Bestiary, a Vanner Collective project

Independent theatre companies in Romania

Eugen Nasta, 05.10.2024, 14:00

The independent theatre company Vanner Collective is known for its original initiatives in the Romanian cultural space, translating burning social issues into theatre performances. Their latest project is “Bestiary. Consumer good”, co-financed by the Bucharest City Hall. The project opens the discussion about the worrying tension between teenagers’ need for individuality and the pressure to conform exerted by society and the online environment, social media.

We spoke with Anca Spiridon, Cultural PR, about the sources of inspiration for the project:

“The source of inspiration for the play and subsequently the show ‘Bestiary’, Vanner Collective’s newest production, were the challenges facing today’s youth, especially when it comes to their presence on social media and the pressure in terms of models of behaviour, of physical appearance and success that they propose. And so, young people, as I said, feel pressured to conform to standards that are not even theirs, are particularly arbitrary, are particularly rigid and do not allow them to express either their individuality, their personality, or authenticity, but rather force them to enter a zone of conformity.

Nowadays, it seems obvious to me that social media creates, for people of all ages, the young in particular, a pressure to conform to certain standards, by promoting models of behaviour, physical appearance and success that are not even ours, regular people. And especially, we wanted to address the online presence and the risks that come with it.”

Here is Anca Spiridon once again, this time telling us why Vanner Collective opted for the topic.

“The Vanner team deemed it necessary to start this discussion, as they more often than not start difficult discussions in the projects they propose, in a bid to show to the public, especially to the younger segments, that there was a time when we all had to face the pressure of society, irrespective of the options we may have made. Whether we speak about the university study program we were supposed to pursue, or about the path along which we had to push our careers forward, or about a life style, or about our look, in particular, or about our choices in general. We wanted to create, with that project, with this performance, Bestiary, a safe space where they could express themselves, so they could see they were not all alone and, why not, to feel more comfortable in their bid to express their individuality. “

But how did the project labelled Bestiary unfold? What were the methods used for the artistic pursuit and expression? Speaking about that is again Cultural PR Anca Spiridon:

”All throughout the project we held a series of workshops and focus groups with teenagers and youngsters and somehow the feedback we got from them spoke about the fact that, indeed, society seems to demand pretty much conformism from them. They have the feeling they are easier to manage, that it is better for them to be subservient, rather than express their opinions or express their personality. And that strengthened us in our belief that we started a good discussion and that we can provide a context where individuality can express itself. We used the metaphor of the sacrifice beasts, perhaps the sacrifice of the self, of one’s own personality, precisely as a departure point in our bid to explore stereotypes and conformism. The Vanner team started off from the idea that if you conform to something, you lose part of you, you lose what you can become. You lose the tribe; you lose the herd that actually belongs to you when you’re being told you need to comply with norms and standards.”

Here is Anca Spiridon once again, this time speaking about Bestiary, the stage performance that represented the epitome of the whole project:

„Bestiary is a stage performance based on the text of a new play written by Raluca Mănescu and Denisa Nicolae, the co-founder of Vanner Collective. It is also to Denisa Nicolae that the concept and the stage direction belong, while part of the team is made traditional collaborators of Vanner Collective, yet the team of actors featuring in Bestiary, all of them are very young actors. Through Bestiary, the Vanner Collective team sought to get closer to youngsters, to speak about their specific problems and strike up an intense dialogue with them. Also, they sought to present their own challenges to the public, who may not have experienced such challenges as they have today, with all the social media pressure, or, perhaps, they do not remember them: parents, teachers, friends.”