Cluj-Napoca National Theatre participates in the Romanian Comedy Festival from Bucharest with the performance A HELL OF A MESS by Eugène Ionesco, directed by Silviu Purcărete. The performance will take place Friday, 30 May, 6pm at the Bucharest National Opera. For his role in this production, the actor Cornel Răileanu received this year the Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the UNITER Gala and the set designer Dragoş Buhagiar was nominated for Best Set Designer.
Dedicated to "comedy in all its forms" this year’s edition of the Romanian Comedy Festival, festCO, revolves around two important sections, the IN section, with productions made by state subsidized theatres and directed by Silviu Purcărete, Alexandru Dabija, Victor Ioan Frunză, Mircea Cornişteanu, Felix Alexa, Vlad Massaci, Gianina Cărbunariu and the OFF section, in its turn divided into several subsections. The most visible of these is dedicated to Romanian Comedy performances produced in the last theatre season in independent theatres. More details about the festival are available here.
Pandora’s Box by Katalin Thuróczy, translated by Anamaria Pop, opens at the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre, at the „Euphorion" Studio, on Tuesday, 20 May 2014, at 7pm.
Pandora, the first woman on earth, was created by the gods in response to all the men created by Zeus. When Prometheus defied him by making people out of clay and bringing them to life through the sunlight, Zeus placed in the box created by Hephaestus a lot of "gifts" - pain, vanity, suffering, greed, cruelty, hatred and death - and handed it to Pandora to give it to Prometheus’ wife. However, Prometheus understood that it was a trick and refused the gift. On the other hand his brother, Epimetheus, in love with the beautiful woman, fell in the trap and opened the box. That was the moment when all the evils spread among the people.
In Pandora’s box the playwright manages to humanize to some extent the Mephistophelian character of Hilda by making her appear like a helpless old woman. In reality however, Hilda is an energetic, determined and also cruel woman. Bandi, the nephew, appears as a courageous and brave young man, but in reality he is only a naïve and scared child. They are both looking for a treasure: the family fortune which was changed by Hilda’s father into diamonds and gold. Before his death, the old man wrote the location of the hiding place on a piece of paper and broke it in half. He gave one half to Hilda and the other to her brother, András. These pieces of paper were always an object of dispute between the two brothers. Before his death, András gave his half of paper to his son, Bandi. This is the reason why he is here now, trying to break and enter his Aunt Hilda’s house. A text full of suspense about a game of cat and mouse, about passion, hatred, selfishness, revenge, murder, but also love, the playwright declaring in an interview that "life has both beautiful and less beautiful stories". Her characters are "always real characters" placed in dramatic situations which happen only if "destinies confront each other".
Cast:
Miriam Cuibus - Hilda
Cătălin Codreanu - Bandi
Director: Andrei Măjeri
Set Designer: Cristian Rusu
Assistant Director: Adina Lazăr
Elena Ivanca, actress of the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre, has been selected for the program "10 for FILM", organized during TIFF 2014. Between 5-7 June, within the Romanian Film Days section, the selected actors will attend workshops, will be invited to the Festival film premieres and will be introduced to special guests, journalists, and film professionals (directors, Romanian and foreign producers, casting directors and agents). The selection was made by a group of theatre and film professionals: Tudor Giurgiu, Oltiţa Cîntec, Cristina Rusiecki, Oana Stoica, Cristiana Gavrilă, Andreea Iacob and Răzvan Penescu.
Elena Ivanca acted in short films: The Soldier, directed by Tamas Áron; Feed-back, directed by Sorin Misirianţu (film presented at TIFF, 2006); Superman, Spiderman or Batman, directed by Tudor Giurgiu (2011); The Party, directed by Adrian Sitaru (2011); Garlic, directed by Lucian Alexandrescu (2012). She is actress of the Cluj Napoca National Theatre since 2000. Audiences will definitely remember her performances in Vlad Mugur’s Hamlet, in Mihai Măniuţiu’s Exactly at the same time by Gellu Naum, in Alexandru Dabija’s The Colonel Bird by Hristo Boychev, or in Radu Afrim’s A Paris Attic Overlooking Death by Matei Vişniec. This theatre season she can be seen in Tompa Gábor’s The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco, in the long-lasting comical one-woman show Declaration by Tudor Muşatescu or in the one-woman show Caution, Angels Falling! based on the poetry of Sânziana and Marcel Mureşeanu.
The ten selected actors are: Alina Ilea (Timişoara National Theatre), Elena Ivanca (Cluj-Napoca National Theatre), Györgyjakab Enikő (Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Theatre), Katus Berekméri (Târgu Mureş National Theatre, „Tompa Miklós" Company), Lucia Mărneanu (independent actress, Cluj), Silvana Mihai („Godot Cafe Teatru", student at the „I.L. Caragiale" Theatre and Film University, Bucharest), Rareş-Gabriel Andrici (Metropolis Theatre and The Very Small Theatre Bucharest), Vlad Bîrzanu („Anton Pann" Theatre Râmnicu Vâlcea), Sorin Dobrin („Bulandra" Theatre and „Godot Cafe Teatru" Bucharest), Paraschiv Ioan („Radu Stanca" National Theatre Sibiu and Youth Theatre Piatra Neamţ)
The Cluj-Napoca National Theatre performance SÂNZIANA AND PEPELEA, by Vasile Alecsandri, directed by Alexandru Dabija, will participate in The European Performance Festival from Timişoara - Festival of Romanian Drama, within the Romanian Drama section (FDR), the Romanian component which aims to present the best performances based on Romanian plays.
The European Performance Festival from Timişoara - Festival of Romanian Drama (FEST-FDR), organized by the Timişoara National Theatre and supported by the Ministry of Culture, is an important event, both nationally and internationally. The event’s European impact has also been facilitated by the fact that FEST-FDR is a member of the European Festivals Association. More information about the festival is available here.
The performance SÂNZIANA AND PEPELEA was scheduled during the festival on 15 May, 7pm, in the main hall of the Timişoara National Theatre.
