It's been over a month since the end of the 2009-2010 season at the Iasi National Theatre,

and despite the blowing scorch, a “cold” analysis is now possible, especially since, unlike i

n previous seasons, reviewers cannot say that there’s nothing to analyze. No less

than ten premieres came to light in Vasile Alecsandri’s “hall”. A large number if we

were to consider the small company (thirty-two actors), but also the technical

personnel, sometimes not enough in number to cover the performative inflation

at the National Theatre in Iasi.

 

Delightful Soft, signed by Felix Alexa

In terms of premieres, Felix Alexa was going to open the season, on 24 October 2009,

with the performance “Bidermann and the Incendiaries”, by Max Frisch. Well rated, still

belonging to the so-called new-wave of directors, Felix relied on a text of guaranteed

success, that he de-ideologized, and whose ending he amputated, for reasons that

he knows. He confirmed his casting flair in going for few of the actors in the Theatre

in the best shape at the time: Călin Chirilă, Teo Corban, Ticu Puşcaşu, Cosmin Maxim

sau Octavin Jighirgiu. And finally, Ada Milea’s presence, the composer of the Firemen

Choir songs, should have added to the warrantee for success. But it wasn’t quite so,

and the result can be defined in the terms of a “delightful soft”, with stress on the

commercialfeatures. The director preferred a shallow reading of the play, actors were

not given very clear directions, and the supra-theme of the performance remains a

mystery. Even Ada Milea’s interventions, played live by the actors accompanied by

an electric guitar somehow “shot” into the void: a style was half worn-out, by excessive

use, music toying which was delightful in its initial phases, nevertheless dull and predictable

in advanced phase. One of the successes was the scenography of Alina Herescu, a worthy

contribution if we were to take into account the significance of the scenes that take place

in the attic of the Bidermann house.

 

 

We cannot fail to mention the embarrassment during the premiere, when, discontent wi

th the way the guitar sounded, Felix Alexa stood up, stopped the performance and asked

for the scene to be played again. This, of course, undid the magic of the moment,

in favour of a prevailing atmosphere of an open rehearsal, so that the final applauses

resounded awkwardly in the Cub Hall of the Iasi National Theatre.

Not promoted, Alexa’s “Biedermann” began to die after the fourth performance. I

t had some reserved reviews, a banner blown by the wind and loneliness and not much more…

 

The Charm of Discreet Direction: “Quartet”

Few actually believed in the project of director Vitalie Lupascu, as he presented it in

the autumn of last year: Ronald Harwood’s play, “Quartet”, had, in the opinion of the d

irector a problematic casting: four actors from the old guard of the Iasi National (Sergiu Tudose,

Violeta Popescu, Florin Mircea şi Mihaela Werner) and, indeed, the premiere underwent a series

of deferments. It was worth however, as on November 21^st, at the Studio Hall, people in Iasi

were offered a performance of exemplary quality, with “by the book” actors’ performances,

and an impeccable quality of the directorial thought (what I defined at the time as the

“charm of discreet direction”).

 

 

Serenity of senility and deep vibrations of the artist’s soul, organic sadness of old age and eternal

childhood settings, whims of former stars and sweet innocence of today’s ninety years olds,

the tumult of past times, shut in the chest of thought or of prop, and this uncertain present

where hip pain, marmalade and the obsessive departure – become the reference points of every

second to these art veterans. Although similar in terms of the ending of the destiny,

the characters are, in their essence, fundamentally different, intense individualities,

distinct personalities, able, each by itself to configure an entire world.

Health problems for one of the actors caused the performance to be suspended.

And it is recommendable that the INT managers will be intelligent enough as

to reschedule it for the following season, all the more since, after a long break, t

he “Quartet” broke the bad luck that Iasi always had with UNITER Awards

(The British Council Prize, granted within the UNITER Awards).

 

Failure in the Presence of the Author

Half December, it wasn’t certain yet whether the Ovidiu Lazar’s premiere with

“Merchant of Time” by Matei Visniec would be out on the scheduled date or,

at the least, on the scheduled year. Things had to be thus adjusted so the

arrival in Iasi of the author, invite nu the French Cultural Centre (FCC) coincides

with the premiere. Things looked sublime on paper: Visniec was going to hold

a conference at the FCC, then a dialogue with the students at the “George Enescu”

Art University, a launch of his latest novel and, finally, the cherry on the top, the

National’s premiere. But the playwright could not have known what incredible

events can happen in the Cub Hall, where rehearsals were going on and where

certain things went out of control.

Eventually, for the sake of the “author present”, the premiere took place.

Clumsy rhythm, scenes unclearly delimitated, unacceptable lengths, childish

scenographical errors, easy solutions (some tens of clocks hanged around,

to illustrate, of course, the time crisis!), casting errors, text not well mastered

by some actors and so on.

What should have been an event become a sort of a happening bordering mortification.

 

An ambiguous silence was kept in relation to the staging, and no reviewer wrote a line,

 

while the playwright concluded diplomatically, in a close circle, that the play

 

(and not the performance) has certain weaknesses that he will try to revise.

 

From the third performance, the director made some changes in the casting;

 

however the “first impression” was far too significant for the performance to

 

be able to make up for it.

 

 

           Изврор ArtActaMagazine no 83, 05.09.2010