Somewhere, above the whole cast or behind them, one senses the show's true Prospero, namely, the great director Tompa Gábor. He knew what actors to pick - out of an otherwise excellent company - in order to create this unforgettable show, role by role and scene by scene. His creative vision is apparent from the very start, during the tempest itself, when the three parcae, Elena Ivanca, Angelica Nicoară and Romina Merei, emerge by the stage and, seemingly holding music scores, start screaming in fear, looking at the raging sea, which drowns the virtual walls (...) The Tempest has surely been the artistic climax of the International Meetings at the National Theatre of Cluj-Napoca, alongside another whirlwind of a show - a comical one, this time - namely, Chiritza in concert, based on texts by Alecsandri and Matei Millo.
Nicolae Prelipceanu, O Furtună de neuitat / An Unforgettable Tempest,
in Teatrul azi no. 12/2019
Tompa Gábor's The Tempest appears as a synthesis of the dramatic arts, in which the teachings from Prospero's books are subtly borrowed by the director and cast upon the actors, with a magician's skill.
Let us recall. On December 1st 1919, the first Romanian words were uttered on the stage of the National Theatre of Cluj-Napoca: "The tempest is over". It was the opening line of the play The Union Poem by Zaharia Bârsan, the theatre's first manager. Yes, indeed, due to such excellent shows, we can say that the tempest is over and that ART has prevailed.
Adrian Țion, Cartea de magie a regizorului / The Director's Book of Magic,
in the magazine Steaua no. 10/2019
(scanned review)
Gábor Tompa opts for a modern version of The Tempest, which puts great emphasis on the actors and their characters (...) The various episodes in the play, the fight between good and evil - they all oscillate between lyrical and comical. The divine eye on the ceiling indicates that, in the struggle between good and evil, the positive forces endure.
Tamara Constantinescu, O sută de ani de teatru românesc, nouă ediții și multe aplauze -
Întâlnirile Internaționale de la Cluj 2019/ A Hundred Years of Romanian Theatre, Nine Editions and Many Rounds of Applause - The International Meetings in Cluj 2019,
on LiterNet.ro, November 6th 2019
In the director's view [Gábor Tompa], Prospero's island is the island of knowledge: the fire of initiation (which has been put out, but which remains in the foreground, obvious and constant) and the pile of books (abandoned by the stage, but parallel to the fire) are the defining limits of Prospero's creation. (...) A daring version of the play, in which the actors are always in the foreground, they cannot hide behind screens dividing the stage, nor can they hide behind the various abundant dramatic artifices which flood most contemporary stages around the world; here, these tricks are mostly absent. Certain scenes are made entirely of dialogue and stage movements (...) In the dramatic arts, it is said that if a director managed to produce a successful show, he must have had an angel on his shoulder. Not only am I convinced that Gábor Tompa has his own angel who never leaves him alone, but I also strongly believe that all the actors from The Tempest also had their angels close by when they brought their characters to life. There were multiple rounds of applause in the overflowing great hall of the National Theatre of Cluj-Napoca, which proves that, indeed, we can still produce Shakespeare's plays quite successfully!
Nona Rapotan, Între ochiul de veghe și focul (ne)stins al creației - „Furtuna" lui Gábor Tompa / Between the Wakeful Eye and the (In)extinguishable Fire of Creativity - Gábor Tompa's "The Tempest",
on BookHUB, September the 25th 2019
(...) I should start (...) by saying that the great director Gábor Tompa has managed to create a superb, classical - i.e., luminously simple, clear, rigorous - show at the National Theatre of Cluj-Napoca (...) [The Tempest is] read by Gábor Tompa as a text about ungratefulness and treason, about revenge and forgiveness, about magic and art, about life, death and preparing for it (...) His show is an overwhelming tribute to the art of theatre.
Mircea Morariu, Furtuna sau despre veșnicia teatrului / "The Tempest" or about the Perpetuity of Theatre,
in adevărul.ro, September 27th 2019
Sitting in his cave, Prospero appears as an intraterrestrial god, who, together with his vahana Ariel, dreams of transforming the world according to his own will. The windows of his cave are permeable to dreams and expose a dense, surreal oneiric material: it is the translation of a world of ideas, representing precisely the artist's vision and contribution to the elucidation of this play, which has been emblematic in the work of many great directors. And if we are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep, then behold Miranda's symbolic sleep - her father's magical dream - with her head on a pile of books - suggesting a pillow book and indicating the most dear and valuable worldly things brought onto the island by Gonzalo, the local counsellor who saved their lives.
The scene of the shipwreck is seen through the three windows and unfolds like a real flood, which Prospero directs from his ark. The world outside the ark and the island becomes a sort of pregenetic chaos. Huge meteorites crash into the walls, worlds spin and take shape. Going through the Last Judgment - highlighted through the detailed elements of Bosch's painting - and through Prospero's dissertation for his daughter, the sinners are saved due to the mage's mercy, who no longer seeks revenge, and get ready to enter a better creation or at least a world in which all values are subsumed by love and forgiveness.
Roxana Pavnotescu, Furtuna în tripticul Creației: Apocalipsa, Judecata de Apoi și Facerea lumii/The Tempest in the Triptych of Creation: The Apocalypse, the Last Judgment and Genesis,
on Agenda LiterNet, May 2021
