Seasons Archive
Medea, My Mother
by Ivan Dobcev
Medea, My Mother
by Ivan Dobcev
Premiere: 22.05.2016
Last performance: 26.05.2017
Duration: 1 h 30 min / Pause: No
40 lei; 20 lei
Polyphonic at all levels – of the story, of language, visual, musical –, the provocative show „Medea, My Mother”, by directors Ivan Dobcev and Margarita Mladenova, narrates, on the tone of documentary footage, the painful history of three women ending up abandoning or even murdering their children. And still here, on a completely different tone, of elevated philosophical debate, the most severe issues of the turning point which the world faces nowadays.
In a corner of the Balkans, truly at the gates of the Orient – it is Bulgaria, but it can just as well be about Romania –, destitute people are struggling to survive, they are living from hand to mouth donating blood and eating nettles. But when the mirage of a Europe perceived only from a mercantile perspective lures them towards enrichment, the very same people drift into murder – sometimes involuntary, otherwise cold-blooded – and turn their own progenies into merchandise.
The main character, such a child adopted by a Western couple, returns to Bulgaria to look for its mother. This journey – placed by the playwright in parallel with the ancient myth of the search for the Golden Fleece and the tragic story of Medea – triggers an authentic clash of cultures. Civilised Europe meets the world of the Balkan gipsies: vital, primitive, seductive, cruel, guilty and innocent at the same time.
The show impresses through the harshness of facts, through the monologues calling for the troupe’s utmost acting capacities, through the exquisite musical moments owed to Assen Avramov – true gaps in the tense raster of the text –, through the resourceful scenography, bringing back to Bucharest, after 60 years, Goliath the Whale.
And, last but not least, through the fact that these stories could have happened just as well in Romania.
Translated by Simona Nichiteanu
| Teodor: | Ionuț Toader | Bojidar: | Alin Potop |
| The Nanny: | Florentina Ţilea | The young daughter-in-law: | Aylin Cadîr |
| Isaura: | Ilona Brezoianu | Johnny: | Mădălin Mandin |
| Guguștean: | George Piștereanu | Leonsio: | Ionuț Niculae |
| Accordion: | Emilian Ciobanu | Violin: | Bianca Drăgoi |
"The two coryphaei of the Sfumato Theatre Laboratory (Bulgaria), Ivan Dobcev and Margarita Mladenova transfer on stage the poignantly contemporary legend of Medea, the sorceress who killed her children as a vengeance against the beloved man. This is because, although the heroes of the play are gypsies, they could just as well be Chinese, Arabs, Africans, Americans, or Europeans.
The alternation between Theodor’s monologues and gypsy songs (remarkable the composer Assen Avramov!) has the exact effect pursued by the directors: a powerful contrast, almost a clash.
Well balanced the relationship between tragic and comic, between crying and singing – he himself a cry..."
Gabriela Hurezean, Muses and Arms - Medea, the Mother of the World We Inhabit
"The show, through text and direction, appeals to myths, to topicality, to the unseen, to reality and illusion. The story of the gypsy drama from Bulgaria seems now as unchanged as decades or centuries ago. The first degree equation of humility, abandonment is replenished by the second degree equation of social and economic chaos, completed by a third degree equation of knowledge and identity acceptance. It is an impressive show through rhythm, vitality and force, through the wonderful musical moments conceived by Assen Avramov".
Mirela Nicolae, The Radio Theatre Magazine – A Special Encounter: „Medea, My Mother” at the National Theatre of Bucharest
"The Romanian cast translates with talent, on stage, the letter and the spirit of the Bulgarian painting with air at NTB. Especially in swiftly drawn croquis like this one, I rarely distinguish an actor when the cast is very young. In this case, I have no hesitation praising the entire cast of actors – singers pouring their soul into an unconventionally modern theatre representation, profound and brilliantly oscillating between laughter and crying, states in which the Balkans have melted the borders".
Horia Ghibuțiu, journalist blog – The Bulgarian Painting the Air at the National Theatre of Bucharest
Translated by Simona Nichiteanu
