Unspoken things

Unspoken Things

Popular theater

Opening: 4 November 2021

Târgu Mureș National Theater, Liviu Rebreanu Company, The Great Hall

Appropriate audience: 16+ years old

The director’s intention

“Unspoken Things” is a poetic comedy, a show about harsh truths, about love,  simply and naturally told. The show follows different types of love; maternal love, the almost mature in a marriage type of love, the love-lust honeymoon of lovers, and the functional love that works for married people, but it has lost its passion. Unspoken Things is mostly about today’s meanings of masculine and feminine, about the balance and dynamic between men and women, by looking at society’s norms, by looking at what is accepted and enforced, and by looking at today’s expectations of love.

Synopsis

Irina arrives at her colleagues’ country house, Tudor and Bogdan, two brothers who both love her and work with Irina at a publicist agency. In the three days and three nights they spend together, their main task is to make an addition for salami, but they start to confess things they never told each other. By meeting other simpler guys from the countryside, friends of the two brothers, Irina starts to see different perspectives and questions her relationship with her fiance, who waits for her to return, but she has to decide what to do.

“Unspoken things” is the first show in Leta Popescu’s directing program, a popular theater program in which the director revisits classic structures, comic mechanisms, stories with a twist, in a rewriting that does not betray the artistic pursuits.

Team

Text: Leta Popescu and Maria Manolescu Borșa
Artistic direction: Leta Popescu
Scenography: Mihai Păcurar
Music: Magor Bocsárdi
Stage movement/Choreography: Mihai Mihalcea
With: Dan Rădulescu, Georgiana Ghergu, Cristian Iorga, Ștefan Dogaru, Laura Mihalache,Theo Marton, Ştefan Mura, Andi Gherghe, Mihai Crăciun, Luchian Pantea, Tiberius Vasiniuc
Prompter: Laura Moldovan
Technical direction: Stelian Chiţacu

Photo credit: Cristina Gânj (Bristena)

Get out of the sun

Get out of the sun

Contemporary Drama
Appropriate audience: 16+ years old

premiered: 6 September 2021

Reactor de creație și experiment, Cluj-Napoca

The director’s intention

With the “Get out of the Sun” performance, I wanted to check out something from my personal list, so I decided to make a funeral for: the mentor and its inheritance, militant political theater, fragmentary dramaturgy, and the new forms that pretend to be new. From this huge funeral, I hope something will be reborn from it. We don’t know what will rise from the aches, but we will see it in the next project. Until then, I invite my audience to come and watch an auto-ironic comedy about the struggle to overcome your conditions.

Synopsis

In the pandemic year, a group of young aspiring artists try to make a show about the gap between generations, together with a director who is a generation older than them. Between the zoom meetings, drafts with failed texts, and the effort of engaging in real dialogue, everything becomes a delirious theater show, a desperate search for rhetorical questions.

Team

Text by: Alexa Băcanu with the help of others from the team
Directed by: Leta Popescu
With: Andreea Ajtai, Radu Dogaru, Raluca Mara, Oana Mardare, Cosmin Stănilă, Adonis Tanța
Participating: Alexandru Dabija, Ionuț Caras, Ramona Dumitrean, Anca Hanu, Radu Lărgeanu, Alexandra Tarce, Irina Wintze
Set design: Mihai Păcurar
Costumes and wardrobe: Teodora Frîncu
Music: Radu Dogaru and Adonis Tanța
Stage movement: Mihai Mihalcea
Directing assistants : Irisz Kovacs and Ana Maria Țîrlea
For audience: 16+ years old

credit photo: Mihai Păcurar

Cassandra

CASSANDRA

Contemporary Drama

premiere: 30 June 2021

Apollo Theater 111, Bucharest

The director’s intention

What do we inherit from our mothers and what does it mean to be a woman? These are the questions that have been occupying my mind for as long as I can remember. In that sense, I also wanted to do this playwright that the Vanner Collective recommended and challenged me to do/build. The challenge was to find a balance between our view on femininity and feminism and the Canadian authors’ view. By blending and doing justice to both Romanian and Canadian culture, with huge differences between the feminine prototypes and the different cultural views on femininity, our hybrid performance was born. We are somewhere “in between”.

Synopsis

Cassandra is a writer who loses her voice the day she has to write and read her mother’s eulogy. Losing the mother figure in her life triggers a process of self-analysis in a comic-absurd way that leads Cassandra in her struggle to find her place, to understand her own femininity, where she starts to make fun of the social norms she inherited from her mom. The performance starts on a sarcastic and provocative note, diving into the journey through this woman’s mind.

Team

Text: Norah Sadava & Amy Nostbakken (Mouthpiece în original)

Translation: Denisa Nicolae
Directed by: Leta Popescu
Dramaturgy: Tudor Prodan
Music: Mihai Dobre
Stage choreography: Ștefan Lupu
Musical training: Oana Pușcatu
Sound: Daniel Octavian Nae
Lights: Marius Nitu

With: Denisa Nicolae and Mihaela Velicu

Thank you to: Cristina Milea, Andrei Mihai, Roxana Jitaru, Miruna Gheorghiță, Mădălina Haiducu

Photo credit: Sorin Florea, Isidor Popescu

Reviews

“I found in Leta Popescu’s show an appetite for playfulness and confession that I haven’t seen in a long time. And I think without this appetite and lust, we could never have talked about us and our parents, about ourselves, about our frustrations, our dreams, our questions, our curiosities, our drama, our fights, and self-discoveries through our parents. I found humor where I never expected to be (…) and I saw a fresh and new team of actors and a space that I believe we all truly need. “

Cristina Modreanu – scena.ro – Femininity as an endurance test: Cassandra at Apollo 111

”Cassandra is one of the refreshing shows in this post-pandemic start/ time.”

Oana Stoica – Dilema Veche – What I inherited from my mom

“With this premiere, Leta Popescu succeeds in creating an entire show dressed in a performative structure, a show that is coherent with her signature directing style. She brings us a vibrant lecture through a playwright that was recommended to her by Vanner Collective, who together share an interest in exploring feminist themes in order to build together a critical reflection of inter-generational conflicts.”

Oana Cristea Grigorescu – observatorcultural.ro – “Mother, this is for you”

“The performance is a well-conjoined organism that tells a story with a lot of emotion and sense. You will laugh, you will have fun, you will be freighted by the substantial percentage in which you will relate and find yourself in the stories that are amplified by the character’s voice, that plays two simultaneous roles, you will feel empathy and guilt, and in the end, you will have time to reflect and time to enjoy the aesthetic pleasure”

Alina Epîngeac – epingeac.wordpress.com – I am Cassandra, Cassandra is me

Trapped(online)

Trapped

(online)

Opening: October 1, 2020

Replika Center for Educational Theatre, Bucharest

Director’s Intent

Working at Trapped in Covid-19 pandemic remains – for me – the period most loaded with questions about theatrical art, means and purpose. I respond with a critical comedy, a show turned into a movie, a movie turned into a filmed show. Through the intersection of the two I carry on my own research and tell you, together with the team, a story about us, those trapped on so many levels.

Synopsis

We are in a totalitarian empire, in the midst of a hidden pandemic. At the Health Parade, the little girl of the Minister of Culture says: “the emperor is coughing!”. But in this story, the crowd does not agree with the child, and the girl and her parents are locked in a secret place. The parents are looking for solutions to save themselves without knowing that the girl has a video camera hidden in her doll.

Production Team

Written by Maria Manolescu Borșa
Directed by Leta Popescu
Set Design: Gabi Albu
Sound Design: Andrei Raicu
Lighting Design: Radu Apostol
With: Mihaela Rădescu, Viorel Cojanu, Silvana Negruțiu, Maria Cioclov

Filming: Andreea Lăcătuș, Leta Popescu, Radu Apostol
Editing: Andreea Lăcătuș
Make-up: Karina Dumitru
Photos: Isidor Popescu, Ioana Ofelia
Thanks to: Cristi Niculescu, Ovidiu Cioclov


Photo credit: Ioana Ofelia, film captures

(IN)CORRECT

(IN)CORRECT

Part of The Collage Trilogy

Opening: February 14, 2020

Reactor – a place for creative experiments, Cluj-Napoca

Director’s Intent

For me, the poetry of theatre stands in showing the mechanisms behind the creation and not by hiding them. The performer can supply also the functions of other people in the creative and technical team. The performer can be also a stage, lights or sound technician. But if the performer assumes these roles, how will the character play with a light that he has to manage? Although it might sound simple, when working on stage with all these elements, things tend to get really complicated. And it is a delight for me to watch this juxtaposition of plans.

Synopsis

When a family’s members have completely different lives, the border between what is correct and what is incorrect becomes very thin. It resembles the place where the Danube river flows into the Black Sea. It’s an uncertain, troubled place, just like the minds of the relatives on a vacation in the Delta, as they stay awake through the night. (IN)CORRECT juggles with the fantasies and desires of two different generations. Remembering common memories seems to be the solution to being together. But what if we don’t remember the same things?

Artistic Team

Directed and written by Leta Popescu
Set Design: Lucia Mărneanu
Stage Movement: Farid Fairuz
Sound Atmosphere: Oana Hodade
Video Collage: Doru Vatavului
Directing assistance and musical training: Dominik M. Iabloncic
With: Alexandra Caras, Cătălin Filip, Oana Mardare, Alina Mișoc, Emőke Pál, Paul Sebastian Popa, Lucian Teodor Rus, Doru Taloș


Photo credits: Doru Vatavului

Reviews

“I found in Leta Popescu’s show a zest for play and sharing that I haven’t seen in a long time. And I don’t think one could have really talked about us and ours, about our frustrations, dreams, curiosities, dramas, fights and discoveries through each other without this appetite. I found humor where I wouldn’t have expected it.”

Lorena Copil – revistacopilot.com – Journal of our everyday family

“(In)Correct is one of director Leta Popescu’s most powerful shows.”

Oana Stoica – scena9.ro – Theatre in Reactor

“(…) is one of the most successful artistic products of the “new theatrical realities” (…) It is very fresh and very profound, it has the quality of this elegant gliding between a clear theme and ways of scenic expression freed from the constraints of the coercive structure. At the same time, the creativity kept within a fluid convention, peppered with supporting hooks for amateur alpine spectators, achieves the effect of a coherent spectacular experience, in which emotion and thought dine in fits and starts at a table of bona fide reconciliation.”

Alina Epîngeac – epingeac.com – A show not at all (In)correct

“Letei Popescu’s courageous writing imposes this complicated slalom between reality and fiction, between the plane of memory and the plane of performance, and the director in it creates for the same purpose symbolic scenes in which the faces of the actors are put in the overhead projector, like objects in the foreground. “

Cristina Modreanu, Revista Scena.ro – (In)visible and (In)correct: theatre as a guide to self-discovery

“Very cleverly cut branches, splinters and shadows from this family tree, which Leta Popescu’s text and performance manage to plant and then carve and reveal to the audience on the stage of the Cluj Reactor, in a pertinent and moving testimony about the oppressive atmosphere of the Romanian family.”

Luciana Antofi – Blog – After “(In)visible” and “(In)credible”, Leta Popescu scores the familiar “(In) correct” with the Cluj Reactor

“Leta Popescu provides a very clever balance between both real and refuge, and between generations. By turns, there’s applause and booing for children, and parents, and those we’ve grown accustomed to saying they’ve stepped on the wrong foot and those who point the finger at them.”

Mihai Brezeanu – LiterNet – Operation Monster, family stage – (In)correct to Interferences, 2020

“Answers to question 2. What was the best show in 2020?
Raluca Rădulescu: If I had to name one show from what I saw live from the 2020 productions, it would be (In)correct by Leta Popescu from Reactor in Cluj. A mature show with humour and self-irony. Lucid, pertinent, contemporary.

Oana Stoica: I would choose three shows from this infernal year. (In)corect (directed by Leta Popescu, Reactor de Creație e Experiment Cluj) – an in-depth scan of family dysfunctions through the prism of intergenerational conflict, the important thing here being that these conflicts do not imply diametrically opposed positions, “sins” are not absolute, and the belligerents detest each other, but do not hate each other. It’s an analysis of the mud that swirls around any family.

Miruna Runcan: The short window of normal work in the summer-autumn gave me the greatest joy: Letei Popescu’s (In)correct with the excellent team of Reactor, a show that proposes a disturbing critical-satirical-nostalgic-interrogative plunge into our family relationships and into ourselves”.

THE THEATRICAL YEAR 2020 – a survey by Matei Martin – Dilema Veche

“Bearing the consistency of an intimate diary, “(In) Correct” reveals testimonies that, in another context, we would not have the courage to make.”

Elena Coman – curatorialist.ro -Feminine Power – 3 theatre shows you shouldn’t miss

(IN)CREDIBLE

(IN)CREDIBLE

Part of The Collage Trilogy

Opening: May 4, 2019

Timișoara National Theater

Audience: +16 ani

Director’s Intent

From the beginning I wanted to create a bizarre and playful world where we could talk about failure. I chose Mihaela Michailov, Peca Ștefan and Elise Wilk, whom I joined as a playwright and we built a shared world. Our texts have characters who never meet, but all pass through the same places, watch the same sunset, listen to the same radio and watch the same vlog. They just relate differently, just as we all relate differently to the proposed theme. I’d say the direction, set design and lighting bring all 4 different styles of text to a common denominator. Together with Oana Micu and Lucian Moga, we created a space that suits everyone: it has a bit of mystery (inspired by Elisei Wilk’s scene), a bit of poetry (inspired by Mihaela Michailov’s scene), a bit of technology (from Peca Ștefan) and a bit of bizarreness, of absurdity, from me. The story is relevant to the viewer because it creates more avenues for interpretation and retelling. You can easily mirror yourself in a situation because it’s not presented with a single grain of truth. It’s important for the audience to feel the tenderness with which we worked to create these characters.

Synopsis

The action takes place in an imaginary city, in an imaginary time. Somewhere near us, sometime close. We are in an atypical future. It’s not a rigorous one in which things work perfectly. It’s one in which television is off the air and we listen to the world’s turmoil on Radio One. In this time we watch a Vlog of people like us being watched. The future is one where humanity doesn’t disappear. Only our way of relating to ourselves is different. But very possible.
InCREDibil, through its stories, fixes in time and space 11 variations on the theme of individual and collective fulfilment and failure, and proposes a moment of reflection on responsibility in the evolution – or involution – of the world we live in. Four stories, four micro-stories, written by four authors, Mihaela Michailov, Peca Ștefan, Leta Popescu and Elise Wilk. The show is a fresco of the present world in which failure is solely the product of our vulnerability. The characters in this bitter comedy seek to increase their level of happiness in the most convenient way, namely by lying and lying to each other, because lying is a unique, contemporary drug.

Artistic Team

Written by Mihaela Michailov, Peca Ștefan, Leta Popescu, Elise Wilk
Directed by Leta Popescu
Set design: Oana Micu
Light design: Lucian Moga
With: Paula Maria Frunzetti, Ion Rizea, Cristian Szekeres, Romeo Ioan, Ana Maria Pandele,
Matei Chioariu, Alina Ilea, Costa Tovarnisky, Bogdan Spiridon, Irene Flamann Catalina, Mirela Puia

Photo credit: Virgil Simonescu

Reviews

“The subtlety with which she mixes different motifs and leitmotifs remains the director’s most savoury asset. (…) It is a difficult task for the director to unify texts written by different authors, with different themes, different styles, and unrelated characters. For the most part, the gamble succeeded.”

Cristina Rusiecki – revista Cultura – Modern collage and classical texts

„The Incredible (IN)Credible is a labyrinth of happiness, which thoroughly examines from countless angles and an infinite number of perspectives this intangible feeling: you are “not alone”. Happiness seems to be, paradoxically, both the primary goal and the ultimate fear (…). Malice, envy, frustration, duplicity and lies are the main destructive factors of both ourselves and those around us, ensuring our path to destruction, frustration and failure. All of this is presented through a screamingly colourful packaging, where the ever-present playfulness is added, laughter being the eternal salvation of existence, which never betrays.”

Oana Karina Lugojan – emotionaltheatral.wordpress.com – Metaphor of loneliness

(IN)VISIBLE

(IN)VISIBLE

Part of The Collage Trilogy

Opening: February 5, 2019

Hungarian State Theatre, Cluj-Napoca

Director’s Intent

There are two principles that I try to keep in mind when constructing of a show: what am I celebrating and what am I fighting against? In the case of (IN)VISIBLE, I am interested in fighting the very aggressiveness of current certainties and celebrating a vulnerability in them. It seems to me that the world is increasingly determined and ready to take a stand. But I wonder, isn’t this the result of a general fragility? I propose to induce feelings and not express theories. I (still) firmly believe that theatre can be a real alarm bell and can – at the same time – be a refuge. And I also believe something else: that underneath all our social masks worn in contexts where we are forced to have an opinion, a clear position, to take sides for or against, I therefore believe that behind all this, there is, fragilely, the same thing: the desire to be well, to be at peace within ourselves.

Synopsis

The show (In)Visible speaks about vulnerability, in a present where the only constant seems to be the lack of security of the world and of the individual in the world. Going through seven episodes of fragility (from Planet – Continent – Country – City – Family – Couple to the Individual), the show becomes a journey through sensations, starting from loneliness to solitude. The collage of texts signed by contemporary Romanian and Hungarian authors is juxtaposed with a series of images constantly constructed as a visual installation. The viewer is invited to look openly at an act of reflection on himself in the world and on the world around him.

Artistic Team

Directed by Leta Popescu
Translator and playwright: Andrei Dósa
Voice: Tekla Tordai
Stage Movement: Ferenc Sinkó
Music: Magor Bocsárdi
Set design, video installations and animations: Mihai Păcurar
Technical direction: Enikő Albert
With: András Buzási, Áron Dimény, Loránd Farkas, Gábor Viola, Csilla Varga, Tímea Jerovszky, Emőke Kató

Photo credits: Biró István, Bogdan Botaș

Reviews

“Dincolo de magnetismul special al poeziei, spectacolul cucerește prin tușa suprarealistă, prin juxtapunerea de imagini incongruente, de lumină-întuneric, prin știința pauzelor și a tăcerilor, prin mișcare, prin performanța actorilor, prin flerul regizoarei de a coagula toate aceste instrumente în misterul care umple scena. Bine ai revenit, Poezie, în teatru! Sper să mai rămâi.”

Cristina Rusiecki – revistacultura.ro – Theatre. Post-drama, video games, cabaret

“Right from the prologue, (…) the idea of an atypical performance is already in the air, which by the end will become a real theatrical experiment. (…) With (IN)VISIBILE, Leta Popescu brings to the stage a contemporary search, coupled with a fresh text and an interesting theatrical language. A bet won for the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj.”

Ioana Gonțea – scena.ro – The road from visible to invisible

“As a whole, the show is a continuous demythologizing, deconstruction of prejudices and stereotypes. (…) A performance on the borderline between experimental and innovative, including sound installation and human body installation, Lát(Hatatlan)/(IN)VISIBLE will become a real touchstone for the Cluj audience: if spectators come and are satisfied, it means there is room for change.”

Nona Rapotan – bookhub.ro – The modernity polemic or the ego polyphony

“In essence, (IN)VISIBLE is a meditative performance about the absence of solidarity and the dissolution of collectivity, about individualism and technological insolation, all of which cancel safety nets and expose the world we live in to fragility and self-destruction.”

Iulia Popovici – Observatorul Cultural – The loneliness of the long-distance man

“Open to experimentation, his directorial style approaches performative theatre and frees the actor from the convention of the character, in search of a synthetic stage language that problematizes the relationship with the world of the generation of artists with whom he established himself.”

Oana Cristea Grigorescu – Observatorul Cultural – The Game of Convex Mirrors

“(IN)VISIBLE is part of a series of post-dramatic theatrical experiments that, while moving away from explicit stage situations, rely heavily on text. But the text here is poetry, not drama. The collage aspect can thus be found simultaneously in the world-building beyond the narrative and in the creation of a theatrical universe that combines art, music, (video) film and installation. Thus, the success of the performance lies in the creation of this universe and the possibility of being connected to it.”

Kovács Bea – Játéktér – Halványkék pötty // A pale blue dot

“In just one hour of performance, Leta Popescu’s original, bold and witty language becomes memorable. The lyrical mashup functions as both a text in its own right and a vehicle to promote the original poetry. In a festival context, Leta Popescu could easily support the late night show section, mixing artistic creations, ideological concepts, life situations.”

Mihai Brezeanu – LiterNet – Punk theatrical poem – Lát(hatatlan) / (In)visible at Interferențe, 2020

“(IN)VISIBLE is a bold experiment on the part of Letei Popescu, who takes a symbolic approach rather than a descriptive one, so that she transforms the scene into a collection of moments that she puts together with great subtlety.”

Răzvan Rocaș – LiterNet – Poetic-dramatic cohesion – Lát(hatatlan) / (In)visible at Interferențe, 2020

The Splash

The Spalsh

teatru de animație

Opening: September 13, 2018

GONG Theatre, Sibiu – German Section

Director’s Intent

Reîntoarcerea mea la Teatrul Gong a fost o altă nouă provocare. Cu cât te adâncești mai mult în teatrul de animație, cu atât responsabilitatea devine mai mare. Copii cu vârste mici (1-4 ani) sunt atât de firavi și atât de receptivi, încât delicatețea și răspunderea față de ceea ce producem în imaginarul lor, sunt stâlpii spectacolului final. Pata a pornit din libertatea pe care mi-a dat-o managerul teatrului la primele discuții. Știam doar că mă adresez unor spectatori sensibili la imagine și implicit părinților acestora, sensibili la mesaj. Așa s-a născut un text dedicat părinților dar pe limba copiilor și un joc de imagini dedicat copiilor dar magic și pentru părinți.

Synopsis

Spectacolul are la bază povestea unei pete care e supusă unor analize într-un laborator. Lumea devine astfel una microscopică în care întâlnim și o gumă de mestecat uriașă sau o varietate de scame jucăușe. Pentru cei mai mici dintre spectatori, copiii cu vârsta cuprinsă între 1 și 4 ani, spectacolul este unul de atmosferă, cu imagini multiple și personaje cu care se poate interacționa fără frică. Pentru părinți, „Pata” este un îndemn la liniștea cu care putem privi problemele pe care le avem. Petele au întotdeauna ceva de spus, să le ascultăm cu atenție!

Artistic Team

Written and directed by Leta Popescu
Translation: Beatrice Ungar
Set design: Oana Micu
Stage Movement: Farid Fairuz
Music: Marius Popa
With: Hansel Andrei, Mara Căruțașu, Páskuy Angela, Claudia Stühler, Jenö Major

Photo credits: Dragoș Dumitru, Oana Micu

Cold

Cold

Four Unreal Stories from Gheorgheni

contemporary texts

Opening: March 27, 2018

Figura Studio Theatre, Gheorgheni

Director’s Intent

Nu există oraș fără povești, cum nu există oraș fără istorie. Nu există oraș fără iubire sau singurătate cum nu există oraș fără umor sau crime. Nu doar prin documentare și știri putem să înțelegem o comunitate. Inventarea poveștilor pornite sau nu din realitate, vorbesc tot despre noi. Dar nu prin statistici și date reale, ci printr-o atmosferă a locului. Și totuși…de ce 4 întâmplări neadevărate despre Gheorgheni ? Poate pentru că aici lumina bate altfel.

Synopsis

Frig e un spectacol care invită locuitorii din Gheorgheni să se regăsească în cele patru povești melancolice, comice și misterioase. În lumina felinarelor stradale, aflăm povestea patinoarului și a echipei de hockey din Gheorgheni. Aflăm ce întâlniri ciudate au loc la -50 de grade și ne întrebăm unde e mai frig: aici sau la Miercurea Ciuc? Printre altele, vorbim despre dispariții misterioase, despre izvoare de apă minerală și câmpuri nesfârșite de cartofi; suntem puși față în față cu o lumină albastră care aduce tinerețe veșnică. Spectacolul nu poate fi încadrat într-un gen anume, dar sigur veți întâlni elemente de groază, dragoste, mister și chiar… SF.

Artistic Team

Written by Elise Wilk
Translated by Czegő Csongor
Directed by Leta Popescu
Set design: Török Réka
Music: Bocsárdi Magor
With: Moșu Norbert-László, Vajda Gyöngyvér, Máthé Annamária, Boros Mária, Tamás Boglár, Kolozsi Borsos Gábor, Bartha Boróka, Faragó Zénó


Photo credit: Marius Șumlea

Festivals

Festivalul de Teatru  Piatra Neamț, septembrie 2018
Festivalul dráMA Odorheiu Secuiesc, septembrie 2018

Reviews

„Înainte de toate, Leta Popescu creează spectacole oneste în raport cu trăirile și experiențele personale de viață într-un mod asumat, ceea ce rezultă în creații bogate în expresie, tratând subiecte sensibile cu detașare, umor și responsabilitate față de privitor.”

Cristi Gheorghe – revista Scena – Arhivele insecurității emoționale pe scena Teatrului Tineretului

Everything Is Allright!

Everything Is Allright! 

Theatre for Young Audiences

Opening: December 15, 2017

Replika Center for Educational Theatre, Bucharest

Director’s Intent 

I was invited, together with the playwright Alexa Bacanu, to do an artistic residency at Replika, and we chose our research to be on sexual education. We experimented with the power of participatory theater by purposely provoking the public in order to facilitate family communication on this subject. We created a calm and intimate atmosphere; we divided the stage with a semi-transparent curtain. The parents were separated from the children at the entrance and by using lights we lead the interaction between the two camps.

Synopsis

The show is meant for parents and children between 11 and 15, they are encouraged to come together. The show talks about physical, emotional and intellectual, changes that happen during adolescence. The public receives a kit that contains a small blackboard, chalk, a bell, a piece of paper and a pen. Both the parents and children are invited to participate during the show by writing, grading or to ring the bell when they agree with what they hear on stage. 

Artistic Team

Texts by Alexa Băcanu, Viorel Cojanu, Silvana Negruțuiu, Leta Popescu
Directed by Leta Popescu
Dramaturgy: Alexa Băcanu
Set Design: arh. Gabi Albu
Lighting Design: Radu Apostol
With: Viorel Cojanu, Silvana Negruțiu
* Psychological Consultant: Carmen Anghelescu


Photo credits: Andrei Runcanu, Dragoș Dumitru

Festivals and Tours

National Theatre Festival Bucharest, October 2018
Bucharest Fringe – Independent Theater Marathon, October 2018 (winning the Originality Award)
Sibiu Young Festival, November 2018
“Everything is very normal – Dialogue without taboos” Tour, with two performances in Cluj, one in Zalău, one in Brăila. A performance took place in Fălticeni – during the “Grigore Vasiliu Birlic” International Youth Theater Festival; 2018-2019

Reviews

Shows like “Everything is alright” are great ways to create an intimate and friendly atmosphere to which children, parents and teacher are able to open themselves up to taboos. For some it might be the spark that starts conversations on more sensible topics.

Ionuț Dulămiță – Scena 9- Everything Is Alright

The director Leta Popescu thought of a participatory show, created for young people between 11 and 15, in which adults and children debate, hidden by a game, the sexual education in school. The kids are separated from their parents and are placed mirroring each other.  The actors Silvana Negrutiu and Viorel Cojanu lead the public through the game.

Oana Stoica – Dilema Veche – Sexual Education