The director’s intention
The SPARROW show is part of a bigger directing project in which I try to make theater more popular and to reach larger audiences. I want to look at what’s popular in the current theater and how I can contribute without abandoning my own artistic subjects and projects that I want to work on (not so popular, of course). I wrote The Sparrow with a lot of nostalgia (a very popular feeling), like a protest for my own uprisings (a popular feeling), where I used fiction to insert the comedic relief, honesty and rawness in terms of directing. The performance has two main points that contradict each other: vulnerability and force. And from there comes the show’s atmosphere, which could either hurt/bring pain or bring pleasure to the audience.
Synopsis
The show focuses on the main character’s journey through life, starting from childhood until adulthood, where we get to know the life of a girl who lives in an industrial town in post-communist Romania. The four acts (childhood, adolescence, being a young adult, and adulthood) are all connected by the memories that start to come back when the main character, Ema (what an ugly name), goes on a walk on the Danube Cliff, after being away for more than 10 years from her hometown. The show is about the childhood as well as the adolescence of an entire generation that reflects on their own personal struggles in the macro context of the struggles brought by the transition.
Echipa
Text: Leta Popescu
Playwright: Bogdan Spătaru
Atmospheric sound design: Oana Hodade
Light design: Tudor Nicorici și Bogdan Spătaru
Technical director: Lică Dănilă
Lights operator: Marian Tarazi
Sound operator: Dan Nedelescu
Prompter: Jeana Lungu
With: Oana Mogoș, Petronela Buda, Elena Ghinea, Cristina Uja-Neagu, Vlad Volf, Ionuț Moldoveanu, Vlad Ajder, Carmen Albu, Tamara Constantinescu, Svetlana Friptu, Florin Toma, Aureliu Bâtcă, Vlad Vasiliu, Oana Preda, Mihaela Lecca-Gorea, Ciprian Brașoveanu
This show was produced during Project 9. Romanian Contemporary Theatre, an artistic programme held at the “Fani Tardini” Drama Theatre between 2021-2024
Photo credit: Tudor Neacșu