that oppose the widely accepted
standards of beauty and ridicule them.

Body art

Some artists choose to use the body as a performing space, reducing it

to object status and thus negating the aspects that define humanity32. Liviu
Maliţa presents several categories of performances that represent extreme
cases of body art. In his opinion, “Orlan decisively intervenes in the identity
debate and in the one dedicated to the destiny of man in the societies of the
future. The comparison of a body with an object is a way to cancel the sexual
and social footprints, to neutralize it ideologically”33. In her performances,
Orlan underwent a series of aesthetic operations aimed at acting against the
established standards of beauty, which she considers “the expression of a
dominant ideology”.
Beyond the finality – re-building the physiognomy through aesthetic
remodeling of the anatomical components – the artist adds the performance
aspects: during the works, sometimes broadcast live on the Internet, the artist
lectures texts of philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature or Sanscripte writings
from the authors consider yourself representative of the statement you make.
Another artist who transforms his own body into performing space is
Stelarc. In 1993, Stelarc made an “exhibition” in the space circumscribed by
the inside of his stomach, ingesting a mechanized object considered “sculpture”.
The performance, which put his life in jeopardy, was shot and presented at
the 1993 Melbourne Sculpture Triennial, the theme of which was site-specific
works.

32. Francesca Ferrando, “Humans, Cyborgs, Posthumans: Francesca Ferrando at

TEDxSiliconAlley” (TedX Talks, 2013), [Link]
33. Liviu Malița, Extremele Artei (Cluj-Napoca: Editura Accent, 2010), 75.

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Figure 6: Stelarc – Stomach Sculpture (1993), Melbourne Australia

Digital Double

With the introduction of digital technologies in performance and the

use of new types of media, the expressive potential of the notion of body /
corporeality is multiplied even more so as the reality has more dimensions or,
more precisely, becomes a virtual reality. The possibility of having the body
in a space other than the physical one has strong metaphysical and artistic
valences, because it actually illustrates real-world emotions experienced by
the modern user that spends most of the time in virtual space.
In the virtual space there are several approaches to the notion of
body. One of these is the “embodiment” - or “re-embodiment” - in the form
of an avatar. The avatar is a computer graphics, more or less realistic, that
performs in a virtual space created in an artificial, drawn world, where it
lives and behaves like a human character. Very often, he has human traits,
similar to those of the person he emulates. Obviously, the avatar can
assume another genre, other features, another look, and other behavior.
Through it, we have, at once, an infinite number of solutions. Moreover, it
is possible to use several avatars on different platforms, in different games
or virtual social contexts, while in the immediate reality the person carries
out his / her own social role.
This detachment from our own body, which we find in games, and the
transfer of consciousness and self to an avatar - on an unreal character that
you can manipulate in virtual space - can even lead to suicide, because it
depends on the ability of the mind and Self to detach and ignore bodyness.

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In fact, all of these elements have a tremendous experimental potential

in telematic digital performance, “redefining our senses and resensibilising
our perception through bodily encounters with [digital] technologies”34.
Such performance is also Aki Anne II, described by Koski35, in which
four performers perform in a play in Second Life, projecting their actions across
multiple screens in front of an audience. Two of them manipulate live the avatar
of the character Anne, one of them controlling the movements of the body, and
the other representing her mind, with the emotions she is experiencing.

Figure 7: Aki Anne II (2007-2008)

In this way, the division of the control mechanisms between the two
performers is reduced by identifying with the avatar: The first performer
moves it using the carpet, and the second controls the other actions of the
avatar, including the image of Second Life. The third performer simultaneously
plays the roles of the storyteller and the avatar's mother, but without physical or
virtual presence, while the fourth performer is Anne's everyday self, present
on stage as a player interacting with Anne's avatar Second Life. While the

34. Bay-Cheng et al., Mapping Intermediality in Performance, 28.

35. Kaisu Koski, “Instances. Performing an Avatar: Second Life on Stage,” in Mapping Intermediality
in Performance, ed. Sarah Bay-Cheng et al. (Amsterdam: Amsteradam University Press, 2010).

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scenes unfold as game levels in a relatively choreographed sequence, the

rebuilding of events that took place in Second Life and the improvised
encounters converge to the final stage – an orgy – in which Anne's avatar
interacts with other Second Life avatars, engaging in sexual relations.
The performer manipulating Anne's avatar refuses to engage actively
and leaves the [real] scene. At this point, a spectator is invited to animate the
abandoned avatar, which, once revived, through the act of engaging in orgy,
steps over the threshold of an initiation ritual in the virtual world, assuming
its status as a virtual being fully owned by Second Life.

Presence and significance in time

One of the issues that arise when talking about time in the context of
any type of performance is related to the concept of live or real live time.
The concept was born with the advent of media technologies. Until then, an
event simply takes place in real time. The possibility of transmitting a signal at a
distance through electronic media (radio and then television) generated for the
first time the need for a distinction between live, and mediated, or recorded.
When talking about livens, some emphasize the notion of temporality -
when the show happens, while others emphasize the presence of the performer -
where the performance takes place. In this regard, we can refer to the state
experienced by a player in electronic games where there is no physical
presence - we are talking about a virtual world - and yet the feeling of a live
event is as alive as the system’s reaction in real time to the user's in-put.
The discussion of livens and the notion of presence or absence is
perfectly relevant in the context of interactive digital performances, given
that we are dealing with a variety of means of expression that take full
advantage of the meanings of presence and of digital technologies that can
simulate, recreate or facilitate new relationships, new forms of livens.
Dixon addresses the issue of presence extensively36, discussing how the
physical presence exercises its supremacy over the virtual, not the physical
substance of the actual body on the stage, but insofar as it is engaged in a
speech that has significance. Thus, a virtual character present through a video
projection can prioritize the spectator's attention by successfully conquering
the character physically present on the stage if he does not impose his presence
in a meaningful way.

36. Dixon, Digital Performance. A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and
Installation, 131–33.

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Once mediated and remediated by digital technologies, time and space

become relative notions. A recorded moment can become, by staging, present.
Technology makes the space extend beyond the space of performance, with
the audience being hundreds of miles away - or in the adjoining room.

Performance art in liminal spaces

The discussion of presence and virtual reality opens the subject of

space in interactive digital performance. The concern to explore new artistic
paradigms in the generous contexts offered by new digital technologies and
other fields of science has led to the development of new forms of artistic
expression in performing arts. Talking about space, Doyle37 identifies in the
performing arts practice of the past two decades two main directions for
exploring the relationship between corporality and space. The first has to do
with the ability of the human body to perform in a physical space free of
gravity (zero gravity), while the second explores the virtual space in which
the artist performs in a space without gravity and where, although the body is
not real, the sensations experienced by the performer can be perceived as
real.

Non-gravitational performance

A series of creative laboratories have conducted experiments exploring

the movement of the body in spaces where the effects of gravity have been
altered in parabolic flights or in water basins. French artist Kiotsu Dubois is
one of the first researchers to experience the impenetrable movement since the
1990s, using dance-specific techniques to train astronauts at the French National
Center for Scientific Research. Here's how she describes her experience: “It
was necessary to put oneself in a state of dance, this is to say to concentrate
on internal bodily space and the relation this holds with the surrounding
space as well as on the imaginary that emerges directly from this new body-
space-time.”38

37. Denise Doyle, “Out of This World: Exploring Embodiment and Space through Artistic
Processes and Practice,” International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 11, no. 1
(January 2, 2015): 1–17, [Link]
38. Ibid.

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Figure 8: Kiatsu Dubois – Apesanteur (1994)

Exploring the telematic space

In his 1997 Ghosts and Astronauts production, Susan Kozel performs a

telematic performance by applying both concepts from the phenomenology
of Merleau Ponty's perception of the body and the surrounding world as
well as the results of Dubois's experiential experiments in zero gravity
spaces. In this performance - through the reciprocal projection of an artist in
Riverside Studios, the body of another performer, located in London's Place
Theatre - creates the context for exploring concepts related to intimacy,
altered materialism and impenetrability.
The alteration of the notion of space by constructing some forms of
telematic mediated presence was the theme of the first telematic performance
experiments. Dixon39 designates Paul Sermon as the first artist to define
telepresence. Telematic Dreaming was conducted in 1992 in an exhibition
room where there was a bed on which a picture could be projected, captured
from another room, 5000 kilometers away, where an artist performs in front
of the room.

39. Dixon, Digital Performance. A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and
Installation, 220.

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Figure 9: Paul Sermon – Telematic Dreaming. (1993)

Someone from the audience in the exhibition room could lie down in
bed, alongside the projection of the artist's image, who could see what was
going on in the exhibition hall. Thus, without physically touching the two,
they could react and interact with one another, even though you are at a
distance. In this experiment, through digital technologies, the artist could be
present in a remote space.

Spectatorship

Another important theme within the paradigm of performing arts is

audience and spectatorship. In the context of digital performances, the
spectator is often no longer passive, but becomes an active user. Abercrombie &
Longhurst40 addresses audience analysis from a sociological perspective,
arguing that “[…] a new way of understanding the development of audience
research and, more importantly, for conceptualizing the current accumulation
of evidence on audience processes.”

40. Nicholas Abercrombie and Brian J Longhurst, Audiences: A Sociological Theory of Performance
and Imagination (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1998).

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Runcan41 lists some of the mutations suffered by the public characterized

as the “digital generation”: a dramatic decrease in interest and spectatorial
practices, due to a shortened attention span and a diminishing appetite for
the traditional narrative; decreased interest in reading, coupled with increased
interest for developing skills and finding information in the virtual world;
alteration and compression of the vocabulary and the development of a slang
specific for the digital worlds, including words, phrases and syntaxes borrowed
from English; the abandonment of traditional values related to autocracy or
copyright due to the evolution of new media and digital technologies, often
more rapid than the adoption of rules or legislation to regulate them.
This audience is no longer docile, patient or lenient, but wants to be
surprised, seeks novelty and is open to innovation. Interactive digital
performance is the kind of show that meets these expectations, nourishing the
appetite for new forms of media, to overcome the over-stimulation caused by
a technological extension through a new one.

The paradigm of human-machine interaction

The fourth paradigm identified in the intermediate performance

study describes the concern for performance theories and what is called the
“the aesthetics of interactivity”, identified in the field of human computer
interaction (HCI). In the design of human / machine / technology interaction
and in the research that addresses this field, performing arts and theories of
theatricality are being considered as playing an increasingly important role,
even though they do not address all aspects involved in the design of
digital technologies42.
Beyond the functionalist approaches that have dominated the early
development of digital technologies and the design of interactions between
individuals and technology, the cultural approach has highlighted the role of
aesthetics in developing the strategies and principles that govern the design
of interfaces and user assimilation of cultural, and their appropriation as
identity objects.

41. Miruna Runcan, “Teorii Ale Receptarii Spectacolului - Suport de Curs,” 2011, 95.
42. Lars Erik Udsen and Anker Helms Jørgensen, “The Aesthetic Turn: Unravelling Recent
Aesthetic Approaches to Human-Computer Interaction,” Digital Creativity 16, no. 4
(January 2005): 205–16, [Link]

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In other words, if a first wave of attention was focused on the

functionality of technology, a second wave was directed to the professional,
productive context in which technology was to be used, while the third wave
approached the non-productive and non-rational, which dominate the
directions of development of the recent period43.
Within the context of the second and especially the third wave of
human-machine interaction approaches, some researchers focus on the
theories of performing arts and performance practices that can contribute to
the development of superior digital products and performance experiences.

Digital live art

Sheridan defines digital live art as the “intersection between live art,
computing and human-computer interaction”44. She argues that methods
and theories used in performing arts can be used to evaluate and measure
the man-machine interaction.
Sheridan's live digital art example is The Talking Quilt, a collaborative
work by Sarah Heitlinger in London, which, within an intergenerational project,
has sought to explore the links between community concepts and food /
feeding. The project involved the development of a workshop in which a
quilt was made (a textile work made of small pieces assembled together in a
unitary project) by the contribution of several people in the community, in a
sort of seating. During the workshop, the participants were recorded as they
talked about the specific habits of their culture, especially around the
preparation of food. “The quilt represents a framework stop to the notion of
a farm at a given point in time, and involves different communities, including
people from hard-to-reach places, such as a Somali community, but also
young people or the elderly”45.

43. Jocelyn Spence, Stuart Andrews, and David M Frohlich, “Now, Where Was I? Negotiating
Time in Digitally Augmented Autobiographical Performance,” Journal of Media Practice 13,
no. 3 (2012): 269–84, [Link]
44. Sara Heitlinger and Nick Bryan-Kinns, “Understanding Performative Behaviour within
Content-Rich Digital Live Art,” Digital Creativity 24, no. 2 (June 2013): 112, [Link]
10.1080/14626268.2013.808962.
45. Ibid., 113.

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Figure 10: Sara Heitlinger – The Talking Quilt (2011).

In the final work, through the technology embedded in the material,

several areas were created that could be activated by a technology embedded
in a glove so that a visitor could turn into a participant and activate the
recordings.
Alongside the exposed work of art, the context has been created to
access a performance experience that includes narrative recorded and rendered
based on interaction rules with the object. The reception of such a work goes
beyond the frame prescribed by the reception of an artwork exposed in a
particular space, because the work itself is far more than the actual object.

Experiential performance

Benford and Giannachi46 believe that Rider Spoke, a work by Blast

Theory company, sets the foundation for a “dramaturgy of performance” to
express the different ways in which digital technology can be integrated into
the performance experience. In this performance, which takes place on the
stage of the whole city, the audience is an active participant, being both
spectators and those who make the text.

46. Steve Benford and Gabriella Giannachi, Performing Mixed Reality (Cambridge: MIT Press,
2011), 23.

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Participants can use their own bicycle or borrow one from the project
site together with a mobile device mounted on it. Then they get a question
and are invited to a secret location where they can record the answer using a
map on the mobile device that also works as a geo-location device. In addition,
at that location, they will also have the opportunity to discover through the
geo-location system the places where other participants have recorded and
submitted their answers.
Once in the physical proximity of the place where the responses of
other participants were recorded and submitted, the participants can access
their content, but only with the equipment received. The participants are
both the public and the creators of the content of this project, which is currently
available on the web page, so that although it is built according to the classic
mixed reality performance model, the performance experience can also be
seen in the form of a digital artefact.

Figure 11: Blast Theory – Rider Spoke (2007)

In 2011, Blast Theory expanded the original project by launching Riders

Have Spoken, a project that contains an archive of several tens of thousands
of recordings made so far during project tours around the world. By accessing
the points marked on a series of maps of the cities in which the project was run,
the audience can witness the recorded stories, this time through the computer, no
matter the location. In this case, we are no longer dealing with an experimental
performance, but with a multimedia viewing experience specific to the digital
media.

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These types of performances provide the context for the development

of research directions in man-machine interaction that are claimed in the
field of performing arts. The analysis of the roles assumed by the user in
the performance experiments, as well as their alternation, benefit from the
theories specific to public performances in the performing arts as well as in
the design of digital games. The value of some “game” approaches is supported
by theoreticians in the field of performance studies and established performers
such as Schechner or Rosalee Goldberg. Also, in the context of studies related
to the aesthetics of man-machine interaction, it is appreciated that theories
pertaining to corporeality, temporality or presence, specific to performing
arts, can not be ignored.
In conclusion, we believe that – within the context of the development
of digital technologies and their omnipresence through mobile technologies
in all areas of social life, including art – performance arts and performance
theories are of interest not only to the artistic cultural context or to certain
subjects in the sciences but also for certain areas of technical sciences.
In particular, the field of human-machine interaction is at a stage of
development in which it turns to arts-specific theories and performance
studies in an attempt to understand the behavior of the individual in
interacting with digital systems and how artefacts that incorporate digital
technologies are adopted, used and assimilated. In the same way, performing
arts can no longer be studied without taking into account aspects of the
integration of digital technologies, the nature of interactions between man
and technology, and how cultural artefacts made in the context of new
media are integrated and assimilated into the information society.

Discussion

We have covered four different critical paradigms that map the

approach of the digital interactive performance study, each of which covers
one or more domains that form part of the multi- and inter-disciplinary
character of intermedial performance.
At one point or another, each of the areas covered by the paradigms
discussed addresses some aspects of the influence of the digital technology
on social life and on the individual, especially in the context in which the
ubiquity of digital technologies permeates all areas of life and influences the
way we live, we socialize, we learn or we create cultural and artistic values.

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From this perspective, we can consider that the way in which digital
interactive performance can be taught in a formal educational context, could
be approached from the pedagogical perspective of any of these paradigms.
It is difficult to discuss about digital culture without addressing the field
of digital arts, be it live performance, or other curatorial models specific for the
digital content distributed on different media platforms. The philosophy of
technology touches aspects that influence the post-humanist art, and the
theories specific to the sociology and anthropology specific to the digital
age have a decisive influence on contemporary performance practice. Rapid
developments in the field of artificial intelligence introduce new variables into
the equation that describes the information society. The regarding the way in
which human-machine interaction is built into interface design is increasingly
focused on models and experiences that come from theatricality and performing
arts.
It would be simple to say that any of the pedagogical models of the
mentioned domains can provide the framework for teaching the respective
aspects involved in interactive digital performance. But this is one of the areas in
which the sum of the parts does not equal with the whole. New solutions
should be applied, through a paradigm shift in the educational approach.
In the context of the current crisis facing educational systems around
the world, a crisis driven by technological developments and unprecedented
access to information, there is a consensus that classical pedagogical methods
need to be revised and adapted to new demands in society.
From the point of view of theories and methods, pedagogy focuses on
child's formation trough leadership, and andragogy, on adult development.
None of these approaches sufficiently explain the fact that the learning
environment is permanently affected by the development of new technologies.
Hase and Kenyon47 extended the concept of andragogy, introducing
the term “heutagogy”, within the context of distance learning. The word comes
from the Greek ευρετικός (heurista) - “to discover”, εφευρετικός (heuretikos) -
„inventive”, εύρημα (heuriskein) - „to find” and άγω (ago) - „to lead”.
Heutagogy designates learning strategies that target mature subjects. Through
mentoring processes, existing knowledge can be developed and modified,
leading to the creation of new horizons of knowledge. Heutagogy diverts
attention from learning as a stage-based process to the ultimate goal of
learning, the final product or stage.

47. Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon, Self-Determined Learning: Heutagogy in Action (London:
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013).

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 RODICA MOCAN

To the extent that we want to train practitioners able to achieve relevant

artistic productions in the context of the new digital arts, an innovative, inter-
disciplinary framework needs to be developed, in which the pedagogical
approach should be replaced by a heutagogical one that would enable a
practical, collaborative approach.
In the Anglo-Saxon area, since the 1980s, disciplines have been developed
in the performance studies that cover the need to analyze narrative discourse
from complex perspectives, so today there is a very consistent academic
literature. Theoretical constructions have started from the performing practice,
and practitioners have come to theorize and discuss in detail both their
artistic approaches and the contexts in which they have taken place.
Until recently, in Romania, there was no such concern, the performing
arts being concentrated exclusively on theatre studies. Although in recent
years this problem has been approached at academic level in various university
centers, the approaches are just beginning and there is a lack of tradition in
the theoretical discourse formalized at the academic level.
The heutagogical approach is centered on providing learning experiences
relevant to the aspirations of the mature learner, motivated and oriented
towards a clear goal. Thus, by creating a context that attracts learners from the
most diverse contexts, it is possible to build interdisciplinary teams in which the
competences of the instructors – experienced practitioners – are complemented
by the competencies of the learners, acquired in previous formal or informal
contexts. With the most diverse media and technologies available, such a team
can have a valuable creative and educational experience, without the formal
academic constraints.
The context we have described can be an intensive workshop where
learners make direct contact with various digital technologies and where they
can build artefacts which illustrate various digital performance categories. The
key to success is attracting motivated learners who come with experience or
interest in different artistic and technical fields - visual arts, performing arts,
music, literature, architecture, but also computer science, communication,
cinema, media – and who are opened to new solutions.

Conclusions

The discussed paradigms incorporate many more themes than those

mentioned, but circumscribe the appropriate framework necessary for the
opening of research directions and for providing methodological solutions to

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 AN APPROACH TO TEACHING DIGITAL INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE

the analysis of interactive digital performances. We consider that the grouping

of themes within these general paradigms facilitates both the analysis of the
narrative discourse around certain forms of performance and the discussion
of the aesthetic, philosophical or technological perspectives of the content.
At the intersection of arts and technology, in the context of the
information society and the continuous development of digital media, digital
interactive performance is an area that can no longer be ignored and academics
are challenged to discover new interdisciplinary methodological approaches
that address the complexity of this genre.
It is our hope that this study will contribute to such developments.

Acknowledgements

This paper is a summary of Critical Paradigms in Digital Interactive

Performance, a doctoral thesis defended in 2016 at The Theatre and Film
Doctoral School of Babeș-Bolyai University, from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Our gratitude goes to the thesis advisor, Prof. dr. Miruna Runcan and to
Acad. Sabina Ispas for their encouragement and generous support.
The research was supported by the Sectorial Operational Programme
Human Resources Development (SOP HRD), financed from the European
Social Fund and by the Romanian Government under the contract number
SOP HRD/1599/1.5/S/136077.

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219
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Rodica Mocan is the vice-dean of the Theatre and Television Faculty, Babeș-Bolyai
University, Cluj. Her undergraduate studies in engineering where followed by a master in art
in the United States where she developed a special interest for applications of new media
technologies in various domains of life. She holds a PhD in Sociology, focused on e-learning
from a sociological perspective, and another one in Theatre and Performing Arts, with a thesis
on Multimedia in Performance. She is the recipient of a doctoral grant from the Romanian
Academy. During her academic career she developed and delivered courses involving new
media technologies in online journalism, e-learning, e-government, multimedia design and,
more recently, multimedia in performance and new media documentary.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 221 - 239
(Recommended Citation)
DOI:10.24193/subbdrama.2017.2.12

In Search of the Theatrical Unit of Meaning:

Exploring Mnemonic by Simon McBurney

ANA BOARIU1

Abstract2: The author is searching for the theatrical unit of meaning exploring the
way Simon McBurney builds up the performance in Mnemonic, a Complicite
Theatre production created for the 1999 Salzburg Festival. Inspired by head-
driven phrase structure grammar and Chinese pictograms, the paper looks
for verbs and actions that define a matrix, where each element determines the
complex theatrical sign. Any change of one single sign-element causes the
meaning of the whole to change.

Keywords: Simon McBurney, Mnemonic, Complicite, theatre semiotics,

morpheme

“Theatre is about the collective imagination... Everything

I use on-stage is driven by the subject matter and what you
might call the text – but that text can be anything, from a
fragment of movement or music to something you see on a TV.”
Simon Mcburney

The beginning of the performance: A few objects and, suddenly, a

world is born. How? When we watch a performance, do we understand it
only through emotions or do we perceive it as another kind of language?
Can we analyse it from the viewpoint of the signs used, and, if so, we
should then ask ourselves: What communication code is used? What kind
of signs are present? How can we understand the signs paradigmatically

1. Université de Lorraine, Metz, France; Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeș-Bolyai University,
Cluj-Napoca, Romania. [Link]@[Link].
2. Translated into English by Camelia Oana
 ANA BOARIU

and sintagmatically, as they appear simultaneously and successively? How

is the meaning of the performance built? Can we identify one unit of meaning
in theatre, as there is one in spoken languages? What would this be? The
question of the theatrical unit of meaning is a very debated one and several
researchers, among which Anne Ubersfeld3, deny its existence or, at least,
the capacity of a theatrical unit of meaning to function similar to a morpheme in
natural languages. We will discuss here, from a semiotic point of view, a
production of Complicite Theatre, Mnemonic, a performance created in 1999
for the Salzburg Festival, later played at Riverside Studios, London, after a
two-year long tour in Europe4. The scope is to see how signs function, how
minimal units of meaning are built through a complex sign and how this
complex sign can switch meanings, when only one component of it is changed,
through the permanent re-semantisation of objects on stage.

Mnemonic
(Original) cast: Katrin Cartlidge, Simon McBurney, Tim McMullan, Eric Mallett,
Kostas Philippoglou, Catherine Schaub Abkarian, and Daniel Wahl
Set Design: Michael Levine
Lighting Design: Paul Anderson
Sound Design: Christopher Shuff
Director: Simon McBurney
Duration: 2 hours, no intermission

Just a Chair
As indicated in the stage directions in the printed version, the
performance begins with an empty stage, on which there is a chair. Simon
enters the proscenium – and Simon is not the name of a character, but the very
author, director, and co-founder of Complicite5. McBurney asks the audience to
turn off their phones and introduces the theme of the performance. The author-

3. Anne Ubersfeld, Lire Le Théâtre (Paris: Editions Sociales, 1978).

4. Author has seen the performance during the European tour, at Bobigny, in 2001.
5. Complicite is a British group founded in 1983 by three former students of the Paris international
school led by Jacque Lecoq, i.e. Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden and Marcello Magni. At the
beginning, their performances were based on scripts written by McBurney, such as A minute
too late (1984), A disappearing number (2007) or Mnemonic (1999), but also on classical texts, like
The Master and Margarita (2011/12), Endgame (2009), Measure for Measure (2004), The Chairs
(1997). [Link]

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 IN SEARCH OF THE THEATRICAL UNIT OF MEANING: EXPLORING

director gives a short speech on memory, in which scientific information

intertwines with anecdotic details, everything connects, or rather does not
connect, just like memories, he jumps from one thing to the other and ends
up presenting the chair on stage. It is not just a chair: it is the chair that the
director inherited from his father, a chair he used in a previous performance,
The Chairs. The author invests the chair with an emotional charge, shares
personal memories with the audience, individualizing the object and granting it
an identity. Later on, this information will help spectators perceive the chair as a
sign. A sign of the absent, who has left, and, at the same time, a sign of the
expected, who isn’t coming, a presence-absence. Later on, when scientists
present their theories and point towards the empty chair as if Ötzi were there,
the semantic charge of the object not only turns it into an indexical sign for
the iceman. It becomes a symbolic sign of the presence-absence. Through
this chair, the iceman who lived 5,000 years ago can also be identified with
the absent father, who will never come back. At the same time, the empty chair
is waiting to be occupied, it calls for a presence. The expectation is finally
met when Simon-Virgil “lends his body” to signify the iceman, becoming a
sign by resemblance, an icon of the perfectly preserved mummy studied by
the scientists. And which they cannot know.
Finally, all the actors become Ötzi: one by one, they lie on the table,
freeze, are exposed, the previous gets up, joins those walking, projected like
shadows on the wall behind the stage, a wave that propagates and returns.
The people walk. They each stop for a second, lying on the table in Ötzi's
position, then start walking again. Repetitively. Once again. Once more. For
the last time.

The Sleeping Mask and the Leaf in the Plastic Bag

Let's go back to the director’s speech at the beginning of the performance6.
Entering the proscenium and starting a dialogue with the audience, Simon
McBurney engages the spectators by asking them to take the plastic bag
they found on their chairs, to put on the "sleeping mask" (similar to the one
you receive in a plane), to hold the leaf in their hands, and to try and feel its

6. Simon McBurney: in an interview for Studio 360, the actor recites the monologue at the
beginning of the play again. You realize it sounds very realistic, not at all like a
monologue – you actually have the feeling that it is the beginning of a conference and that
the speaker is a passionate scientist.

223
 ANA BOARIU

ribs. The "sleeping mask" is just a scarf, the leaf is just a leaf. Everyone is invited
to go back in time, imagine they are children on a beach, their parents at
their side, their grandparents behind them. They are asked to imagine all
their ancestors, one by one, to the most distant. To feel the ribs of the leaf
and compare them to the lines of a family tree. To watch the lines of
ancestors come down to each of us from the depths of time.
After the chair, the leaf is the second object invested by McBurney as
a symbolic sign, leaf-family tree; it is not abstract, but a very concrete
symbolist sign for spectators, emotionally charged with the memory of
their own parents, grandparents, great-grandparents. In the end, the line of
people succeeding one behind the other, evoked at the beginning through
the leaf-sign, materializes. The mere line of actors becomes the sign of your
own ancestors, succeeding like a wave, always coming. They become... us!
By taking two objects and investing them with – his own and the
spectators’ – personal memories, McBurney invites the spectator to open up
and be part of a process of signifying, remembering and imagining. For
each person there, the performance that is about to take place will resemble
a memory process like a game of imagination.

SIMON: Modern theories of memory evolve around the idea of

fragmentation. Different elements are, apparently, stored in different
areas of the brain. And it is not so much the cells that are important in
the act of memory, but the connection between the cells, the synapses,
the synaptic connections. And these connections are being made and
remade. Constantly. (…) Anyway, our job, the job of remembering is
essentially not only an act of retrieval but a creative thing, it happens in
the moment, it’s an act, an act… of the imagination.7

Back then, and even today, it is striking to use a direct speech at the
beginning of the performance, held by the leading actor (who also happens
to be the author and director), which, throughout the performance, blends
with the cast’s stunning cohesion, with an exceptionally qualitative impro
based on physical actions, with a power of suggestion based on just a
couple of props and set elements and with an apt use of light, sound and
video projections to tell the story. The theme of the performance – as
announced by Simon McBurney – is memory and identity; a feeling of

7. Simon McBurney, Mnemonic (London-New York-Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014), 15.

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 IN SEARCH OF THE THEATRICAL UNIT OF MEANING: EXPLORING

uncertainty connects the two, by the impossibility to determine one or the

other. The only real thing left is imagination, theatre. Watching the performance,
the audience perceived it as a wonderful speech about the meaning of theatre:
a fusion of memory and imagination, with the complicity of the spectator.
Talking about the meetings with the audience after the performances in the
European tour, McBurney states:

It is like this everywhere: outpourings of individual stories provoked

by the ‘memory journey’ on which we take the audience. I remember
that was one of the ways in which we made the show in the first
place, going on our own memory journeys.8

What is Mnemonic about? Two main narrative threads intertwine,

connected by the story of Virgil (Simon McBurney), the main character, a
distant witness of the two stories. One night when he is alone in his flat,
Virgil telephonically finds out about the drama that Alice, his fiancée, is
going through while in Russia, where she is looking for her father, whom
she thought dead. The same night, the TV shows the heated debate of the
scientific community trying to identify the iceman, Ötzi, an intact mummy
found in the Alps in 1991, at the border between Austria and Italy. The two
parallel stories begin with an attempt to discover the identity of a lost
person, starting from some remains, some signs, which can be interpreted
in very different ways. One of the searches is intimate and personal, while
the other is public and scientific, and gradually becomes metaphorical. The
theatrical discourse combines the plan of the emotional speech with that of
objective-scientific rhetoric, but eventually neither of the two, no matter
how hard they try to retrieve the memory, can truly determine the identity
of the other, of the hero. Or ours.
In “Performing Europe: Identity Formation for a ‘New’ Europe”,
Janelle Reinelt identifies the way in which the theme is reflected in the
stylistics of the performance, where:

The transformation of objects and bodies is central to the idea that we

humans carry the past concretely within our container-selves, in our
brains, our postures, our nakedness. (McBurney's body is his, Virgil's,

8. Kurt Andersen, “Actor Simon McBurney on Memory” (Studio 360, 2001),

[Link]

225
 ANA BOARIU

and the Iceman's, but the more arresting substitution is a chair which
becomes McBurney's grandfather, a chair from the group's previous
production of Ionesco's The Chairs, and the body of the Iceman under
examination and exhibition.) 9

The permanent re-semanticization of objects is a central element of

the show. Subtly and progressively, it goes from iconic signs – the chair is a
chair, whether in a conference hall or in a tram – to symbolic signs, passing
through indexical signs – a mere capsized object indicating an obstacle, which,
read in the paradigmatic plan alongside other signs, can be understood as a
rock climbed by the mountaineers who find Ötzi. Anne Ubersfeld says, as
quoted by Miruna Runcan:

Any theatrical sign, even if it is only marginally indexical and purely

iconic, can be involved in an operation we call re-semanticization: any
sign, even one created by accident, functions as a question asked of
the spectator.10

The chair – the first object-sign of the performance, will be permanently

re-semanticized, defining time and space (always imaginary). The actors
grab some chairs, place them in a row, facing the audience, and suddenly
become scientists holding a conference; they line them up single file, one
behind the other, wobble while seating and become simple travellers in a tram.
And the same chairs, turned over, next to the table, which the actors climb,
dressed as mountaineers, become the dangerous cliffs on a mountain. Lights
and sounds help them create the space and time, but, first and foremost, they
are helped by the complicity between actors and spectators, who have to
follow them and to accept the sign’s permanent re-semanticization. Objects
always become a new thing, through the way in which actors use them. They
play with them like a child plays with a piece of wood. And actually, in the
main character’s imagination, everything happens in a flat where an
emotionally wrecked man spends a night alone watching TV.

9. Jannette G. Reinelt, “Performing Europe: Identity Formation for a ‘New’ Europe,” Theatre
Journal 53, no. 3 (2001): 375.
10. Miruna Runcan, Pentru O Semiotică a Spectacolului Teatral (Cluj-Napoca: Editura Dacia,
2005), 68.

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 IN SEARCH OF THE THEATRICAL UNIT OF MEANING: EXPLORING

Blackout. The Actor Becomes a Character. The Stage Becomes a Flat

The performance per se, a game of imagination, begins with a
blackout. The lights go out, which the spectators should not even truly
perceive, as their eyes are covered with the scarf. The voice of Simon, who
was just talking on the microphone, goes on – this time recorded – as he
makes the speech about memory. He asks the spectators to remove the
scarves. Simon, now Virgil, is a spectator whose phone is ringing; he picks
up, goes up on stage... and the stage becomes his world.
The third major stage of “visible” semanticization happens when Simon
the actor-director becomes the character Virgil and – during a conversation –
turns the stage into his own apartment. Space and time are first and foremost
instituted through the character's words. To begin with, he describes the real
space and time, i.e. that of the theatre he is in: Simon-Virgil starts by telling
his friend that he has to exit the hall to talk to him; he came to the theatre
hoping to see something interesting, but he is watching a show that began
with a conference and an odd scene, where the spectators’ eyes were covered
and they were told to remember their childhood...
Virgil goes up on stage. He tells his friend he got home. It’s evening.
The space of his flat is drawn up around him before our eyes: a bed, a sink,
a table and a TV set are brought in. Lights and a transparent plastic curtain
isolate the bedroom.

Types of Discourse. Linguistic Functions

In Mnemonic, the subtlety of the author-director consists of playing
with several types of discourse, using several types of signs and placing one
function of the linguistic discourse or the other at the forefront. According to
Jakobson’s general schema11, six elements constitute the message, i.e. the
sender and the receiver, the message is sent through a code, into a context
and requires a contact between the sender and the receiver. The fundamental
linguistic functions occur by placing the accent on one or the other of the six
elements. In Mnemonic, the surprising thing is that, instead of being engaged
into a poetic world, the audience seems to be watching a conference. The
first text seems to be highlighting the context, thus first emphasizing the
referential function. At the same time, the end of the monologue, when

11. Roman Jakobson, “Linguistics and Poetics,” in Style in Language., ed. Sebeok Thomas
(Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1960).

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Simon makes the audience participate, highlighting the contact between the
sender and the receiver, the actor and the audience, emphasizes the phatic
function and then immediately the conative function. The actor asks the
spectator to participate. The second scene, when the set is constituted under the
eyes of the spectator, and when the accent falls on the code, the metalinguistic
function becomes fundamental. Almost throughout the entire show, each
change of set, the way in which objects are visibly re-semanticized highlights
the metalinguistic function, creating a rhythm and permanently rousing the
audience’s imagination. Last but not least, the emotive and the poetic function are
also used in the discourse of the performance.
The poetic function is evident when the accent is placed on the message.
As the show unfolds, we notice that the referential function fades away
gradually, giving way to the poetic function. It all happens like a game – the
whole performance is a game, right? – and McBurney induces this subtle
shift by changing the way in which the video projection is used. At the
beginning, an element characteristic of Virgil’s space is the TV set. It signals
that we are in a modern flat at also that it is the middle of the night. An
important referent: scientific documentaries are broadcasted in the dead of
night! At sound level, the TV preserves the reference to the context: the
study of memory... We can see the light play in the box, even though,
visually speaking, we can’t clearly perceive anything from this world
which constitutes the context.
The video projection returns later on. For the first time in the show, a
poetic and emotional moment takes place. All evening, Virgil waited for
Alice, his fiancée, to call. At the sound level, we receive lots of signals: his
nocturnal talks with his friend, the messages he leaves on Alice’s phone.
Finally, Alice calls. She is in a phone booth, parallel to him on stage and
quite close to the bed where Virgil is. Still, they are far away from each
other. Alice has her back turned to him, we see her in profile. Virgil is at the
front of the stage, looking in the distance, over the audience. He is almost
naked, as he usually when at home, only wearing boxers and nothing else
above the waist. And during this dialogue so longed by Virgil, Alice’s face
is projected on his chest. The projection on Simon-Virgil’s chest is no longer
a reference to the referential context, but draws the attention on the
message itself, as it is. Touch-non-touch, proximity-distance, remembrance-
presence, materiality-immateriality, body-image, this highly poetic moment
simultaneously evokes all antinomic pairs.

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At the end of the performance, the use of video projections will reveal
the very theme-metaphor, the man projecting himself in the past of his own
species, i.e. over 5,000 years ago. This time encompassing the entire wall at
the back of the stage – the show was also played in Bobigny on a huge stage, as
big as the one at the Bucharest National Theatre –, the projection shows a
window frame which, once again, should open outwards, to the performance’s
reference-universe. On the contrary, all the actors step into the light of the
projector, with their iconic bodies, signs of the iceman, of the man who lived
5,000 years ago, and their bodies become a shadow projected on the window.

The Problem of Minimal Unity or of Minimal Theatrical Sign

Going back to the beginning of the performance and to the way in
which the author-director makes up codes, we shall now discuss what a
sign is, how it is built in theatre, remind how complex it is, and briefly stop
upon the problem of minimal unit.
In a theatre performance – just like in film – the message is sent
through different channels, through multiple signals, and:

signification is born from the systemic relation (intersection) of two

axes, the syntagmatic axis (the horizontal succession of signs) and
the paradigmatic axis (the vertical of associative relations between
signs, in relations of opposition, continuity, alternating, etc.)12

Because of this, determining a minimal unit, so that theatre is considered

“a language” in itself, seems impossible. Anne Ubersfeld provides a reason
for the impossibility of these units’ existence, stating that, in theatre, one
cannot identify phonemes, those minimal linguistic units (audible in any
natural language) that, together, make up morphemes, the minimal unit of
meaning. Nevertheless, Ubersfeld thinks that theatre is a language and describes
its syntax using actants and the relations between them, using concepts from
Greimas’ semantics and Propp’s narratology. This way of reading theatre
seems to be tributary to European linguistic structure and to the syntax of
European languages. Through the way in which we create writing, we are
structured to consider that abstraction is the norm, that the connection
between sign and signifier is very arbitrary, based, in natural languages, on
a randomly selected sound and a sign, which in its turn, is arbitrarily chosen to
represent a sound.

12. Runcan, 65.

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We have a sign for each phoneme; together, they form a morpheme,

the minimal morphological unit, which can be a word in itself or not, can
have a content or can be a determinant. Of course, since theatre uses
different channels parallel: gestural and physical activity, movement, text,
lights, scenography, costumes, music, and, in each plan, we can identify
signs that work parallelly, completing or opposing each other, – a context is
born, where the attempt to define morphemes seems like a useless, absurd
effort. This might be so, as, if the definition of language itself is based on
the experience of natural, mainly European languages, theatre can only be
considered a parole at best, not a language.
However, both Tadeusz Kowzan, and Miruna Runcan try to define a
semiologic unit of meaning. For the first, this equals to: “a slice containing
all the signs emitted simultaneously, the duration of which equals that of
the sign that lasts least.”13
Miruna Runcan completes his words, defining a possible minimal
unit as that chosen by both partners involved in the discourse ”based on a
meaning homogeneity established between the elements, and homogeneity
is set by the sign with the greatest contextual domination force related to
the discourse flow.”14
The problem that may arise is that, when presented via different
channels, signs or signals have different durations. And drawing a line
between minimal units, if they exist, would mean that both the sender, and
the receiver accept and recognise it, deciding whether duration or intensity,
or maybe both, are decisive in order to establish the separation criterion.
A minimal unit is absolutely necessary for the sender to structure his
message, and based on this unit, if it is well structured, the receiver will
find it easier to decode the message. Regardless of the different duration of
the signals on different channels, it is enough that one message is
significantly modified on one channel for the meaning of the entire
ensemble to change. Despite the fact that there are no “constant discreet
and coded fixed units”, theatre “has the advantage of being able to
generate, even during the communicational flow, a synchronic sequencing
of sign ensembles, into meaning units equal to complex signs”15.

13. Ibid., 70.

14. Ibid., 72-73.
15. Ibid., 73.

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Theatrical Sign
We can understand the theatrical sign itself as a minimal unit of
meaning, made up of a set of signs, which, through juxtaposition, acquire a
different meaning. A change within this set changes the meaning of the
whole, as we could see in the analyse of Mnemonic.
Can we think theatre similar to a language in which each written
morpheme breaks down not into phonemes, but into other signs, as it often
is a compound sign? Looking at a sign, you decode its components, which
always represent something, until you get to a simple line. In Chinese, for
example, each constituting element of a complex sign represents a very
concrete object that can be touched, drawn. But together, they acquire a
totally different meaning.
好 － a woman next to her son. Means: "Good".
问 － what do we see? A mouth inside an open gate. It means "to ask".
回 － and here, a mouth inside a closed gate, which means "to answer".
In theatre, a minimal unit, which makes sense, works just like a sign
in Chinese writing, which, in its turn, is made up of elements that also have
an independent meaning. It is true that there is no rule based on which to
identify a finite number of units of meaning in theatrical language. Just as,
in the past, Chinese writing was almost unsystematizable: with over 40,000
signs, whose number could increase infinitely, in theatre, new “units of
meaning” can be created all the time. And when we can read a sign from
one performance to the other, we think we are dealing with dead theatre.
Communication would be extremely difficult if the author of the
performance would not “rely” on minimal units, which make sense, if he
wouldn’t somehow, more or less evidently, emphasize the border between
these units. The borders may seem “fluid”, if the tears are not marked well
enough. Perhaps they are never perceived. They exist, just like in film. Or
they should exist.
In Mnemonic, units of meaning are suggestively individualized and
well marked by tears, especially at the level of sound. Analysing the first
complex theatrical sign in Mnemonic, we can understand how, by changing an
element within the sign, a new sense is created, different from that of its
constituting parts. And at the same time, that the signals perceived on different
channels, although they may be signs, lose their individual meaning and
acquire a new meaning in the context, simultaneously with other signs.

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Virgil’s Flat – the Minimal Unit of Meaning at the Beginning of the

Story
On the almost dark stage, behind a plastic curtain, we can distinguish
the light coming from a TV set and the presence of a bed. Together, these
become the sign of a disillusioned young man, left by his wife. The bedroom
where the main character spends his days alone is signified. It is evening and
he is watching TV. News about some American scientific research is on.
About how we might get to find out what happened 5,000 years ago.
Despite several objects being present on stage at the same time, they
do not work as independent signs, although they each mean something.
Together, however, they acquire a new meaning and constitute one unit, a
unit that has a meaning. If we modify anything in the above-described
image, any one of the signs, the final meaning will change.
Let's play a game. We have the same elements: bed, table, TV set,
light, hero, characterized through a costume and gestural activity. Let’s
change the character’s costume: he is no longer in his boxers, but lying on
the bed in a suit. There’s a suitcase next to him. All the other elements stay
the same, and still we’re no longer in the bedroom of a single young man
hit by melancholy (we’ll find out later why), but we might be in a hotel.
Another change regarding the costume: he might wear prison clothing or
handcuffs. The situation changes radically. We will understand he is in
prison. Let’s suppose that the sound coming from the TV changes. Or the
light. The ensemble of signals or signs reaching us via various channels,
read by association, in a paradigmatic plan, only mean something together.
Individually, they are nothing but set elements and props.
In Mnemonic, the actors constantly use the same objects: bed, table,
chair. The TV is off. Virgil is lying on the floor. Alice is on the bed. At
sound level, we can hear the loud noise of a moving train, it seems real.
Nevertheless, the fact that Virgil is still in this space, but asleep, suggests
that he is dreaming. The bed is, at the same time, the one in Virgil's flat, but
also the one in Alice’s berth. And, in reality, it is just an object-bed on a
stage, the extraordinary object that does not only signify itself, but is open
to being invested, through the complicity between actor and spectator, with
any signification.
For it to have a meaning and to be decoded, it obviously needs what
Miruna Runcan suggests and what Simon McBurney calls complicity from
the spectator. A common referent must exist, through which the elements

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chosen to signify are absolutely necessary and, at the same time, enough to
create a sign that is understood. Any noise, any extra element disturbs
attention. Any missing element gives the sign a degree of indeterminacy.
McBurney characterizes the state he aimed at suggesting at the
beginning through: “Emotionally unhappy, you can’t sleep!”16
General situation: A man is alone in his flat, after his girlfriend left
him. He walks around, calls his friend, can’t sleep, watches TV. At a certain
moment, his girlfriend calls in the middle of the night and tells him where
she is and what happened to her.

The idea behind the play was to mimic this chaotic theories on
memories. For example, in my flat in London I often watch TV… at
three o’clock in the morning, and you get these amazing
programmes about all sorts of factual staff. 17

This experience, lived by the author, can only make the theatrical sign
intelligible if shared by the audience. If the spectator is not part of the same
world, for example coming from a quiet, isolated village where he doesn’t
even have a TV set, everything happening from this moment on might be
completely unknown and unintelligible.

Theatrical Convention and Codes

In the case of Mnemonic, Simon McBurney chooses to announce and
implement the theatrical convention at the beginning. He implements it in
complicity with the spectator. He presents it in the monologue at the
beginning of the performance. As mentioned before, the discourse covers
several functions – referential, phatic, and metalinguistic – and announces
the theme of the show: exploring the way in which memory works and
defining our identity. At the same time, the spectator is invited to join the
actors’ imaginary game, using very few, permanently re-semanticized
objects, through which stories are created; these stories overlap in the mind
of a Londoner insomniac and all have to do with an identity search. In the
case of Mnemonic, the set was made up of a bed, a table, some chairs, and a
phone booth at a certain moment. There was nothing else on stage. And

16. Andersen, “Actor Simon McBurney on Memory.”

17. Ibid.

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successively, or even parallelly, we are in Simon’s bedroom, in a train or a

tram in a Russian city, in a conference hall where scientists talk about Ötzi, in a
dissection room, on a mountain. Everything is fragmented and fragmentary,
identities changes, synapses and connections between objects are recreated.
Using memory and imagination, using Virgil as a pretext, McBurney invites us
to explore our identity. “Theatrical conventions will never equal to an
inventory of codes used to produce and interpret the message in the continuous
flow of theatrical discourse.”18
In the performance, we see clothing codes, based on which we recognise
social or professional categories: mountaineers, researchers, the police officer.
Behaviour codes are also present: the scientists at the conference take a rigid
stand, in a line on a stage, presenting their papers in front of an audience.
Making use of these socio-cultural codes, the group quickly suggests to
the spectator who or where the characters are, especially as their role and
location changes so quickly. Besides the two main characters played by Simon
McBurney and Katerin Kartridge, the other actors do not play one character,
but almost work as a whole body, improvising and, through suggestion,
always recreating other situations, other groups of characters, with no distinct
individualities. As mentioned above, the socio-cultural code plays an
important part: a spectator who does not have the same referent as the author,
who has never experienced a sleepless night in the middle of a big city, will
not understand the state of the main character, the anxiety of a townsman who
was left by his girlfriend, is an insomniac watching TV in the middle of the
night, whose mind makes whirly connections. Stories intertwine, he recalls
memories, fragments, details, impressions…

The idea behind this piece was almost like a geometrical structure. And
I thought of seven different stories, essentially four. And the first line of
a story is a story of a woman who goes East, looking for her past…. The
second story is a man going West, looking for his future, who is the
Greek taxi driver who happens to have picked both myself and my
girlfriend in two separate situations. The third story is almost like a
vertical line, which is the story of a five thousand years old body that is
discovered on the Austrian-Italian border in 1991. And the fourth story
is the story that I have already mentioned, of the man who is alone in
his flat, who is both heartbroken and obsessed by all sorts of ideas as to

18. Runcan, Pentru O Semiotică a Spectacolului Teatral, 65.

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what constitutes our lives. And I tried to literally fragment all the
stories and then interweave them so that it mimics how our brain
works.19

After bringing about, through a metalinguistic discourse, some signs (an

iconic and symbolic sign as the chair, an iconic sign as himself, Simon-Virgil,
and an indexical sign as the flat), the minimal units of meaning succeed. And,
although we are not talking about a language, they follow certain syntax rules.

On Syntax
Regarding syntax, our normal syntactic grammatical model places the
subject on the first place and then the predicate. It is not by chance that the
syntax proposed by Ubersfeld, which is very functional and applied to the
construction and analysis of a text, starts from the actant. But from the point
of view of someone who every now and then builds a performance, a syntax
based solely on actants is not very helpful. When building a performance,
you start from a text, and the actants are given. If you improvise, you make
them up. But still, all you have is a text. To move from text to performance,
as the actors would say when passing from reading to the stage, you have to
start moving it. In the syntax of a theatre performance, the verb comes first,
not the noun, the predicate, not the subject, the action, not the actant.
Another model, another language serving as a model might be of help.
In an ancient language – and by that, I mean another ancient language,
Hebrew – sentences begin with the verb. And the rest of the words, all the other
words, are formed based on the verb. If we would first try to identify not the
actants in a theatre performance, but the transformations, we might find it easier
to identify minimal units of meaning. And the minimal unit of meaning will be
that in which a transformation can be identified, defined by a verb.
A useful mathematical matrix model might be that of a grammar
whose sentences are structured through keywords, i.e. HPSG – head-driven
phrase structure grammatic20. This model uses keywords (“heads”) to make up
matrices which in any human language determine both the syntactic form
and the semantic interpretation of the sentences they appear in. An example
of such a matrix for English is the one below, starting from “walk”:

19. Andersen, “Actor Simon McBurney on Memory.”

20. Carl Pollard and Ivan Sag, eds., Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 1994).

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 ANA BOARIU

Fig. 1: Example of an attribute value matrix for “walks”

In a natural language, a verb-based matrix entails that the semantic

contents and the syntactic connections required by the verb are determined:
whether it requires a subject or not, whether it requires a direct object or
several types of objects. This could be a model for the creation of a complex
theatrical sign.
Let us go back to the theatrical sign at the beginning of Mnemonic, as
described by McBurney himself: “Emotionally unhappy, you can’t sleep!”
Turning it into a verb-based matrix, we get two units in the first scene, the
main scene built starting from the main verb “can’t sleep”, and a subdivision,
a determinative verbal clause, “emotionally unhappy”, expressed through
another series of actions, which, in turn, become a sign:
Phon/Verb: can’t sleep (you lie down, get up, lie down somewhere
else, etc.) – insomnia

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SYNSEM: Category: HEAD: Verb: can’t sleep

valence: subject: Virgil: a man, single
objects:
where: in his flat:
signs: a bed, a table, a sink
when: at night –
sign: a certain type of light,
a night documentary on TV
why: emotionally unhappy
(another HEAD: verb)
sign: a phone that doesn’t ring
(Virgil calls in vain, then a friend rings...)

The signs in this matrix, although it seems like they have an

independent meaning, only exist simultaneously, like a constellation of
signs, which can only create the main theatrical sign, which is also a unit of
meaning, together. Mutually, when, as a spectator, you look at the stage,
and the signs you are trying to decode do not make up a matrix led by a
“head” that is the verb, you will have trouble finding the unit of meaning!
The first verb: “can’t sleep!” And then what happens? “You climb a
mountain.”
These units of meaning succeed, creating a syntax by alternating
rhythm and movement. Evidently, signs can also be analysed separately at
the end of the performance, by channel, but their meaning would have
arisen from the context. We can analyse the stylistic unit, the way in which
the message is coherently sent by the artists on each channel, parallelly.
Whether they use counterpoints, or agreements etc.

Who Produces the Meaning? The Sender or the Receiver?

Let’s go back to the spectator and to meaning. Simon McBurney is a
founder of the theatre group Complicite. He chose its name and the name
expresses the way in which he understands making theatre. To him, it is
not the actor who gives a meaning to the gestures and the objects on stage.
Meaning is born from complicity with the spectator.

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Theatre is not even what you see on the stage. It’s all about how
the audience imagine. And with the idea of complicity… It’s not
only the idea of complicity between the people on the stage. But
between the people on the stage and the people in the audience.21

McBurney keeps repeating this: “It’s the audience who creates theatre.
It’s an imaginative act on the part of the audience. And that is theatre’s
appeal, that’s why theatre continues.”22

Conclusion

We have explored in this analyse of Mnemonic how an object on stage

can be permanently invested with meaning by the complicity between actors
and audience. In the same time, we saw how the performance is built by a
succession of complex signs, which the audience perceives in synchronicity,
but also in time. Whenever one single object is reinvested with another
meaning - be it clothing, light, sound etc. - the complex sign changes its
meaning. This functioning of a theatrical unit of meaning brought us to make
a parallel to languages which uses pictograms, like the Chinese, where a new
meaning is derived from the association of individual signs: mother and
child, mouth and door brought together loose their original meaning and
gain a totally new one, only through their association. Further, in order to
understand how the syntax of a minimal theatrical unit can function, we
turned towards the head-driven phrase structure grammar, using verbs and
actions to structure all other syntax elements around them. The difficulty of
perceiving minimal units of meaning in theatre, which can create a syntax
and a grammar of their own, could be tributary of a way to perceive and
think of language as an arbitrary association of signs and meaning, proper to
the European thinking. Turning towards Eastern languages and writing
systems that use pictograms might be helpful to start thinking differently
about theatre and its units of meaning.

21. Andersen, “Actor Simon McBurney on Memory.”

22. Carol Rocamora, “McBurney Meets Miller: The Acclaimed British Experimentalist
Stretches an American Classic to New Dimensions,” American Theatre 25, no. 10 (2008): 32.

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 IN SEARCH OF THE THEATRICAL UNIT OF MEANING: EXPLORING

References

Andersen, Kurt. “Actor Simon McBurney on Memory.” Studio 360, 2001.

[Link]
Dickson, Andrew. “Simon McBurney on His Theatre Group, Complicite.” The
Guardian, 2010. [Link] .
Jakobson, Roman. “Linguistics and Poetics.” In Style in Language., edited by Sebeok
Thomas. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1960.
Matt, Trueman. “Interview: The Founders of Complicité.” Financial Times, May 24,
2013.
McBurney, Simon. Mnemonic. London-New York-Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing,
2014.
Pollard, Carl, and Ivan Sag, eds. Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. Chicago:
Chicago University Press, 1994.
Reinelt, Jannette G. “Performing Europe: Identity Formation for a ‘New’ Europe.”
Theatre Journal 53, no. 3 (2001).
Rocamora, Carol. “McBurney Meets Miller: The Acclaimed British Experimentalist
Stretches an American Classic to New Dimensions.” American Theatre 25, no.
10 (2008).
Runcan, Miruna. Pentru O Semiotică a Spectacolului Teatral. Cluj-Napoca: Editura
Dacia, 2005.
Ubersfeld, Anne. Lire Le Théâtre. Paris: Editions Sociales, 1978.

Ana Boariu (Aka Anca Berlogea) is a theatre and film director born 1968. She is
currently a PhD student at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj. After graduating theatre
directing in Bucharest in 1994, and theology in 1997, she finished her master degree at the
Catholic Institute in Paris in 2002, with a paper on "Memory and testimony in the Gospel
of John as starting point for a theatrical representation". Theatre and Bible remains her
main research area, both at a theoretical level, and in practice. But her practice is far larger,
including journalism as well as television, documentary and film production.

239
INTERVIEWS AND PROJECT REPORTS
STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 243 - 248
(Recommended Citation)

“I’ve always believed that a critical spirit comes with

creative features”
Interview with Cristina Modreanu, theatre critic, curator,
editor in chief of [Link] magazine

MIRUNA RUNCAN1

Abstract: The present interview with Cristina Modreanu focuses on her

project Comedia Remix, a project meant to revive the Bucharest Comedy
Theatre’s archives and present them in new formats to the contemporary
audiences. The project consists of an exhibition, the publishing of a bi-lingual
catalogue of the exhibition, a documentary and a series of conferences based
on themes inspired by the research. The project places the evolution of the art
of theatre in the larger context of ‘60,’70 and ‘80 decades from a cultural,
sociological and anthropological perspective. The curator discusses the
evolution of the project, the methodologies employed and the relationship
between critics and curators in the current context of cultural journalism.

Keywords: performative archives, curating, Comedia Remix

Cristina Modreanu (b.1974) is a curator,

theatre critic and expert in performing arts
based in Bucharest, Romania and New York,
USA. She holds a PHD in theatre from the
Theatre and Film University in Bucharest and
she is the author of five books on Romanian
Theatre. Modreanu is currently the editor of
the Performing Arts Magazine [Link] which
she co-founded in 2008, curator for theatre
and performance events and an associate
professor at Center for Excellence in Visual

1. Faculty of Theatre and Television, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

[Link]@[Link].
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Studies, Bucharest University. She is also a Fulbright Alumna and she was Visiting
Scholar at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Performance Studies Department, New
York 2011-2012.

Miruna Runcan: How was the idea of the Performative Archive dedicated to the
Comedy Theatre born? Did you have any pre-existing models in mind, or was
everything elaborated/structured in progress?

Cristina Modreanu: In 2014-2015, when we started the project Comedia

Remix at the Comedy Theatre together with Maria Drăghici, we had several
models in mind, especially those of our Polish friends and colleagues of the
“Zbigniew Raszewski” Theatre Institute in Warsaw, as well as the exhibitions
at Maison Vilar, Avignon, which I had visited every time I went to the
Festival there. I remember one thing they have in common, which I would
one day like to find in Romania as well, in a possible theatre archive open to
the public: on the sunbeds on the grass in front of the Warsaw Institute and
at the tables in the yard of Maison Vilar in Avignon, people found each other
in conversations about what they had seen/read/found out and, through
these discussions, they brought the past of theatre into contemporaneity. I
think that this “derived effect”, imposed by no one, but naturally generated
by the fact that the exhibitions, mediatheques, libraries created by these
institutions are alive and interesting, is the supreme result of all the effort put
into opening an archive. To this end, in the upstairs lobby of the Comedy
Theatre, we have created dialogue tables whose purpose is to generate the
same effect; unfortunately, it didn’t work, as access to the theatre is limited to
the hours when performances are scheduled, which has actually isolated the
theatre, reducing its possibility to communicate with the audience.

M.R.: What methodology did you use, or how did you combine methodologies?

C.M.: From the very beginning, I combined research in the archive of the
Comedy Theatre with interviews with people who have lived in the
heyday of this theatre, contributing to it directly. The second exertion was
more difficult, as, in the meantime, people have left for different countries,
and some of them are unfortunately no longer with us. But, in the end, we
managed to interview key persons in the recent history of the theatre: Radu
Beligan, David Esrig, Lucian Giurchescu, Sanda Toma, Stela Popescu. As I
was saying, at Maria Drăghici’s suggestion, we tried to use a methodology

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 INTERVIEW WITH CRISTINA MODREANU, THEATRE CRITIC, CURATOR, EDITOR IN CHIEF

she had used in the project regarding the archive of the Rahova community,
as well as in Sweden, also in her work with communities, i.e. the so-called
“dialogue tables”, aimed at bringing people from different backgrounds to
the same table - in the case of Comedia Remix, we brought people with
different trainings and from different generations, who shared their own
experience related to the theatre, in order to reach a new level of
understanding of a phenomenon, in our case, the impact of history and of
ideologies on the daily activity of a theatre in Romania.

M.R.: How did the team form, and what responsibilities did each of you have?

C.M.: The team was very small, basically made up of two persons: Maria
Drăghici and I, but we had the support of the Theatre’s Literary Secretariat,
especially of Corina Constantinescu and Ana Teodorescu, who helped us
research, sort, index and digitalize the archived material. The theatre’s
technical team helped us with the exhibition panels, while the tailoring
workshops remade two costumes from the famous performance Troilus and
Cressida directed by David Esrig, starting from Maria’s drawings. Judy
Florescu also contributed by translating the materials for the bilingual
catalogue of the exhibition into English, and throughout the work we have
enjoyed the support of the theatre managers, George Mihăiță and Traian
Petrescu. Besides, the Comedy Theatre Gala on January 5th, 2015 was
directed together with Vlad Massaci and Cătălin Ștefănescu, with the latter
also hosting the Gala alongside me; the Gala was attended by all the people
we interviewed, from the country and abroad. The video recording was then
used in the documentary Comedia Remix, that Maria and I made in the second
part of the project. To me, the documentary is the biggest achievement, as it
is very difficult to access the archives of TVR (Romanian National Television)
and it was a miracle that we managed to get hold of the epoch recordings -
thanks to the intervention of George Mihăiță, and the support of Demeter
Andras and Claudia Duca of TVR Production Company. It was very difficult
to search this archive, because many of the old materials are still kept on
reels, and digitalising them is expensive and takes a lot of time. At the same
time, this epoch footage that we found after many hours of watching old
programs are extremely precious and evoking; without these, should
reconstitutions only include words, or even photographs, contemporary
viewers would find such an endeavour uninteresting, too stodgy.

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M.R.: What were your initial targets and did they change as the project unfolded? In
other words, what was kept, what was lost, and what came on top of the initial idea?

C.M.: The format changed quite a bit; to begin with, we reduced the size of
the effort. Initially, the exhibition was designed for a museum, and our aim
was to reconstitute several performances considered to be legendary, one per
room, remaking costumes, video projections, reconstituting sets, etc. We had
to cut back on the dimensions and adapt to the theatre foyer, but this way
things were somehow more organic. The only downside in this case was that
you could only access the exhibition before scheduled performances, we
could not convince them that, in order for the place to become attractive for
people who don’t normally come to the theatre, access should be allowed
outside of these hours. As they were not used to such exhibition, the theatre
staff did not cooperate as they should have: they either forgot to turn on the
screens projecting short edited videos of the interviews we had made, or, if
they did turn them on, they forgot to connect the headphones, which meant
that the viewer heard nothing, they did not encourage the spectators to also
watch the exhibition in the upstairs foyer, etc. It’s not that they were ill-
willed, this was simply not a part of their routine when welcoming
spectators, which is anyway quite poor in state theatres. I am sorry that the
exhibition was only seen by people who are already in the habit of going to
the theatre, thus becoming an addendum to their experience of seeing shows,
rather than a self-standing cultural offer. The documentary was luckier, as it
“travelled” in other cities in the country too, such as Cluj (thank you for the
invitation!), but also abroad: this very spring, it was projected for Romanian
communities in New York and Seattle. Its life surpasses that of the exhibition
itself, and I hope it will also be useful to future generations.

M.R.: How to do you think your future self will relate to this experience? Has it
had any effect on your own vision as a critic? How about your career?

C.M.: Although, through the nature of my job, I’d had an interest in archives
before this project too, Comedia Remix further opened my appetite for
reinterpreting and reviving theatre archives. Subsequently, I made Arhiva
Remix. Revival of Theatre Archives, a project in which, together with students, I
reconstituted 10 legendary performances of Romanian theatre in creative
formats, later publishing a file documenting the project in [Link]. At
present, I am again working with Maria Drăghici at a new idea based on

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theatre archives and on the broader, social role of theatre in communism; I

am very enthusiastic about this new project. I increasingly believe in
activating archives, in the regeneration power that old sources can have on
contemporary projects, and in the role of the creative knowledge of the past,
without which we cannot imagine the future. Comedia Remix has had a
beneficial effect on my vision as a critic, as I was “bitten” by the bug of
looking back to the past, by the wish to gather as many testimonies of those
who created the theatre of yesterday and to analyse the role played by
theatre in the Romanian society from a subjective perspective, of personal
histories. For now, I’ve only gone back in the past to the communist period,
after 1956, but I’d love to take such trips as close as possible to the beginning
of theatre in Romania. I have recently seen the collection “The History of
Romanian Theatre”, which is temporarily hosted by the “Mihai Eminescu”
Museum in the Copou neighbourhood, Iași, as the house where the Theatre
Museum used to be was reverted. This collection, including fabulous pieces
from the beginning of theatre in Romania, has been crammed at a storey of a
building in Copou for seven years now, in unfavourable conditions, which
could cause us to lose some of the more fragile objects, especially costumes.
In Bucharest, the Museum of the National Theatre was never opened after
the very expensive renovation of the building was over, in 2015, and nobody
ever explained why. Under these conditions, I can’t help thinking that we are
the only country in the former Communist Bloc that has no Theatre Institute
or Museum salvaging the past of this art for the contemporary public,
despite theatre having played an essential part of Romanian social life, going
through spectacular transformations and repositions depending on the
political regime. If next year, when we celebrate 100 years of existence, we
are not able to retrieve and salvage this extraordinary resource by using
contemporary means, we never will. At least not at an institutional level, as
there are independent initiatives, various projects striving to salvage as much
as possible. What I find flagrant is the lack of a uniform strategy and of
coherent state funding aimed at saving theatre archives and reopening them
to the audience.

M.R.: Considering the very fast and very deep mutations that have taken place in
the professional field of theatre criticism all over the world, how do you see the
relation between critics and curators?

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C.M.: The position of performing arts curator, borrowed from visual arts, has
become more and more popular over the last years; it draws a lot on the
experience of the theatre critic, an endangered occupation in the form that
we know it. Just like the hierarchies of theatre institutions have seen constant
status modifications, reformulations of “job descriptions” to fit the changes
in consumption habits and relations with the audience, the theatre critic has
to transform accordingly. Their influence through writing has dropped, as
now only niche journals need specialists in this field, but their expertise can
and has to be harnessed in other ways: in research, in curating
interdisciplinary projects which also include theatre, in education (including
alternative education). To this end, personally I have constantly used my
experience as a theatre critic in the projects I created, from the performing
arts magazine [Link] (which will be celebrating 10 years of existence in
2018) - itself an archive of a decade of theatre, to the creation of an
International Theatre Platform (which reached its fourth edition this year), and
even to a project which apparently does not have a lot to do with theatre, like
The Sensory Map of Bucharest (after two editions in the Capital, we will make a
Sensory Map of Iași). As a coordinator of culture pages in the daily press for
over 15 years, I have exercised my critical spirit from the outside, by
commenting on what others did, better or worse, until I realised this role was
no longer satisfying to me and I joined the ranks of the doers. I have always
believed that a critical spirit comes with creative features, which are worth
exploring in as many ways possible; thus, I see this transformation of the
position of critic as good news and a reason to work harder at the same time.

Translated by Camelia Oana

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 249 - 269
(Recommended Citation)

The Future of Memory Project

OLGA STEFAN1

Abstract: Due to the specific theme of this issue of Studia Dramatica

dedicated to new perspectives in the critical and historical approaches in
theatre and film, we invited Olga Ștefan, the curator of one of the most
interesting and complex projects of performing archives ever built in Eastern
Europe, The Future of Memory (coordinated by Quantic Association), to write
for our Journal a detailed descriptive presentation. The project had an
impressive number of local partners in Romania and the Republic of Moldavia
and was awarded a grant by the National Administration of Cultural Fund
of Romania (AFCN). We thank Olga Stefan for her consistent contribution.

Keywords: performative archives, holocaust, memory, biography

“The traces were still there. But time would slowly

blur them and nothing would be left.”
Edgar Hilsenrath, Night, 1966–

Olga Stefan is a freelance curator, writer, and lecturer

originally from Chicago. Since 2009, she is living in
Zurich, Switzerland. Before this, from 2005-2008, she
was the executive director of the Chicago Artists’
Coalition, and the executive director of Around the
Coyote Arts Festival from 1998-2003. She also served
as juror for several festivals, shows, and granting
agencies and she contributes regularly to ArtReview,
Frieze Magazine, Art in America, Flash Art, Sculpture
Magazine, Artslant, Artmargins, and TurnOnArt.

1. Freelance curator. olgastefanconsulting@[Link].

 OLGA STEFAN

Edgar Hilsenrath was born in Halle, Germany, then migrated to Siret,

Bukowina with his family in 1941 in order to escape Nazi persecution, only
to be deported in 1942 by order of Marshall Ion Antonescu and interned in
the ghetto of Mogilyov-Podolski until March 1944, when the Russian troops
took over. He was then arrested by Russians and nearly deported to a coal-pit
in Donbass; but after faking his identity documents, he was let go. He slowly
made his way back to Siret, then to Palestine - as an idealist Zionist youth -
where he stayed a few years before returning, disillusioned, to France, to reunite
with his family who had emigrated illegally through post-war Europe. He
wrote Night, one of the most harrowing novels about war-time captivity,
mass death and unlikely survival in the cruellest of conditions and facing
unimaginable deprivations, also because he felt “guilty for surviving”
when most people around him didn’t. He speaks of loss, remembering and
forgetting, the traces that were left and that will disappear, and of course
about human depravity. His biography and Night, not yet translated in neither
Romanian nor Russian, were included in our Kishinev exhibition at the end
of July 2017.
This story of migration, self-questioning, analysis of identity, disillu-
sionment, and search for meaning in such overwhelming meaninglessness,
is common to all the biographies included in the transnational multi-city
platform for Holocaust and Porajmos (the Roma Holocaust) remembrance
through art and media, The Future of Memory. The interdisciplinary platform,
whose unique approach is to combine contemporary and modern visual art
practices with historical research, literature, film and performance, tackles
the themes from different angles.
Firstly, the biographies are organized in geographically specific
groupings, growing out of the cities in which our team operated. The events
in each city feature little known, and in many cases entirely unknown,
personalities who were first introduced to the general public in the frame of
The Future of Memory, or, if they are already known as personalities, we
introduced new work of theirs. The events were symbolically scheduled to
occur on the days commemorating pogroms or mass deportations.

Bucharest, January 20-27, 2017

In Bucharest, at Casa Filipescu-Cesianu (part of the Municipal Museum
of Bucharest), we featured projections of paintings and photographs by
artists Hedda Sterne (b. Bucharest, 1910, d. New York, 2011), Willy Pragher

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(b. Berlin, 1902, d. Freiburg, 1992), Marcel Iancu (b. Bucharest, 1895, d. Tel
Aviv, 1984), and some original watercolours and sculptures by Leon Misosniky
(b. Bucharest 1921, d. Bucharest, 2007). The video Fragments of a Life, the
documentary My Illusions/Iluziile Mele, which was produced especially for the
platform, as well as Daniel Spoerri: The Wild Child of Jassy, the filmed interview
with the internationally acclaimed artist, all works on which I personally
contributed in collaboration with other colleagues, were shown on monitors,
while a rich archive featuring books, articles, interviews, and other documents
was also displayed, establishing an exhibition format that would be repeated
in all five cities, but containing content drawn from local histories and
biographies.

Fig. 1: Vernissage, The Future of Memory, Casa Filipescu-Cesianu, January 20, 2017.
Ioana Florea, Olga Stefan, David Schwartz and Katia Pascariu present
the concept of the project. Photo: Nina Mihaila.

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 OLGA STEFAN

Fig. 2: Installation shot of The Future of Memory Bucharest exhibition. Left on monitor:
Fragments of a Life, video. Center projection on wall: Memories of Romania,
Hedda Sterne. Right projection on wall: Bucharest Pogrom, Marcel Iancu.
Center table: Head, Leon Misosniky. Photo: Olga Ștefan.

Some of the texts included were Diary 1935-1944 by Mihail Sebastian,

The Seamstress by Sara Tuvel Bernstein, The Long Balkan Night by Leigh White,
Orasul Macelului by Filip Brunea Fox, Noapte de Pogrom by Scarlat Callimachi,
Despre pogromul de la Bucuresti by Marcel Iancu, with an introduction by
Vlad Solomon, The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, Baroane by Tudor
Arghezi, Journal de Guerre by Rene de Weck, The Black Book by Matatias Carp,
Of Fortunes and War: Clare Hollingworth, by Patrick Garrett, Leon Misosniky
Paintings, and Marcel Janco Paintings and Sketches. Documentation about the
Roma Holocaust was also presented.
The individuals and the work included were all either from Bucharest -
and recounted their experienced events from the pogrom and the Iron Guard
(Garda de fier) rebellion -, or their biographies were affected somehow by
the atrocities.

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Fig. 3: The archive of The Future of Memory in Bucharest.

Photo: Nina Mihaila.

Our film program, composed of eight films carefully selected to

represent the diversity of stories and experiences resulting from the various
anti-Semitic policies in the different regions of current day Romania (which
now includes Northern Transylvania, under Hungarian authority from 1940-
1944) and former Bessarabia and Bukovina (under Romanian occupation
starting in July 1941 until March 1944). This film program, featuring many
national premieres, was shown in all of the five cities where we were
present, thus introducing the local public to the histories of other regions of
the two countries, to new biographies and witness accounts, and to the
variety in which the racist laws were implemented. In Bucharest, the films
were screened at the Romanian Cinematheque and at Macaz Bar and
Theater.

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Oradea, May 24-28, 2017

The Future of Memory partnered with local organizations, including
Tikvah Association, the University of Oradea Art Department, and Ars Nobilis
Association to implement its exhibitions and events at places of memory,
such as synagogues, in former Jewish neighbourhoods, and the ghetto, long
abandoned after the Jewish population’s annihilation at Auschwitz. These took
place on the dates when the Hungarian regime, under Nazi occupation,
commenced the deportations of the Jews in 1944.
We collaborated with Ars Nobilis Association to exhibit original work
by Oradea modernist artists of national and even international repute, most of
whom were killed in Nazi death camps: Alex Leon, Paul Fux, Tibor Ernő, József
Biró, József Klein, Ernő Grünbaum and Barát Móric. Besides these paintings,
some of which allude pictorially and even thematically to the persecutions that
would lie ahead, the show at the Sion Synagogue also included an archive
similar to that in Bucharest, but featuring material from local figures: Bela
Szolt, Magdalena Klein, Eva Heyman, Salamon Juliska. Several others’ personal
experiences, who did not necessarily leave artistic material behind, were noted
and documented through The Future of Memory platform. To reactivate the
memory of these perished and forgotten individuals, poems by Magdalena
Klein, fragments of Eva Heyman’s journal, and letters by Juliska Salamon from
the Oradea ghetto to her children in Bucharest, were recited and performed
publicly by Katia Pascariu and David Schwartz at Viznitz Synagogue and Ars
Nobilis Gallery in the former ghetto. We also worked with local contemporary
artists, Miklos Onucsan and Laszlo Ujvarossy, who developed their projects
especially for The Future of Memory platform, addressing the specific theme of
the deportations, but also undertook more abstract and poetic treatments of
memory, traces, and disappearance: for example, in Onucsan’s action, “The
Persistence of Memory”, a block of ice with this title carved on its surface, was
left to melt in the sun.

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Fig. 5: Miklos Onucsan, To the Persistence of Memory, Sinagoga Viznitz garden.

Photos: Stefan Gaie.

Fig. 6: Sion Synagogue exhibition. Work by: Paul Fux, Tibor Ernő, Grünbaum Ernő,
Klein Jozsef, Leon Alex, Barat Moric, Biro Jozsef and the video
“Fragments of a Life”. Photo: Stefan Gaie

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 OLGA STEFAN

Cluj, May 27-June 2, 2017

Our events in Cluj also unfolded on the dates of the deportations
from the ghetto, where more than a third of the city’s entire population had
been interned before transports began to Auschwitz. Here we hosted all the
events at Casa Tranzit, a former synagogue fallen into disuse and independently
transformed into one of the first contemporary art spaces in the country. We
collaborated with contemporary local artists Miklos Szilard and Razvan
Anton to develop research-based projects on forgotten aspects of regional
history: a presentation of films by documentary film-maker Istvan Fisher,
and an installation focusing on forced labour policies to which the Jews of
Medias were subjected. Andrea and Matei Bellu, artists based in Germany
with Romanian origins, also produced art work especially for the show
referring to the flow of the river Somes - a metaphor for time and space;
while Belu-Simion Fainaru, born in Romania and living in Israel, showed a
video alluding to the victims of the Holocaust. We also included the long-
term research project on the disappeared Cluj Jews initiated by Casa Tranzit,
Missing Since 1944, and of course exhibited our archive alongside the videos
Fragments of a Life, My Illusions/Iluziile Mele and Daniel Spoerri: The Wild
Child of Jassy.
Much of our research and attention in Cluj focused on the Kasztner
Case: this led us to invite Ladislaus Lob for the first time in an official capacity
in Romania to join the panel about this chapter of Holocaust historiography.
Lob was a passenger on the Kasztner train at the age of eleven. Many books,
articles and documentaries in our archive point to this episode, including
Ladislaus Lob’s own Rezso Kasztner: The Daring Rescue of Hungarian Jews: A
Survivor’s Account, which combines personal testimonies of other survivors,
including Professor Lob’s own memories, with historical documents. Lob’s
original research focuses on the financial transactions and negotiations Kastzner
carried out with the Nazis to save more than 1600 Hungarian Jews from the gas
chambers, bringing them to neutral Switzerland, while hundreds of thousands
of others were left behind, marking this as one of the most controversial
chapters of the Holocaust and reshaping Israeli politics since the late 1950s
until today.

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Figs. 7, 8, 9: Three images above: installation shots from The Future of Memory Cluj.
First image: Fabric work by Andrea and Matei Bellu, in the back is “Missing Since 1944”
and in the front plane is Razvan Anton’s project on forced labor conditions for Jews
in Medias. Below: the archive with books and documents but also
personal journals and photos. Photos: Casa Tranzit

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 OLGA STEFAN

The situation of the Jews in Northern Transylvania under the Horthy

regime is represented in our film program by the documentary Jeno Janovics:
A Hungarian Pathe by Zagoni Balint and by the drama movie Son of Saul by
László Nemes.

Iasi, June 27-June 30, 2017

On the days commemorating the 1941 Iasi pogrom, The Future of Memory
launched its events at the Institut Francais with a piano recital of a Sonata by
Iasi-born and internationally acclaimed modernist composer Anatol Vieru (b.
1926, d. 1998, Bucharest), whose music had not been played in Iasi before. A
friend of Sorana Ursu and a member of the Iasi “colony”, a group of friends
that met regularly at the house of Lidia Iliesu, as described in Fragments of a
Life, Anatol Vieru experienced the pogrom personally and composed several
symphonies about the Holocaust. We also featured an exhibition of drawings
by Samy Briss (b. 1930, Iasi, lives in Paris) a series started in 1948, during the
trials of the Romanian Popular Tribunals against war criminals, and continued
until 1956. The drawings feature scenes from the Iasi pogrom. Books and
texts by descendants of victims or survivors, like Theophil Spoerri (the
youngest brother of Daniel Spoerri), Jil Silberstein and others, retracing their
own biographies to the city, as well as interviews and historical analyses of the
events before and during the pogrom were part of the archive. At Teatru Fix,
besides a special section of the film program, we hosted an associative game,
developed for the platform by Katia Pascariu and Ioana Florea, that used
photographs and images from the platform’s exhibitions: the aim of the game
was to prompt players to consider their positions on different social and
historical issues.

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Figs. 10, 11, 12: Above: The Future of Memory Iasi. First image: the archive with
recordings and testimonies. Second image: “Iluziile mele/My Illusions”.
Third Image: Drawings and artist book by Samy Briss.

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Fig. 13: Above: Associative Game by Ioana Florea and Katia Pascariu at Teatru Fix.
Photos: Mihai Apostol

One of the films in our film program that refers to Iasi history and the
Holocaust is the biographical documentary, Natan by David Caines and Paul
Duane. It tells the story of the forgotten Iasi-born Jew, Natan Tannenzaft, or
otherwise known as Bernard Natan, who became the French Pathe. Scarred
Hearts by Radu Jude draws from the writings of Max Blecher, the Jewish
Romanian avant-gardist who died in 1938 in Roman, a town close to Iasi
(and one of the stops of the 1941 death train where Viorica Agarici, a nurse
with the International Red Cross, helped the dying Jews with water). This
was also the year when the Iron Guard was gaining major popular support
and antisemitism was becoming ever more normalised societally, illustrated
by the laws passed by the Goga-Cuza government dispossessing almost half
of Romania’s Jews of their citizenship, thus starting the racial laws that
ultimately led to the Romanian Holocaust.

Kishinev, July 26-30, 2017

The Romanian army reoccupied Bessarabia in July 1941, and immediately
started massacring the local Jewish population. After about 10,000 were killed
on site, the rest were ghettoized: then, after a few months, the survivors were

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deported to deserted areas in Transnistria, a region so-called by the Germans

whichis disputed nowadays by the Republic of Moldavia and Russia. There
they were shot, left to die of hunger and disease, or worked to death. More
than 50% of the 350,000 deportees from Bessarabia and Bukovina died in the
first two months. A similar fate awaited the 25,000 Roma that were deported
from various areas of Romania and other occupied territories.
At Zpatiu, the contemporary art space of Oberliht Association, our
local partner, we exhibited a series of drawings by Benno Friedel (b. 1930,
Chernowitz, lives in Hadera, Israel), a survivor of the camps of Transnitria. We
also screened two documentaries about the Transnitrian deporations: The
Bessarabian Persecution by Sergiu Ene and Transnistria: The Hell by Zoltan
Terner. The former movie addressed the Roma Holocaust, while the second
featured Jewish survivors who turned to art, among whom was also Benno
Friedel. Also at Zpatiu we hosted two discussions, one with Benno Friedel and
Dr. Eugen Brik about the Jewish Holocaust in Transnistria, and the second
with Dr. Ion Duminica and Nicolae Radita, the director of the National Roma
Center in Chisinau about the Porajmos. In other cities, we showed The Valley of
Sighs by Mihai Andrei Leaha, an anthropologic documentary addressing the
Porajmos through the personal testimonies of survivors.

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Figs. 14, 15, 16, 17: Above: The Future of Memory Kishinev at Zpatiu. First image:
Benno Friedel discussing his series, “Childhood Memories”. Second Image: Nicolae
Radita, Director of the National Roma Center in the Republic of Moldovac, and Dr.
Ion Duminica, The Center of Ethnology, The Institute of Cultural Patrimony of the
Academy of Sciences in Moldova. Third image: the archive of The Future of
Memory Kishinev. Fourth image: Vernissage, discussion with Benno Friedel and
Dr. Eugen Brik, Judaic Institute of the Republic of Moldova.

Two additional screened documentaries that refer to this geographical

region are Das Kind by Yonathan Levy, and Mamaliga Blues by Cassio
Tolpolar. Das Kind is the story of Irma Miko, born in Chernowitz, Ukraine
(former Bukovina) who reaches Paris and becomes a Communist French
resistance agent. Her mission is to convert German soldiers occupying Paris to
become active anti-fascists. Mamaliga Blues is the story of a Brazilian Jew
who takes his father on a trip to Moldova in search of the grave of his great-
grandfather.
A second approach in each exhibition, besides the geographical
organization, is the treatment of the themes mentioned earlier, namely
migration, identity, and disillusionment, but also memory, one of the most
dominant themes, as can be presumed. Owing to the fact that today we see

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yet another fascist turn in democratic societies - one that we need to be keenly
aware of and actively engaged in countering - we paid special attention to also
include biographies of antifascist combatants: “Ilegalisti” (members of the
illegal Communist Party of Romania, 1921-1944), or members of the
“Resistance”, focusing on Socialists and Communists whose ideals of a more
equitable future society led them to taking extraordinary personal risks in
already extreme war-time conditions, many being caught by the Nazis or their
allies, and deported, tortured or killed. Of those who survived the war and
entered the new society led by the Communist regime, numerous were
themselves either purged by this regime, or became disillusioned over time
with what their dream ultimately became: yet another criminal dictatorship
that advanced the interest of a privileged elite at the expense of the masses.

Disillusionment

Following this theme, we selected and presented the film, Das Kind,
about Irma Miko, but also My Illusions/Iluziile Mele, whose title comes from
the song “Unde e Iluziile Mele?/ Where is my Illusions”: featuring residents of
the Moses Rosen Retirement Home who discuss the Bucharest pogrom,
forced labor and other aspects of Jewish persecution during the war, but also
about life under Communism and their Jewish identity during that regime
and post-89.
We added to this thematic framework the video piece Fragments of a
Life, featuring a discussion with my grandmother, Sorana Ursu, telling of her
idealistic activist days in the first post-war years, and her disillusionment
starting in the late fifties, the 1985 murder by the Communist regime of her
husband, Gheorghe Ursu, a political dissident and former “Ilegalist” himself;
or the autobiography of the former resident of Cluj Egon Balas, Will to
Freedom: A Perilous Journey Through Fascism and Communism, describing the
author’s life as a member of the underground Hungarian Communist Party
during the war, his anti-fascist wartime engagement and torture by fascists,
then after the war by the Communist regime; also the films of Isztvan
Fischer, the documentary filmmaker from Cluj.
However, through their accounts of struggle, we are reminded that we
too need to continue fighting for new, more just societal forms, beyond the
ones based on neoliberal capitalism and the illusion of democracy that we

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are fed. The individuals we present through our platform did not risk and
sacrifice their lives for these ideals in vain - it is due to the influence of
Socialist ideology, including their efforts, that the Western world was for
many decades more democratic and equitable than it would have been had
capitalism been let to run unchecked. In the last thirty years, however, we
have experienced the deterioration of the social protections that were gained
through struggle. As a result of this neoliberal ideology taking control,
millions of people have been disenfranchised through the elimination of jobs
and manufacturing, and the placement of value exclusively on profit at the
cost of people’s well-being. It is this systematic economic disenfranchisement
that has contributed to anti-globalist neo-nationalism and fascist tendencies
throughout the world. To counter this wave of hatred, we must pursue the
emancipatory visions of the individuals we present in our platform and
correct the deficiencies in, and failures of, our current society.

Jewish Identity

The question of an uncertain Jewish identity in the aftermath of the

Holocaust is very eloquently expressed by Iosip Cotnareanu, one of the
residents at the Moses Rosen Retirement Home in Bucharest, who appears in
the documentary, My Illusions/Iluziile Mele, when he asks, paraphrasing
Einstein, “What is left of a Jew without his own language, without his own
nation, and without a religion (referring to secular, unreligious Jews)? Oh, so
very much still...” After the formation of Israel in 1948, this question of
identity and belonging was meant to be resolved, with most of the Jews that
decided to make Aliyah finally feeling like they had a home, becoming
Israeli. Although the transition to this new world was not an easy one, Israel
made European Jews feel safe and protected, no longer victims of anti-
Semitic persecution. And yet, as we have seen in Edgar Hilsenrath’s case, as
well as others’, not all European Jews managed to adapt to the culture of this
new nation, one based on forgetting the past and looking only toward the
future, shaping a new ideal human, strong and determined, in charge of its
destiny. Israel was another Utopia that became yet another illusion for so
many. The idea of a Jewish identity is also addressed by Sorana Ursu in
Fragments of a life, where she claims to have been a “great Romanian patriot”
once upon a time, despite the persecutions that she suffered as a Jew.

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 OLGA STEFAN

Assimilation became the modus operandi for most of the Jews that remained
in Romania, erasing their Jewish identity and trying to become entirely
Romanian. This behaviour is echoed among the Hungarian Jews, who
proudly viewed themselves as Hungarians, and were convinced that nothing
bad would happen to them as Hungarian citizens, despite the horrifying
news out of Poland and Czechoslovakia starting as early as 1941. Bela Szolt,
the Hungarian writer, journalist and politician who escaped from the Oradea
ghetto with his wife Agnes Szolt, and who were also saved from the gas
chambers of Auschwitz on the Kastzner train along with Ladislaus Lob, and
more than 1600 privileged others, writes about this illusion of belonging and
profound identification with the Hungarian culture in his autobiographical
book included in our Cluj and Oradea exhibitions, Nine Suitcases, one of the
first publications to treat the Holocaust through a personal account (issued as
serial articles between 1946-1947) and to try to answer the question of why
the Hungarian Jews allowed themselves to be deported.

Migration

Migration is, clearly, a common life experience in all the biographies we

present. It is mostly the result of the violent historical events, persecutions and
upheavals of the war and thereafter, with the changing national borders and
new regimes - but for some, also the result of economic necessity. The war saw
millions of refugees, not only Jews or Roma, but despite knowing that the Jews
particularly would face certain death if returned, Western democracies, including
the United States, i.e. the “Allies”, refused safe haven to the overwhelming
majority, leaving them to their fate. Even those that made it to the shores of the
United States were turned away, and most of these indeed died in the camps.
Illegal emigration was organized to Palestine, but the journey was perilous, the
passengers were generally captured by the British and interned in detention
camps or even deported, and only very few made it. Ships were blown up at
sea, or otherwise sabotaged. One of the most famous examples is the Struma, a
ship that sailed from Constanta and was bombed, killing all but one of the
more than 700 passengers. This lone survivor, David Stoliar, eventually made
his way to the United States where he died in 2016.
Artist Hedda Sterne’s peripatetic migration through war-torn Europe
after the Bucharest pogrom in 1941, to join her husband in New York,
reveals her privileged position. At a time when hardly anyone was able to

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 THE FUTURE OF MEMORY PROJECT

escape, and those that managed to get out did so in terrible conditions, Hedda
was able to even take a plane at one point to reach her destination. Once in
New York, she produced the series of paintings Memories of Romania which
were shown as projections in Bucharest, and thereafter distanced herself
from her past, preferring to no longer speak about it or treat it artistically.
In the book The Road to Auschwitz: Fragments of a Life by Hedi Fried,
included in the exhibition in Cluj, we are shown another possible migration
trajectory: after the liberation of the camps, the author was a refugee in
Sweden, then moved to the United States.
The condition of the migrant is treated artistically in our project - we
highlight its connection to identity, longing and belonging, displacement,
and memory. Irma Miko, who takes a journey from Paris back to Chernowitz
with her son, stops in Bucharest, where she was active in the “underground”
Communist Party, and ponders how her life in Romania would have been
had she returned when the new Communist government invited her.
She doesn’t feel French, but doesn’t feel Romanian anymore either. For her,
Chernowitz remained home, although she revisited only once, during
filming the documentary. For Sorana Ursu, in Fragments of a Life, migration
is a complex phenomenon that is at once liberating and destructive.

Memory

The disappearance of memories is addressed by Benno Friedel, among

many others, in his series of works on paper called Childhood Memories.
Here we see only disconnected images from his experiences in the camps of
Transnistria, with no linear narrative. They are but mere fragments - a
mother carrying a child, people on a forced march in which Benno’s uncle
is carrying him in a knapsack, or a play performed in a barn. The artist
describes the images as “flashes of memory” that crossed his mind before
putting them to paper. Aharon Apelfeld’s autobiographical novel Story of
a Life also describes his memories of Transnistria as impressions, pieces,
feelings, sensations, even smells - incapable of presenting linear history.
“For kids”, he writes, “memory is a reservoir that never empties. It renews
itself and brightens over the years. It’s not a chronological memory, but an
abundant and ever-changing one.”
This sense of the disintegration of memory, and with it the loss of the
past, is also conveyed in the video Fragments of a Life and in the book by
Hedi Fried. Sorana Ursu states at one point: “I told myself over and over

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 OLGA STEFAN

that I would never forget, and look! Now I forgot!” Samy Briss also relied
on memory, although his family’s and not his own, to paint the scenes from
the Iasi pogrom, where the horror on the streets is expressed in dark colors
and in an abstracted figurative style.
How we choose to remember and what, an approach that spans from
the individual to the national, shaping identity and historical narrative, is
illustrated in a tense moment of conversation between my uncle and my
grandmother, in the video piece Fragments of a Life, where she claims that it
was “the Germans” who carried out the pogrom in Iasi, while my uncle urges
that it was the Romanians. My grandmother identified as Romanian her
whole life, and was unable to bring herself to believe that her neighbours
and co-citizens were capable of such barbarity, her memory-making being
an emotional response to an inconvenient truth; while my uncle cites history
to clarify that it was mostly Romanians who carried out the murders and
Antonescu’s orders to implement the pogrom. This is an essential moment,
because this narration’s conflict is reflected in historiography as well. Since
the late 1950s until recently with the 2004 Report produced by the Elie
Wiesel Institute, the official narrative absolved Romania of implication in
the Holocaust, placing the guilt entirely on German Nazis, the ultimate
foreign enemy. Education of the Holocaust, if any, spoke exclusively of the
Nazis, eliminating mention of Romania’s autonomy of decision and
initiative in carrying out the mass murder of more than 400,000 Jews and
Roma during the Holocaust. Under Ceausescu and in the 1990s, Marshall
Ion Antonescu was even rehabilitated. It is now known and accepted that
Marshall Antonescu ordered the pogrom, and local Romanian authorities
carried it out along with the civil population, supported in a logistics
capacity by the Germans stationed in Iasi.

***

The Future of Memory is a very complex and multi-faceted project,

functioning on multiple levels, containing many personal stories, bringing
new life to those individuals who have been long forgotten, trying to capture
the transient and record what is left of fading memories of the last witnesses.
The platform commemorates not through the building of monuments and
commemorative plaques, an activity more appropriate for the local and
national authorities, but rather by reactivating the public’s memory through
the performance of artistic works, re-enacting past events, researching and

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exhibiting forgotten figures, thus integrating marginalized spaces and people

into the official narrative, and creating place for the excluded. We conduct
our activity through artistic means because we believe that art can convey
emotion and provoke affective responses, something that historical facts
and cold statistics cannot. It is art and the personal narratives we present that
evoke empathy in the public, and brings us together. Art has the power to
help people transcend their particular condition and connect to more universal
issues. Art helps us identify with others.
We intentionally worked with local partners to implement the exhibitions
and events, and thus instil a sense of assumed responsibility towards their
city’s history, and also to connect people and institutions preoccupied by the
same subjects. Inherently educational in its sheer breath and in the new
content it discovered and presented, The Future of Memory intends to function
on yet another level too: to connect the past to the present.
We want the stories and exhibitions in the project, which reveal the
systems of oppression that were implemented not only by the “enemies”,
but also by those people seen as “good guys”, namely the “Allies”, to serve
as lessons for how we can combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and
other forms of bigotry today. As we write these lines, we are in the midst of
a struggle against neo-Nazi and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia,
some of whom violently attacked counter protesters, killing three and injuring
tens of others. We cannot permit the normalisation of this hatred, neo-Nazi
terrorism, and continued violence against, and oppression of, minorities and
society’s vulnerable, as is happening more and more.
What economic and foreign policies we support, how we treat minorities
and immigrants, today’s refugees and migration in general, will be the deciding
factors in the course we choose for a democratic, tolerant, and inclusive Europe
and United States, so we ensure that the horrors of the past are not repeated,
nowhere, and for no one.

The Future of Memory website: [Link]

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PERFORMANCE AND BOOK REVIEWS
STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 273 - 276
(Recommended Citation)

Surviving Change. On the Metamorphoses of Theatre Criticism

Book review: Duška Radosavljević (Ed.) Theatre Criticism.

Changing Landscapes, London: Bloomsbury, 2016

Nowadays, when thinking about the practice of theatre criticism, one

tends to unknowingly equate it with the ownership of an inherited title, like that
of a crown prince in a newly proclaimed republic. Both the unfortunate former
future monarch and the critic hold a certain distinction, seeming unapproachable
by the commoners, but not quite finding their place in the modern world. A
regular theatregoer finds it just as hard to clearly define the role of the
professional reviewer as any republican would to yield to the authority of a
crownless king. Thus, is a shift of paradigm likely to occur? Can theatre criticism
adjust to the ever-changing landscapes of theatre and, even more importantly,
journalism? As it happens, the change is already taking place, right before our
 EMMA ALEXANDRA PEDESTRU

eyes, and it already constitutes a full-blown phenomenon, thoroughly examined

in a comprehensive new book edited by Duška Radosavljević: Theatre Criticism.
Changing Landscapes, published by Bloomsbury in 2016.
Even though the topic might seem impossible to tackle outside the academic
realm, this volume manages remarkably well to balance a scientific, well-
documented approach with a laid-back attitude from its contributors, making it
easy to read even by those completely uninvolved in the theatre industry. One of
its many strengths lays in the fact that all authors aim to pose questions about
their profession, expressing their own curiosity and offering not only solid bits of
research for answers, but also part of their life-long experiences as critics. Moreover,
none of the essays are pedantic and none claim to hold the definitive truth. In a
laudable collective effort, professionals from varied cultural backgrounds have
gathered (or have been gathered by the editor) in order to better understand their
own craft. This, in itself, is proof enough that theatre criticism has not yet died.
At a first glance, one can’t help but notice how well-thought-out the book’s
structure is, adding clarity and unity to otherwise (apparently) thematically disparate
texts, and thus making it an enjoyable read for anyone interested not only in
theatre criticism per se, but also in media history or, more precisely, in history of
ideas at large. Therefore, the four parts are, in order: „Contexts and Histories of
Theatre Criticism”, „Critics’ Voices”, „Changing Forms and Functions of Criticism”
and, last but not least, „Samples of Critical Practice”.
Duška Radosavljević’s introduction serves as more than a simple justification
of the decisions she had to make as an editor, regarding, of course, the articles
that were eligible for publishing, the necessary final cuts, and the choice of a title.
In her deep-laid foreword, the author proceeds to draw a very elaborate picture
of the evolution of theatre criticism in the last decades, also underlining a series
of questions, or more accurately, personal/professional curiosities regarding the
state of the aforementioned profession in our digitalized world. Her analysis
encompasses various forms of criticism, adapted, of course, to just as many
platforms, from academic publications to blogs, the main objective being that of
stirring the public’s interest in this overlooked field and, also, inciting the actual
critics to start a real debate about their status in the contemporary theatre world.
Actually, if we take a look at the passionate essays sent to her by professionals
from different sides of the globe (Great Britain, Western and Eastern Europe, the
United States, Canada and so on), we are entitled to conclude that a first crucial
step was made in establishing the long-awaited dialogue.
The first part of the volume deals with the historical evolution of theatre
criticism, both in content and form, set against various cultural and geographical
backgrounds. As a matter of fact, it is quite fascinating how different, yet
remarkably similar the texts included in this section are.

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 SURVIVING CHANGE. ON THE METAMORPHOSES OF THEATRE CRITICISM

While George Hunka remarks, in the first chapter, the lack of substance
(or, the way he puts it, the „triumph of style over substance”) in American
drama reviews, from 1945 until today, Latvian critic Valda Čakare analyzes the
way critical discourse is highly altered by the socio-political and personal context in
which the critic/reviewer was brought up. What makes her demonstration
especially interesting is the way she manages to find striking connections between
Soviet drama reviews, heavily politicized, and contemporary critical texts,
more subtly influenced by the current state of affairs in Latvia. Unknowingly,
Savas Patsalidis has an identical starting point for his study of Greek criticism
in the light of the economic crisis. Kristina Matvienko’s conclusions about the
Russian school of theatre criticism, likewise viewed in its historical evolution,
reflect a polarized guild, oftentimes in the disservice of contemporary and
experimental theatre itself.
Margherita Laera, on the other hand, presents the „get-your-hands-dirty”
form of criticism, patented in Italy, which involves a militant approach and even
engaging in the making of the production; the author questions, and rightly so,
the deontology of the movement nowadays, enunciating another one of the
profession’s current dilemmas: how involved should a critic actually get?
Vasco Boenisch has quite a different approach when discussing German
criticism, specifically taking into account the public’s expectations and what the
readers wish to find in a review. His survey of German theatregoers is, from
this point of view, quite compelling. Andrew Haydon concludes the section
with a paper on online criticism in Great Britain, showing how, in different
stages, the displacement of critical discourse from the printed media to the
Internet has affected critical thinking itself, changing established hierarchies
and challenging authority.
The second part of the book is based on an imagological endeavor, namely
that of showing snapshots of today’s theatre critic, as seen through the eyes of
artists, art lovers, other critics etc. This section also attempts to define the various
roles of criticism in the modern society. Mark Fisher’s essay is quite exemplary,
as the author makes an inventory of various artistic representations of theatre
critics, delivering a study that is both irresistibly funny and infuriating for those
in the profession. Mark Brown tries to establish the state and mission of criticism
nowadays, referring to the apparently never-ending dispute between print and
online mediums, and arguing that, at its core, professional criticism serves the
same purpose as always, albeit in an ever-changing context. Jill Dolan’s text
focuses on the author’s experience with the feminist approach in writing about
theatre, but also with keeping a blog ([Link]).

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 EMMA ALEXANDRA PEDESTRU

Maddy Costa contributes with a valuable piece about „embedded criticism”,

which, like the „get-your-hands-dirty” method, entails being present for the
making of a production and writing about the process, not just the final result.
The third section concentrates on new and unconventional forms of criticism,
that challenge traditional views of the profession. Diana Damian Martin makes
her case for criticism as a political event, offering a more philosophical approach
towards the embedding (or the submergence) of the reviewer in the performance
he/she witnesses. In the next chapter, Matthew Reason presents a new form of
critical discourse: that which is carried on forums, by critics, spectators and
theatre-makers, in a completely non-hierarchic medium and often (when it comes to
the non-professionals) in a very unstructured and unfinished manner. Funnily
enough, Michelle MacArthur’s piece complements the aforementioned one, also
tackling criticism that comes into being on forum threads and social media. Nataša
Govedić and William McEvoy both advocate for a form of criticism that transcends
the conventionality of the written, purely theoretical, text, transgressing into the
artistic realm.
The final section of the book offers four brilliantly selected examples of
unconventional critical discourse, most of them from the internet and all illustrating
how art and theory can actually merge into a new and innovative form of creative
criticism. On a final note, one might say that Duška Radosavljević’s attempt to
redefine the place theatre criticism holds in this day and age is successful not
because of the answers the book offers, not even thanks to the variety of research
it comprises, but because it challenges readers to ask new questions and start
new polemics, to come to an agreement or to violently disagree with their peers.
And this is, after all, what critical thinking is all about.

Emma Alexandra PEDESTRU

PhD Student, Faculty of Theatre and Television,
Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj.

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, LXII, 2, 2017, p. 277 - 284
(Recommended Citation)

New Dramatic Structures, Negotiable Imaginary Spaces.

On Assuming the Experimental Condition

Theatre review of M.I.S.A. PĂRUT, by Alexa Bacanu, a production

of Reactor, Cluj, directed by Dragoș Alexandru Muşoiu and Reacting
Chernobyl, based on texts by Svetlana Aleksievici and Wladimir
Tchertkoff, a production of Varoterem Project, dramaturgy by Raluca
Sas-Marinescu, directed by Cosmin Matei

I believe that, nowadays, too little is written about assuming the experimental
condition of a performance, in a self-standing niche of Romanian theatre, whether
subsidised or independent. Because, we must admit, the last two or three
seasons have shown a healthy (though still fragile) interconnection, both from
the viewpoint of aesthetics and of the programme, between the two types of
theatrical productions, as much as independent directors and even entire teams
were invited to develop their personal projects on state theatres’ (mostly studio,
but not only) stages, without cutting back on their own long-term programmes.
For understandable economic reasons, a reverse movement is more difficult, at
least for now, but I’m sure that the osmosis process will continue...
However, it sometimes seems that reviews do not shine enough light on
the innovative aesthetics of performances, which simultaneously appears at the
level of the script (whether pre-existing or built on set, individual or devised) and of
the direction. By insisting, at times into a full-blown cliché, on the “poor” condition
to which the production is reduced, especially in independent theatre, we
sometimes lose sight of the very complexity of the suggestions regarding the text,
the staging, the construction of situations-relations, and the stylistics of actor’s
interpretation, even when the review is rather positive. The shift in co-participative
load (since, in these cases, the performance is the result of a coalescent and equally
assumed programme) and in the actors’ interpretation techniques has been
discussed multiple times, especially from the point of view of documentary or
documentary-inspired theatre1. Nevertheless, I think that, at least every so often,
we should redirect our attention and refine our analysis tools towards the
binomial writing-directing, which remains essential to the aesthetic quality of the
performance.

1. To this end, see the chapter dedicated to documentary theatre actors in Iulia Popovici’s The
Elephant in the Room. A Companion to Romanian Independent Theatre, Cluj, Idea Design and
Print, 2016.
 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Coral Swing

M.I.S.A. PĂRUT is a complex project, produced by Reactor de creație și

experiment, Cluj, towards the end of a full season, in which, in March, the company
(very imaginatively) celebrated its third anniversary. This season opened a new
programme, called “Exerciţii de democraţie. Investigarea istoriei recente” (Democracy
Exercises. Investigating Recent History). Thematic and operational, the performance
openly springs from new, documentary-based writings – in this case, the basic
material combines media speeches, legislation, European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) documents, and personal testimonies of members of MISA, following the
2004 huge media and police-legal campaign against the members of the “Movement
for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute” and, of course, against its leader,
Gregorian Bivolaru. What do we know, what do we remember, what was the
structure of public discourses, what did the authorities do, and, most especially,
what do those behind the curtain say about themselves, i.e. ordinary yoga
practitioners; how can we now see the gap between public and private space in
this labyrinth which is contradictory up to hallucination? We must admit that
this topic is among the most controversial, and the team’s courage to approach it
directly deserves our appreciation indeed.

Fig. 1: Raluca Mara, Cătălin Filip, Bogdan Rădulescu & Oana Mardare
in M.I.S.A. PĂRUT

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 INDEPENDENT… FROM WHOM? INDEPENDENT... FROM WHAT?

Alexa Băcanu - a playwright with a very personal voice (who is worth

mentioning more often, see also the charming performance În 4 D staged two
years ago, Dispariția, part of the programme Teen Spirit, but also the inciting
Call in Art at the Euphorion Studio of the Cluj National Theatre) - structured
the documentary material into a multi-tier script, in which the dramatic
content of personal testimonies rivals in a juicy and contrapuntal manner with
the sometimes grotesque comic of press excerpts, but, at the same time, is
counterbalanced by elegant and reflectively efficient fragments from literature
(from Mihai Eminescu’s pornographic poem, to witchcraft incantations or folk
enchantments). The result is a supra theme of the writing and of the theatrical
experiment, i.e. a discourse on the staggering combination of the superficiality,
the ignorance, the prejudice, the blind brutality, and the awful hypocrisy of
collective imagination, which allows for a toxic demonization of all categories
or groups seen as different, and thus undesirable/dangerous. When rearranging
lines from various fragments as we would in a moving stained glass, we find
that the play does not have characters as such, but voices that separate and reunite
like a jam session played by a highly skilled jazz quartet.
Dragoș Alexandru Mușoiu is responsible for the staging, a young director
venturing in independent theatre for the first time, after having worked at the
National Theatre in Craiova (The BreakIN by Răzvan Petrescu and Elephant in the
Room by Sarah Ruhl) and at the Comedy Theatre in Bucharest (The Holiday Game
by Mihail Sebastian). As meticulous as a watchmaker, he builds a multifaceted
universe, where, in an equally eloquent and strenuous dynamics, each of the four
actors receive multiple tasks, both with regards to interpretation (in a sophisticated
game of constantly interchanging distance and empathy), and to moulding their
bodies. Oana Mardare, Raluca Mara, Cătălin Filip, and Bogdan Rădulescu make
up a homogenously trained group, and, at the same time, are very capable of
offering outstanding individual performances. Obsessive parents traumatising
their children, exorcist priests, responsible or completely unprofessional doctors
who torture their patients psychologically and with drugs, politicians, stars and
TV ancors, abusive judges and police officers, brutalized clerks, relatives and
neighbours, victims and headsmen – the actors’ versatility and their ability to
easily slide from one role to the other leave spectators with the feeling that this is
a huge performance, populated by tens of moving faces: a squirming, hot world
in itself, spinning like a carousel, which belongs to all of us.
We must emphasize that, in this case, the director has finely engineered
each gesture, as well as the way in which actors are positioned and repositioned
in relation to the dynamic of the whole. Spectators are left to figure out the multiple
dramatic situations themselves – the distribution technique does not follow the

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

classic “one body=one character” convention, but testimonies are successively

taken on again and again by different actors, to show the polyvalence of destinies.
More than that, the stage design constantly modifies through and from four mobile
angle-iron parallelepipeds, which are redefined by light design: transparent boxes
hiding reality and then shoving it in our face successively and simultaneously –
plasma TV, student dorm, flat kitchen, hospital bed – it is the spectator’s task to
fill the transparency with the materiality of each specific context (set design by
Anda Pop, who dressed the actors in refined costumes made up of multicoloured
tights and white shirts embroidered with thin traditional patterns). The deep
musical moments signed by Danaga confer a fourth dimension to the visual
space.
“The first statement is the most powerful.” This line is the leitmotif
which is obsessively repeated at the beginning of each chapter of this polyphonic
construction. M.I.S.A. PĂRUT does not aim at “bringing justice” to the cult-
group (it seems that ECHR brought justice, by compelling the Romanian state to
pay more than EUR 200,000 to the 26 members who reported the ill-treatments
and the invasions of their privacy by the authorities), but at triggering the
audience’s reflexive availability. This is also the why the authors place Gregorian
Bivolaru, the guru who was convicted several times for paedophilia, on a rather
secondary plan. On the other hand, dramatically and very humorously, this bold
and aesthetically powerful performance works like a test paper, revealing the
hypocrisies and fundamental, systemic imbalances, that govern our daily thoughts,
whether consciously or not.

The Paradoxical Revisiting of the Catastrophe

Another particularly complex experiment is the production of Varoterem

Project, the Hungarian independent company in Cluj, also with a highly ambitious
programme, which is worth writing about more often in the Romanian cultural
mass-media, or what’s left of it. Reacting Chernobyl, based on texts by Svetlana
Aleksievici and Wladimir Tchertkoff, is another script made up of personal
stories, official documents, pieces of news, scientific and philosophical
reflections, tons of references (including from books) - of bits and pieces, found
and put together in an archaeological manner, after the original objects were
shattered in the upheaval. The arduous reconstructive operation is the work of
the playwright Raluca Sas-Marinescu (over the last few years, she has done many
adaptations, including I hired a contract killer at the Sibiu Radu Stanca National
Theatre, La ţigănci at Baia Mare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Fontana di Trevi

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 INDEPENDENT… FROM WHOM? INDEPENDENT... FROM WHAT?

at Satu Mare, as well as plays or original scripts, such as the Promise of a Beautiful Life
(as Chekhov told us) together with the director Botos Balint at Râmnicu Vâlcea). The
project was intricately built together with the director Cosmin Matei.

Fig. 2: Emőke Pál and Tímea Udvari-Kardos in Reacting Chernobyl

“The mind can take in a certain amount of horror before shutting down
to protect itself. Starting from this logic, when the threat exceeds our
imagination, we conclude that the danger is simply not real.” Based on this
line, placed apparently by chance towards the middle of the performance, the
dramatic structure follows four, consistently intersecting main levels: rearranging
the memories about the disaster and its consequences, the memoirs of the
survivor-victims, the more or less technical opinions of experts and managers,
manipulation as political weapon. The playwright aims at taming this wide
fragmentariness (by comparison to the exceptional book written by the Nobel
prize winner, surely the selection effort must have been tormenting, up to
exhaustion) by carefully constructing key situations, that cause an immediate
human impact, as well as a reflexive, interrogative, philosophical and political
reaction, as they are interconnected and contribute to building up each other’s
tension.

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Similarly, the work technique used by the performers’ team is based on

the creative participation of the whole group: the actors - Sebők Maya, Pál
Emőke, Udvari Tímea, Imecs-Magdó Levente, Csepei Zsolt, accompanied by
their former acting professor, Hatházi András, and seconded by the especially
clever and emotional sound-vocal narration of Júlia Sipos. Each of them did
previous documentation work and, as the project moved forward, improvised
various solutions serving or developing the initial fragmentary structure, or
reinforcing its situational nodes.
The space was created neuter, like a road between two sides demarcated
by the audience, with the two ends bordered by a “technical” desk, holding
sound and light organs and the materials needed for stage actions (thread,
pencils, elastic, aluminium foil rolls, etc.); while the other end is a white screen
set as an extension of the paper carpet, used at certain moments for the shadow
play. The actors wear simple clothes, such as light grey jeans and white blouses,
sneakers (although it was not specified, not even on the poster, the stage design
was made by the director Cosmin Matei, who also studied fine arts).
The truly original directing element is the complete parallelism between
speech and stage actions. Once again, the actor has a strenuous task ahead of
him, that is nevertheless directly proportional to the spectator’s task, who must
simultaneously read and confer complex meanings to this parallelism between
what is said and what is “done”, but which, in key moments, opens towards
intersecting situational bridges.
The continuity of the actors’ physical discourse is ensured by the children’s
games (whether known or unknown, real or imaginary) – partially broken from
time to time by the “incarnation” of a named or anonymous character, who tells
his story in a fragmentary manner, holds a speech, or comes up with a comment,
or of a group of characters reinventing a dramatic situation. Most of the time,
the children’s play continues between actors even during re-enacting moments,
creating a continuous background, that circles and engulfs the theatrical
reconstruction moment. Lots of “games” unfold before the spectator’s eyes, ever
more complex and dynamic, apparently not connected to the factual dramatic
situations - but, in fact, intensifying them through a double stake: revealing the
psychological distance separating us from the moment of the catastrophe, and
counteracting, in a tense and anti-mimetic manner, the often-unimaginable
tragedy of the real fact, that happened then and there. Games are finely brought
back - with a smile, as opposed to the horrors bombarding us - such as: hide and
seek, tag, catch, hopscotch, French skipping, ball, who steps on who, who puts
their shoes on first, wrestling. Sophisticated objects and tinfoil dolls are made up
in front of the audience, the dolls go to war against each other and die, or are
executed by hanging, while the action unfolds; then, their remains are erased
with a rubber or swept away with a broom, and so on.

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 INDEPENDENT… FROM WHOM? INDEPENDENT... FROM WHAT?

The interpretational task proposed by Cosmin Matei to these wonderful

actors, both as a group, and individually, is Brechtian at its core, and on edge,
openly anti-Stanislavskian: the actor does not realistically “play” the character
temporarily cast to him - not even in monologues or situational reincarnations -,
whether the wife of a victim who is not allowed to see her husband, a woman
giving birth to a monster-child, a criminal hiding in abandoned villages around
Pripyat who befriends the feral nature, a scientist-public clerk coming from the
capital to “investigate” the disaster, Mikhail Gorbachev, or the man requesting
an audience with him. The actor slides in and out of his role as his body suggests a
partly recognisable figure, in relation to which there is an almost tangible distance,
like a translucid aura – a moral one, I would say, since the character can be “played”,
unlike the identity status, which can only be symbolically represented.
There are some key moments when the complex interlacing between games
and reconstituted facts acquire exceptional dramatic force: for example, the cutting
of the moment of the explosion, while the actors play “dead”, or the two divers’
preparations for the plunge into the flooded sector of the reactor's cooling
system, in order to open the valves – their serenity completely unaware of the
imminent sacrifice – while the others begin a French skipping game which the
two are to join: the immersion is suggested by the gradual, acrobatic rise of the
level of the elastic they must jump over. Degradation and death are suggested
through the bits of protective tinfoil randomly detaching from them, due to the
desperate effort of their rhythmic leaps. The divers keep playing their mad game
even after the elastic is gone and the other actors begin an open, customized
debate with the audience on the effects of the explosion and the very ambiguous
concept of heroism. Or the almost grotesque scene when an evacuee couple visit
their relatives in a less affected town, and the latter are overwhelmed/horrified
with the fear of irradiation by any touch... By which time, in a mise-en-abîme textual
intersection, while playing with their sneakers, the actresses sarcastically introduce
lines from Checkov’s Three Sisters, about the nostalgia of returning to Moscow,
or each man’s “responsibility to work” ... Or the highly fascinating scene towards
the end, picturing the war between the tinfoil dolls (manufactured in plain sight),
which are hanged behind the shadow screen, or destroyed one by one, imperceptibly
sticking to the bodies of the fallen actors, while Imecs-Magdó Levente and Andras
Hathazi resume controversial, political, social, humanitarian, and scientific
perspectives on the disaster’s immediate and long-term internal and international
consequences.
Quite surprisingly, the performance ends with a “civilian”, real monologue,
uttered by the voice in the shadow, the musician-technician Júlia Sipos: a manifesto-
monologue (picked up from some internet blog) on the responsibility of us all
to take conscious action, to invest energy, as much as we know and can, in saving
each and every single one.

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 MIRUNA RUNCAN

Reacting? To react by reincarnating everything left without a body. A

performance which is demanding up to exhaustion for the high-performance
actors, as well as inquisitive and challenging for the audience – a performance
worth watching at least twice, I think. Because its daring originality requires a
profound participation, above and beyond the immediate circumstances.

Miruna RUNCAN
Professor, PhD, Faculty of Theatre and Television,
Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj. [Link]@[Link].

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