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
Alexandru Dabija projects the pranks of the small-town "drakes" in an oneiric space, aiming for a surrealist depiction. The confrontations and conflicts between the characters amount to a battle of ideas regarding one's social behavior, both past and present.
Conformism is sanctioned by the four "knights of freedom" who really commit to their role as famous pranksters: Ciriviș, inspired by Dem. Demetrescu-Buzău (Urmuz), played by Ionuț Caras; Macferlan, who represents the author and is played by Matei Rotaru; Bălălău, played very humorously by Radu Lărgeanu and Pentagon, feminized in this show as Pentagoana and played by Ramona Dumitrean. The childishness of these adolescents turns the peaceful citizens against them; it is a blunt attack on conformism and conservatism.
Adrian Țion, The End of the Season at the Nation Theater: The Drake Head,
in the magazine Făclia, July 19th 2023, p. 6
It is a rigorous, challenging, fast-paced show, but the ideas are very clear and convergent and generate great performances. Alexandru Dabija has once again pursued artistic quality usque ad finem, just like he always does.
Alexandru Jurcan, Urmuz's Friend Smells Human,
in Tribuna, no. 502, 1-15 August 2023
The rebels choose a tree as their home and turn it into a new world. The four friends are not even interested in the tree's fruit. It is an atypical lifestyle, breaking away from an egocentric society. It is a world where sharing is the new religion, and acceptance is the very meaning of life [...]. Ultimately, the colored dust around the tree and a new version of the song People by Aurelian Andreescu prove that the world is beautiful in its diversity, that there is something miraculous in every honest intention. The spectator is convinced that change begins with each of us and joy can be a lifestyle.
Anca Șugar, Vaccinating the Public in the Name of Beauty, under the Guise of the Grotesque,
in Tribuna, no. 503, 16-31 August 2023
On the one hand, there are the pranks done by the four friends. On the other hand, the band of cops, led by the excellent duo Adrian Cucu (the commissary, another major comedy role) - Radu Dogaru (the inspector, a voice to remember). There is a grand system of diverse characters who produce comedy through movement (Andrea Gavriliu) and music (Ada Milea). There are a few personalized jokes and a delirious episode in which Cucu, flesh and blood, is trying to tell his superior (the same Cucu, made of pixels), with a bad internet connection & a lack of IT skills, the details of a small-town scandal. And underneath this charming front, the four drakes causing total chaos, in order to recover their well-buried seeds. The Drake Head inaugurates, for at least two hours, a regime of normalcy. The banality of goodness. A handful of people renounce their beards and, under the branches of the eternal tree (the Godot who is waiting for us as we are waiting for Godot), sing something old and new.
Mihai Brezeanu, A tree. What's a tree? - The Drake Head,
LiterNet.ro
The universe of the drakes is redefined by the director Alexandru Dabija in his show at the "Lucian Blaga" National Theater, which employs almost the entire team of the theater. Alexandru Dabija has cut the denser lines in the text and created a dynamic, energetic and funny show, which allows the actors to shine and play intricate characters [...] Andrada Chiriac has designed the ideal space, with functional elements that are easy to handle, such as the tree, the group's headquarters, an oneiric Paradise, similar to a more diverse Tree of Knowledge, bearing apples, pears, grapes, peaches, plums etc. The intelligent gags round off the show's humorous dimension, which is also aided by Ada Milea's musical moments and Andrea Gavriliu's moments of stage movement.
Tamara Constantinescu, When people discover that they are people - The Drake Head at the International Meetings in Cluj, 2023,
LiterNet.ro
Roxana Croitoru, O premieră cu și de succes,
Teatrul azi, nr. 3-4/2023, p. 101
