News

With two preview performances on 22^nd and 23^rd January and the official premiere on 7^th February 2015, the „I. L. Caragiale” National Theatre of Bucharest presents Amalia Ciolan in the dramatic monologue 20 Years in Siberia, staged by Sorin Misirianțu after Aniței Nandriș-Cudla’s book „20 Years in Siberia. Memories of Life”. Sorin Misirianțu is a well-known representative of the young generation of show-makers, with numberless mise en scene around the country, especially at the National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca and at the National Theatre in Târgu-Mureș, an actor, a script writer and a film director. He is also the director and script writer of this production within the NTB Programme „The Trial of Communism through Theatre”.

„20 Years in Siberia” is a show about the destiny of a peasant woman from Bucovina, who was the author of one of the most important testimonials about the ordeal from the Soviet Gulag. Aniţa and her entire family were also among the 13.000 Romanians from the north of Bucovina, who lived the terror of deportation in June 1941. She lived through the regime of famishment, disease and hard work in a very harsh environment, managing to bring up her sons and return to her native land together with them in 1961. Her memoir book was printed only after 1989, in Romania, at the Humanitas publishing house and was awarded the „Lucian Blaga” Prize of the Romania Academy. It was translated in various languages of International circulation. „After such a book, any inferiority complex we have as a nation should disappear”, Monica Lovinescu assessed.

Brought on stage at the NTB, the story gives shape to a show which rouses the benumbed consciences and unveils the terror of communism. It is an invitation to discover the true magnitude of this rod of the twentieth century, upon which today many project a sweetened and nostalgic vision.

In the dramatic interpretation of Amalia Cioran we will discover a simple peasant woman, endowed with a writing fluency and a spontaneous way of telling a story, which makes the talent of many renowned artists fade. Without being heavy-laden with hate or imprecations and without ever pronouncing the word „communism”, Anița/Amalia attunes her thoughts and experiences to an exceptional artistic performance, which reveals „the decidedly aristocratic stature of the Romanian peasant”, as Ștefan J. Fay said.

For Amalia Ciolan, actress at the National Theatre of Bucharest since 1994, this stirring monologue is at the same time a rediscovery of her acting valences. You could also see her act in other heavily dramatic creations, such as „The Fourth Sister” by Janusz Glowacki, Three Sisters by A.P. Chekhov, „The History of Communism as told to the Mentally Ill” by Matei Vişniec, „The Love Suicides” by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, „Stories from the Forbidden Zone” after Svetlana Alexievici, „Tamburlaine the Great” by Christopher Marlowe, or Macbeth by William Shakespeare, during which she was allotted the role of assistant of the director Radu Penciulescu.

The first meetings with the public will take place on: 23^rd, 24^th, 29^th and 30^th January 2015, starting at 20.00, at the Media Hall of the National Theatre of Bucharest, and the official premiere will be on Saturday, 7^th February 2015.

Translated by Chira Manuela Cristina

MTTLC, University of Bucharest