after poems by Mihai Eminescu and Veronica Micle
director, set and costume design and music selection:
Emanuel Petran
lighting design:
Mădălina Mânzat
Cast:
Emanuel Petran
Angelica Nicoară
stage manager:
Răzvan Pojonie
lights technician:
Alexandru Corpodean
sound technician:
Vasile Crăciun
prompter:
Alina Forna
The show Angel and Demon starts from the in-depth study of Mihai Eminescu's work, inviting the public to join Emanuel Petran și Angelica Nicoară in the exploration of the nation poet's biography in its concrete and spiritual aspects. The show marks each defining stage in Eminescu's work, through a selection of representative poems and by summarizing his entire transformative and creative process in one play, set on Christmas Eve. Three fundamental stages are identified: the one influenced by his studies in Vienna and by his fascination with the scientific theories of the time, which we can see in texts such as La Steaua and The First Letter; the love poems inspired by his relationship with Veronica Micle; and, finally, the return to ancestral values, to faith, expressed as a prayer to the mother of God. Presenting this trajectory as a true process of initiation, culminating with the assimilation of ancestral spirituality, the director showcases a series of feminine avatars, represented onstage by Angelica Nicoară: the goddess Diana, who accompanies Eminescu in his scientific explorations; Love, with all of its manifestations, from Platonic love to sexual love; and, finally, Mary, mother of God, who puts an end to the cycle of self-exploration with the acceptance of one's own mortality through the promise of eternal redemption.
Opening date: Sunday, January 14 2024
"Euphorion" Studio
12+
1h 15 min.
Far from being a mere poetic recital to honor the national poet, Emanuel Petran's show is based on the dramatization of lyricism, combining various texts, imagining dialogues, so that the spectator is faced with a play with both real and fantastic characters, taken from Eminescu's poetic imaginary. The fragments are not only selected from Eminescu's work. There are also lyrics by Veronica Micle, which is why Angelica Nicoară comes onstage to embody the avatars of the feminine "angel" and "demon", illusions of dreams and love.
Adrian Țion, Încă un omagiu adus lui Mihai Eminescu: Înger și Demon - o experiență teatrală reușită [Paying Homage to Mihai Eminescu: Angel and Demon - a successful theatrical experience],
Făclia, January 15th 2024
This modest space holds all the turmoil of a creator who manages to escape real life, becoming the poet struck by the arrow of goddess Diana, portrayed by the actress Angelica Nicoară. At the same time, love brings him closer to the woman he loves, Veronica Micle, who is both an angel and a demon. With his troubled thoughts about the world, humanity, his contradictory feelings, his broken ideas, and the struggles he writes about, the creative genius dies slowly, alone, in poverty. We should note the director Emanuel Petran's bold choice to set the story on Christmas Eve, an important Christian holiday. With similar creative boldness, he imagines the ending: the poet dies alone, he doesn't even enjoy the warmth of another human being, but he is accompanied on his path to the afterlife by the Virgin Mary. We might be used to modernist, progressive plays by now, but the director also takes a huge leap and draws on the spirituality of the Romanian people, i.e., its essence, just as Mihai Eminescu himself did in his masterpieces.
Tia Sîrca, Actorul Emanuel Petran l-a însuflețit pe scândura scenei pe poetul Mihai Eminescu [The actor Emanuel Petran has brought the poet Mihai Eminescu back to life, onstage],
Făclia, January 16th 2024
Un scenariu inteligent după poezii de Mihai Eminescu și Veronica Micle, ca un fel de călătorie inițiatică, unde se produc conexiuni sibilinice. Mirajul respiră: poeziile dialoghează între ele, într-o neasemuită complementaritate, marcând stări diafane sau focalizând corespondențe ingenioase. Osmoza finalizată resetează înțelesurile, într-un ecleraj multifuncțional. [...] Cei doi actori evoluează firesc, uimind prin fabulosul slalom al memoriei poetice. O dragoste platonică se desenează gradat, deși „despărțiți de-a vieții valuri, între el și între dânsa/veacuri sunt de cugetare".
Alexandru Jurcan, Conexiuni sibilinice,
în Tribuna, nr. 515,16-29 februarie 2024
"‘Life is a dream' was one of the main Romantic themes, and, implicitly, one of Mihai Eminescu's themes. When dreaming, everything becomes possible. And after everything becomes possible, inspired thinkers - like Eminescu - can finally explore through their spirit the unknown, given by the Creator to regular mortals. When dreaming, the unknown becomes accessible and, eventually, turns into a realm of possibilities. Humanity's great dreamers were the ones who changed the world, because by dreaming they discovered paths to what had previously seemed impossible. It is no coincidence that, in an extremely lively and suggestive poetic sequence, Eminescu speaks - in La steaua (1886) - about relativity, which Einstein would mathematically discover in 1916, 30 years later. The great dreamers discover the Creator's immutable laws, even though their approaches are different, showing through their discoveries that "Everything is One and the One is Everything". They make history and stay in our memory as the ones who dared to discover the Truth, when it was being negated, because nobody could or wanted to see it.
The show Angel and Demon, which I designed starting from Mihai Eminescu and Veronica Micle's writing, is my way of paying homage to the one who dared to dream when people were not allowed to do so. His dreams became our very soul and taught us to keep dreaming. By dreaming, we will also encounter the Truth, even now, when it is once again difficult to dream." (Emanuel Petran)
