Caesar's Last Love, performed now for the first time, tells the story of four professional actors and an economist who is passionate about art, all of whom experience or perform their passions, romantic affairs, professional ambitions and disappointments backstage, in the fascinating space where the line between theater and life gets gradually blurry, with tragicomic consequences. Iuliu (Dragoș Pop), Alma (Angelica Nicoară), Andrei (Cristian Grosu), Alex (Miron Maxim) and Ana (Diana-Ioana Licu) are engrossed in their often petty dramas, in the universe of the grand Shakespearean tragedies, in which all emotions are paroxistic and conflicts can only be resolved through death or murder. Through a dangerous back-and-forth of theater within theater, the five protagonists take advantage of their assumed masks - Caesar, Cleopatra, Marcus Antonius, Richard III and Octavia/Anne/Lady Macbeth - and settle their problems among themselves, in a dispute with brutally melodramatic overtones. Thus, their theatrical rivalries and mundane feelings end up devastating the existence of these performers, who are ultimately captive in their illustrious roles.
"The subject is extremely relevant today. It questions our identity, the way in which we relate to our day-to-day models. How and to what extent are we similar to a prince, a queen, or a warrior? What about a shmuck or a petty, small-minded individual? Do they coexist within us or do we, like going shopping, pick and choose? [...] The actor's motivation comes from his daily life, as well as his imagination and the director's imagination. In Gârbea's view, identification is a common occurrence in the life of the actor, who goes in and out of character whenever he or she pleases. However, there is a fatal consequence here - it becomes impossible to distinguish between what we call ‘the actor's own identity' and ‘the character's identity'. Are they really so different? I don't think so... I don't know". - Tudor Antofie
A funny approach to the textual collage proposed by Tudor Antofie, a recent graduate of the Faculty of Theater and Film in Cluj-Napoca. Various fragments from classical texts are assembled so as to foster the general comical quality of the show, of the characters' transparent affairs, which end up exposed. A parodic and subtle game is being played by the famous protagonists, who keep going in and out of character, dizzyingly, with their rhetorical, emphatic or phlegmatic lines from Shakespeare, Delavrancea and even Eugène Ionesco. The latter's famous allusive line "How odd, how strange, what a coincidence!" is deconstructed in an organic, natural manner at the intersection of the actors' lives and roles, in a whirlwind of camouflaged interests and feelings.
Adrian Țion, Collage-theater as general entertainment - Caesar's Last Love, LiterNet.ro and Făclia, November 2023
Horia Gârbea is one of the most prolific contemporary authors in Romania, with a vast literary and journalistic activity (his texts have been published in the magazines Luceafărul, Contemporanul, Scena, Viața Românească, Vatra, Familia, Cațavencu, Cotidianul, Poesis, Cronica, Neuma etc.) - while also being actively present in the Romanian public life, both as a writer, a man of letters, and through his important roles in various cultural institutions and organizations.
He was born on August 10th 1962 in Bucharest and is an engineer by education, with a PhD in the field of construction reliability. Despite his rigorous scientific training (in a professional field which has been constantly active throughout the years), Horia Gârbea had his debut as a poet at the beginning of the 80s. Then, he published numerous poetry, prose and dramaturgy volumes. His plays have been performed in Romania and abroad, and his translations from the great authors of world dramaturgy, such as Shakespeare, Molière or Corneille have been used in some of the most renowned productions of the last 30 years. Later on, he also worked in television, authoring numerous screenplays for entertainment programs on Pro TV, Prima TV, National TV, Antena 1 and so on.
Besides an impressive number of prizes and distinctions - including the Dramaturgy Award of the Romanian Writers' Union for the volume Caesar's Last Love, published at Neuma (2022) - Horia Gârbea has also been awarded the "Cultural Order of Merit" (2004) - as a Knight (2004), then an Officer (2010).
Some of his plays have been performed at the National Theater of Cluj-Napoca, including Murder by BB Gun, directed by Emanuel Petran.
Caesar's Last Love is an excursion into the mysterious and fascinating world residing backstage, where the actors are still under the spell of their own roles. This dark comedy with an unexpected ending is based on the contrast between the solemn masks of the actors as they are captive within their characters and their prosaic professional or romantic rivalries, taking place backstage every day. Using his vast experience as William Shakespeare's translator, Horia Gârbea came up with an ingenious intertextual tapestry, in which the masks of the tragic heroes imagined by the great British dramatist take over and subjugate the play's protagonists. This metatheatrical convention invites the reader/spectator to question their own certainties regarding their identity, while also paying homage to the dramatic arts.
Published at Neuma, Gârbea's play won the 2022 Dramaturgy Award of the Writers' Union and the third prize of the 2019 Romanian Comedy contest, organized by the Comedy Theater.
A conversation with Tudor Antofie, the director of the show Caesar's Last Love
Emma Pedestru: How and why did you choose this text?
Tudor Antofie: At first, I choose the texts intuitively. Something about them "burns" me. Then, I try to find a rational explanation. I have noticed that, lately, I have been very interested in texts which speak about theater - "ars poetica". I think that, as I am just starting my career, I want to discover as soon as possible what it is that I love about theater.
E.P.: How do you view the subject of the play, as a director?
T.A.: The subject is extremely relevant today. It questions our identity, the way in which we relate to our day-to-day models. How and to what extent are we similar to a prince, a queen, or a warrior? What about a shmuck or a petty, small-minded individual? Do they coexist within us or do we coexist within them, like going shopping, pick and choose?
E.P.: Based on your experience working with the actors, in your opinion, how does identification really take place, the identification between the actor and his character, which H. Gârbea addresses (and satirizes) in his play?
T.A.: That's a difficult question. The actor's motivation comes from his daily life, as well as his imagination and the director's imagination. In Gârbea's view, identification is a common occurrence in the life of the actor, who goes in and out of character whenever he or she pleases. However, there is a fatal consequence here - it becomes impossible to distinguish between what we call ‘the actor's own identity' and ‘the character's identity'. Are they really so different? I don't think so... I don't know.
E.P.: The text deals with the destructive aspects of art more than anything else. In your view, what is its constructive potential?
T.A.: Precisely its ability to capture the coexistence of destructive and constructive tendencies. This also represents the play's main conflict. "Great actors who behave like small, petty people". I think one cannot exist without the other, and if we are partial to one of the two tendencies, the other will get its revenge. I don't mean to justify evil or conflict, but I think it is very easy to become hypocritical if we only judge those around us.
E.P.: How can the actor/artist protect themselves from the work of art they are creating?
T.A.: I think you cannot really protect yourself. It is a difficult question for me: I am a bit too young - I have only completed four projects so far. Their honesty still haunts me.
E.P.: The play is also an ample intertextual game. So, how did you and the actors deal with the constant tension between our day-to-day language and Shakespeare's language, which was ultimately used in day-to-day situations, as well?
T.A.: Ultimately, one has to search for each character-actor's way of being onstage. One actor will completely identify with his characters, another will look down on them, yet another will simply see his craft as a job. This is our starting point when unraveling the tapestry.
E.P.: The only "non-theatrical" character, Ana, also ends up contaminated with the others' theatricality. To what degree does this dramatic potential exist in common people, in your view, and how does it manifest itself in their day-to-day life?
T.A.: I think these characters are part of everyone's "potential". But it manifests differently depending on how we manage to transcend our own selves and access the potential of character A or B. As you get to know these characters, you grow fonder of them and you start "manifesting" them more.
E.P.: What was your process when working on this show and how was your collaborative work with the team?
T.A.: I am pleased that the direction I came up with on the first day of rehearsals is visible in the show. It gives me confidence for future projects. Other than that, what's left to say? I was excited every day, for every rehearsal. Oftentimes, when the actors came up with a solution, I would just stare at them, mesmerized, like in a trance, and I would tell them: "Yes, perfect, let's do that".
E.P.: How did you and Adriana Grand come up with the stage design?
T.A.: We got along great from the very start. We added ideas every day and they fit together. We had similar ideas even before actually starting to work on the scenography. And I learned something from her every day. It was a great opportunity for me. As for the space itself: it should be an interval between the actor and the character. A place of transition, where we can witness these two worlds loving and hating each other.
E.P.: The show also represents an invitation for the spectators to explore the inner workings of theater. How do you hope to influence/change their perspective, beliefs or prejudices regarding this world, which is generally inaccessible to the public?
T.A.: I think the show will expose a world very similar to the one they live in. If we think about it, don't we also try to be like our models, to behave like them, walk like them? Don't we also have certain embarrassing moments when we forget ourselves?
