Three performances produced in Sibiu, at 2016 Sibiu Intl Theatre Festival

Three shows produced at the “Radu Stanca Theatre in Sibiu, will take part in the Sibiu Theatre Festival.

Luana Pleşea, 28.05.2016, 14:47

Three performances produced at the “Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu, and premiered these days in a mini-season, will be presented at the 23 Sibiu International Theatre Festival.

“Common People, by Gianina Cărbunariu, is a show produced as part of the Be SpectACTive! project, co-financed by the EU, under the Creative Europe program, that the Sibiu-based National Theatre is involved in, in the 2014-2018 period.

The project brings together the stories of 8 whistleblowers from Italy, Great Britain and Romania, European countries, which have different contexts and laws, as regards the situation of integrity watchdogs. Six actors give life, on stage, to the eight stories. “Common people is a truly special theatrical experience for both the public at large and the actors. Actress Ofelia Popii has more:

Ofelia Popii: “You have different feelings, from the moment you start documenting yourself until you actually perform on stage, and the responsibility seems double. Anyway, I am a responsible actress, committed to the character, to me, my profession and the public. But the fact that a real person, in flesh and blood, has experienced or is experiencing that drama makes you realize you should tell the story, but you also feel a huge responsibility, which is burdening you.

“Common People is a show which gives you food for thought; you cant possibly go out of the theater hall untouched by the story.

Ofelia Popii: “Everyone understands what they want when leaving the hall, but in my case, its all about listening to your instinct and taking confidence in your feeling of justice. Its about managing to be less mature- although it may seem a little bit strange. I somehow experienced such a way of thinking when I started to grow mature and realized the world we live in is far from being an ideal place. Why should I pretend there is justice in this world and have expectations? Let me survive and lead my life among people who are not necessarily correct people…And this is what I do. Working on this show I realized the way I was in the beginning was actually the right way to be. And I also realized that in time, you gradually lose your courage and find arguments justifying your lack of correctness, and you no longer expect others to be correct. And this is not ok. I believe this show is about all this. What do you choose, to bow your head, shift your glance and lie to yourself saying you are honest?

Ofelia Popii is the recipient of a Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival for her high level performance in the part of Mephistopheles, in “Faust, directed by Silviu Purcărete, in 2010.

Another performance premiered in Sibiu, which will be presented at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival is “November 20th, after Lars Noren, a show by Eugen Jebeleanu, with young actor Ali Deac in the leading role. The story is based on the attack of November 20th, 2006, in Emsdetten, when 18 year old Sebastian Bosse opened fire in his former school, firing randomly and injuring several people, before killing himself. Lars Norens play starts from this real case and turns into a documented piece of fiction on the tormented life of an abused young man. Actor Ali Deac also worked together with director Eugen Jebeleanu on the Romanian translation of the text.

Ali Deac: “The first time a read the text, I thought it was quite harsh, extremely radical. The text was cruel in itself, you hardly needed to do anything else… Then I tried to understand this boy, to put myself in his shoes. Of course, after what happened, everyone said the boy was crazy. What they didnt know was that two years before he was a straight A student. Its interesting to see that several months before the incident, in August, he logged onto several psychology and psychiatry forums, asking for help. Even then he was laughed at. Together with Eugen Jebeleanu I wanted to make Sebastian less hateful to the audience. The show should not instill spectators with the same idea or opinion they had when they saw the news. For me this was very important, because the play sends out a strong message: this is what can happen, this is what abuses and unwarranted violence can create, and the fact that words can hurt more than physical violence, leaving much deeper wounds.

The authors of the show “November 20th want the story of the young German Sebastian Bosse to be a mere starting point for the audience.

Ali Deac: “I want the spectator to be starting from him, and wonder ‘what should I do next? I cannot change the system, but I can start changing small things. I can start with the way in which I raise my children, with trying to make them understand theyre not doing things right. Even if they dont agree with Sebastian, when they go home they should think about how these things really happened and find a way to change them. Its all about small steps at first, about figuring out how they can make the world a better place.

“Moroi (“The Undead), a show of folk inspiration written by Catalin Stefanescu and Ada Milea and directed by Alexandru Dabija, talks about how people imagine the connections with the world beyond. “We get further and further away from our dead, we forget them too soon. (…) I think thats wrong. (…) I believe the other world frightens us for the simple fact that we cannot control it, director Alexandru Dabija has said in an interview. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that the idea of death dominates the show, the audience laughs a lot. Actor Adrian Matioc with the Radu Stanca theatre of Sibiu:

Adrian Matioc: “This is a show in which I have been performing with great pleasure and its with the same great pleasure that the public has received it. Its a show that surprises people, always coming up with new things. Its a series of events including elements of mythology, various scents, food…and people. Because its all about people, about us, the people that brought us up. People that did believe in God but also in strange entities who protected their gardens caring for their needs…Its a show about the stories we were being told by our grandparents when we were kids and scared by the candle light and its shadows bobbing against the walls, during the power cuts at that time…So, thats what the show is all about…