News

Stormy beginning of the year at the Bucharest National Theatre: 5 premieres and two recently released performances, conferences, exhibitions, contemporary, Romanian and international theatre, well-known director names, shows for all ages – with actors from all generations and, especially, a plethora of very young actors. Unconventional and para-theatrical projects encounter, at the beginning of 2016 as well, the traditional theatre, of classical origin and top acting and directing creations. The first premiere of the year shall take place on the stage of the Studio Hall, with Matei Vişniec’s play, Requiem, a parable filled with wit and irony. Or, more precisely, as the author himself estimates, "Requiem is ... a roar of laughter and crying, because the history of human suffering is tightly interwoven with the absurd, the grotesque and even with stupidity". Alexandru Dabija, the director of the show, stages a formidable parable on life and death, triggered by the horrors of war, with the afterworld populated by people who died for their homeland, heroes or unworthy dead, but all scarred by the same life wounds... A cast with over 20 actors, most of them very young, next to big names of the Bucharest National Theatre: Marius Rizea, Gavril Pătru, Ioan Andrei Ionescu, Afrodita Androne, Mihai Calotă. Matei Vişniec also opens the series of 2016 conferences at NTB on Sunday, January 17, 11.00 a.m., at the Black Box Hall, with the topic Theatre and Journalism. The Painting Hall shall host, in the period ahead, the premiere The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, after a novel by Mark Haddon, adaptation by Simon Stephens. The direction by Bobi Pricop and scenography by Adrian Damian, joined by the costumes of Liliana Cenean, the music by Alexei Turcan and the video projections arranged by Dan Adrian Ionescu and Răzvan Mizdran envelop the story in a modern scenic atmosphere, with an ingenious stagecraft. A sensitive and captivating performance on lost innocence, alienation, communication boundaries, contemporary neuroses and people lost for words, in which the characters (in the author’s order) shall be interpreted by: Ciprian Nicula, Emilian Oprea, Carmen Ungureanu, Ana Ciontea, Rodica Ionescu. The Black Box Hall shall host the premiere of the show Clay (Klei, 2002), the best known text of Dutch author Marijke Schermer, who has written over 10 plays and two novels, distinguished in 2009 with the „Charlotte Kohler” Literature Award. A drama loaded with Nordic melancholies, crushed loves and lost ideals. A play about the painful separation from the past, with elaborate characters, powerful conflicts and an unexpected, brutal outcome, which paradoxically brings peace. A remarkable cast, with Irina Movilă in the spotlight, joined by Mircea Rusu, Claudiu Istodor, Natalia Călin and Cristina Constantinescu. And, at his first encounter with the Bucharest National Theatre, director Vlad Massaci, in an artistic tandem with scenographer Andu Dumitrescu. Further two premieres shall take place in the Small Hall, where The 9G Programme at NTB continues this season with the Placebo (D)Effect, an artistic project coordinated by Ștefan Lupu, and Beckett Coupe directed by Dragoş Alexandru Muşoiu. In spring, the selection notice for the third edition of the programme shall be launched. Within the framework of cultural exchanges, this year the tour Romanian Theatre in Bucharest and Kishinev, started with tremendous success in 2014, is bringing in the period ahead, in Bucharest, two shows of the Kishinev National Theatre: The House on the Border by Slawomir Mrozek, scheduled for January 20, 8.00 p.m. and Filumena Marturano or Divorce Italian-Style by Eduardo de Filippo, January 21, 8.00 p.m., both on the stage of the Studio Hall. Among the most recent NTB openings, staged in the Grand Hall, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, directed by Petrică Ionescu, already had its first encounter with the audience this year, and the concert-show directed by Ion Caramitru, Magic National, which got standing ovation at the end of December, makes a comeback – on January 17 and 23, as of 7.00 p.m. We are expecting you at the Bucharest National Theatre!   Translated by Simona Nichițeanu

Magic National, on December 19 and 29, 2015, from 8 p.m., in the Grand Hall of the National Theatre of Bucharest! A wonderful celebration and party occasion of the so special moments preceding Christmas and New Year’s Eve, in a concert-show with Ion Caramitru, host and director, “on the conductor’s podium”. He is joined, with masterful prowess, by established actors and the Emy Drăgoi & 3D Pro'ect Orchestra, Lucian Maxim and Raluca Drăgoi. Surnamed the Accordion King of Jazz, in France, where he studied the piano at the Parisian „Bill Evans” Academy and after a series of concerts alongside famous jazzmen of the world, at NTB, the head of the Drăgoi family shall also prove to be a true cabaret King, on his accordion. Accompanied with mastery, the actors sing in this show! Even the ones you rarely hear (Ion Caramitru, Anca Sigartău), or the ones you have never seen touching the piano keys (Medeea Marinescu), caressing Slavic soul tunes (Tania Popa), wringing tears of musical joy (Emilian Mârnea, Petre Ancuța and Florin Călbăjos), or amazing us with her voice (Aylin Cadîr). In this concert, veiled in the magic of the holidays, the actors dance, tap-dance and perform pages from the great book of the world… (Marius Manole, Lari Giorgescu, Istvan Teglas, Eduard Adam), in the sophisticatedly "tuned" scenography, chosen by Florilena Popescu Fărcăşanu. From Nichita Stănescu to Caragiale, from Blaga and Ana Blandiana to the folk verse, the genesis, love, lie, spell, moon... are reunited on stage, on manifold rhythms and tonalities. High-class artistic moments, on an unforgettable evening, in which everybody is singing and dancing, even on... the surprising stage of the National Theatre! Magic National – a unique show, which you can enjoy at the end of the year! The tickets have been put up for sale at the National Theatre ticketing counter and online. Ticket prices amount to 80, 60 and 30 lei.

Do you wish to bestow a special gift on your friends for the holidays? Do you want to bring joy to someone and you do not have any brilliant idea? The ”I.L. Caragiale” National Theatre of Bucharest proposes a solution:         Make a Gift, together with NTB! Come to the ticketing counter and ask for the gift vouchers, with different values, which you can offer, after buying them! The ones bestowed upon may request in exchange tickets to any TNB show, within the limit of seats available when making the claim. Valid during an entire year, the gift vouchers offer the opportunity to see the desired shows anytime during the period of validity.   We are waiting for you to make a gift, together with NTB!   Provisions: The requested tickets must match the value mentioned on the gift vouchers. A potential price difference may be covered by direct payment at the ticketing counter. The voucher does not imply the seat booking at the shows.   Translated by Simona Nichițeanu 

The most erotic of the Shakespearean plays, as being depicted, ever so often, in the contemporary directing visions, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the next premiere on the Grand Stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest. The fool, the lover and the poet, they are all made of fantasy, utters Shakespeare. Like them, director Petrică Ionescu creates, with this new enactment, an extraordinary oneiric and fairy-like universe simmering with eroticism, basic instincts and most of all, vital energies. A fantastic dream, in which couples, passions and stories are made and unmade in a spell-like manner, engaging joyful or sad harmonies, with frenzied and spectacular changes of scenery; an opulent phantasy descending over a magical Midsummer Night, ancient one might say, if it weren’t so contemporary! „Love is, in the highly pessimistic Shakespearean vision, a mere illusion, like the theatre and life itself. I have discovered the absolute derision and the inescapable cruelty of the love experience, confesses the director. Endless illusions. I have tried to convey these multiple truths through cruelty, keeping the sarcasm and humour present in each tonality of the Shakespearean text”. A director of Romanian origin established in France, Petrică Ionescu is regarded as one of the great innovators in the field of staging, scenography, opera and ballet. Still for the Grand Stage of NTB he signed, in 2006, the direction of the show „The Bourgeois Gentleman”, which has been a great crowd-pleaser. „A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from NTB unites elements of an authentic Shakespearean poetry, humour, impressive visual structures, a captivating contemporary ballet and an exceptional musical background, in a dream-like theatrical environment, „dreamed”, along with the director, by prestigious Romanian and foreign artists: Helmut Stürmer (scenery), Corina Grămoșteanu (costumes), Florin Fieroiu (choreography), Jean Schwartz, Petre Ancuța (music), Chris Jaeger (lighting design). A dream populated by gods and mortals, by spirits, elves and fairies, interpreted by established actors of the National Theatre, joined by young actors of the Bucharest scene, among others:  Mihai Constantin, Marius Bodochi, Maia Morgenstern / Daniela Nane, Claudiu Bleonţ, Costel Constantin / Tomi Cristin, Raluca Petra, Lari Giorgescu / Alexandru Călin / Vlad Bârzanu, Istvan Teglas, Vitalie Bichir, Dorin Andone, Daniel Badale, Ştefan Ruxanda, Ilinca Hărnuţ, Ana Covalciuc / Raphaela Ley, Silviu Mircescu, Bogdan Costea / Costi Apostol. The first encounters with the public were scheduled for December 3 and 6, from 7 p.m., in the Grand Hall, whereas the official opening night is foreseen for December 23, 2015.   Translated by Simona Nichițeanu

For a one time only representation, at the end of the season, All My Sons by Arthur Miller, a successful enactment signed Ion Caramitru and scenic “dressed” by another master hand, the one of the scenagropher Dragoş Buhagiar, return on the Grand stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest on Wednesday, June 10th, 2015, at 19.00. The performance was last played in May 2013, before the renovation work was started on the Great Hall, and the premiere took place in September 2009. Victor Rebengiuc and Sanda Toma, the well known actors of the National Theatre, reunite with generous parts, in a powerful tragedy, rewarded with the first Tony Award in Arthur Miller’s career. In the Keller’s home, dramas run deep. The play voices the famous author’s favourite themes: guilt, incrimination, pain, death, regret and the morality of some choices. “All My Sons represents a dramatic, harsh and touching reproach that Arthur Miller brings forth to the world that alienates itself through selfishness, perversion, madness, from what is given to man through birth: love for his fellow human beings and respect for the truth”, is the opinion of Ion Caramitru. In All My Sons, Victor Rebengiuc performs with artistry and finesse the tragedy of an influential businessman met with the situation of justifying himself in the face of the one for whom he had built an empire: his son. Sanda Toma, a hallmark actress, portrays Katty Keller, the one that gives balance to the family, “a very ‘hefty’ part for an exceptional actress, whose rare endowment was “exploited” in all its shades by high-ranking directors”, Silvia Kerim wrote. Alongside the two great actors, the audience will have the chance to meet other well known actors of the theatre, from different generations: Dragoş Stemate, Costina Ciuciulică / Fulvia Folosea, Vivian Alivizache / Victoria Dicu, Dorin Andone, Ioan Andrei Ionescu, Gavril Pătru, Irina Cojar and even the child Aris Bănuţoiu. The original music of the show belongs to Vlaicu Golcea, the light design is signed by the unmistakable Chris Jaeger, and the multimedia by Daniel Gontz. As the American press remarked, at the time of its premiere, “if all that is offered to us when the last curtain falls, in spite of the inner action’s determination, is a question rather than an answer, this is because there are serious questions that we cannot avoid... Mister Miller dared to ask”. And the audience resonates equally strong even today, because “All My Sons rings an alarm bell when it comes to the promising buds of the consumption society”, the play’s director Ion Caramitru warns us. We invite you to take part in the last performances of the season 2014-2015 at the National Theatre of Bucharest on the evening of Sunday, June 14th, before the final gong.   Translated by Ana-Maria Albu MTTLC, University of Bucharest

On Friday, June 4th, 2015, at 19.00, we will meet Maia Morgenstern once more, in a show of magnitude, on the Great Hall’s stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest, The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Leading the creative team – Alexander Morfov, director, and Nikola Toromanov, scenographer, is an artistic tandem well known by the Romanian public. “A spectacular character, Klara Zahanasian finds in Maia Morgenstern the ideal attire given by theactresse’s elegance and the class that she knows how to highlight”, Doina Papp wrote in Revista 22 magazine. The premier took place on this stage in December 2011. Then the Great Hall entered into restoration. Even though the season will be ending soon, time has come that the extraordinary sets of this enactment to resume their place on the stage. And the actors likewise! Alongside Maia Morgenstern, an impressive distribution brings to life a story that seems to be taken straight out of the present, centered on a question more critical than ever: Can one million dollars buy the scruple of an entire town? Mircea Rusu, Constantin Dinulescu, Costel Constantin, Mihai Călin, Răzvan Oprea, Marius Rizea, Dragoş Ionescu, Ovidiu Cuncea, Mihai Calotă, Mihai Munteniţă, Sorina Ştefănescu, Emilian Mârnea, Costina Ciuciulică / Fulvia Folosea, Victoria Dicu, Afrodita Androne, Erika Băieşu, Axel Moustache, Marcelo-S. Cobzariu... will be revealing a familiar world. A blend of fierce comedy and tragedy, The Visit is a play about guilt, revenge and greed, supported by an amazing team of artists, lead by a director that knows how to “create unforgettable images due to their beauty, eloquence and semantic values”.   Translated by Ana-Maria Albu MTTLC, University of Bucharest

This is a play that has an ample international echo and whose title has a dramatic resonance with what is happening nowadays. Terrorism is performed by high-class actors, in an exciting staging. This is our latest stage performance, which will await you, on 15th May 2015, at the Black Box Hall of the National Theatre Bucharest. Claudiu Bleonț, Marius Bodochi, Ileana Stana Ionescu, Adela Mărculescu, Irina Movilă, Andrei Finți, Mihai Călin, Tania Popa, Mihai Calotă, Răzvan Oprea, Florentina Țilea, Rodica Ionescu, Natalia Călin, Victor Țăpeanu – directed by Felix Alexa and staged by Andradei Chiriac – put the emphasis on some linked characters, that find themselves in critical situations ... Just as Ilf and Petrov, Oleg and Vladimir Presnyakov have also worked in tandem. The signature under which the Presnyakov Brothers publish has quickly become a ‛label’ of the Russian theatre. The play Terrorism brought them international fame and the honour to be the most performed playwrights after Anton Chekhov. After receiving an award from the playwright contest organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre (MHAT) – where the play has been staged immediately, under the direction of Kirill Serebriannikov – in 2003 the play Terrorism has started a rich international career, being performed in Europe (Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Norway, Spain, Ireland) all the way to Australia and America. With Terrorism, the director Felix Alexa works with a type ofplay that is directly linked to what is happening in real life. We came up with the idea to stage this play at NTB a few days after the attack of Charlie Hebdo magazine, in Paris. “A play with such a title has a powerful resonance at the present moment”, stated Michael Billington in The Guardian newspaper. “But the extraordinary thing is how this leaked play of the Presnyakov Brothers extends the definition of ‛terrorism’ in order to include the entire Russian modern lifestyle.” “The play suggests that it is impossible nowadays to live in a society without becoming a potential mass destructive weapon,” Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times. “The characters, interlaced in an array of short scenes, pass on to each other an unsettling sadness, that stirs violence, as if they were all infected with a contagious flew”. “Why is it that we are suddenly uncontrollable?” wonders one of the main characters of this play. You can find out the answer in a modern play, built on some life stories that are connected to each other. Terrorism – is a performance with a circular structure, as if it were a folk dance of terror, which has bound sardonic humour with irony, fear and the absurdity of life. An apocalyptic farce about the failure of today`s society.     “The play demonstrates that you don`t necessarily need corpses to feel, somewhere deep in your heart, that your life is slowly fading away under the terror of your own daily routine, while still having the illusion of happiness…,” Felix Alexa believes. They are appreciated in Russia for their natural speech, for the dialogues that are as if ‛taken off the streets’, for the spiritual and the sarcastic writing. With bitterness and humour, the Presnyakov Brothers examine the life and culture of post-Soviet Russia.   The show is not recommended for children under the age of 14.   The first stage performances of the play Terrorism will be on 15th, 17th (avant-premières) 20th, 29th and 30th May 2015, at 20.00.   Translated by Ana-Maria Florea MTTLC, the University of Bucharest                            

The National Theatre of Bucharest “I. L Caragiale” is proud to announce the premiere of the play Pearls, thread yourselves, directed by Dan Puric after Victor Eftimiu’s dramatic poem-extravaganza, an event which will inaugurate the Great Hall and which celebrates the end of the ample reconstruction, rehabilitation and modernisation process of the National Theatre of Bucharest “I.L. Caragiale”. A broad reach enactment, Pearls, thread yourselves entice us to discover an universe full of colour and poetry, under the new “hat” of the Great Hall: 80 performers, from debutant actors to renowned ones, 300 costumes and an impressive collection of hats, which were carefully woven in the theatre’s halls, original music by Gheorghe Zamfir, pantomime, step, dancing and ballet, all brought together in the bold concept of its director, which speaks to a large audience. Victor Eftimius’s dramatic extravaganza was played for the first time on the stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest, in 1911. This play, considered by the critic Eugen Lovinescu a true masterpiece at the time, made the famous playwright famous at only 22 years old. In time, the text was modified and enacted in numerous versions around the country. The concept you will be witnessing on the stage of the National Theatre of Bucharest represents a new challenge for the actor and director Dan Puric, who presented us with an original “interpretation” this time as well, by simply combining the classic text and the claptraps which established him as a renowned artist. His version of Perls, thread yourselves is a transfiguration of the extravaganza into a love poem. „I don’t know how, but Eftimiu created a modern fairytale without making it modern”, Dan Puric tells us. “He kept its energy, its innocence and beauty. He played with it. That is what I enjoyed with such fervour. I was drawn to the ludic aspect Eftimiu imprinted into the story. In a confused society lacking a moral compass and in which we revel in disconcerting values, the fairytale makes things clearer and simpler. It cannot lie because it’s made for children. Nowadays, I find the need for fairytales vital, because as the world is getting uglier, the fairytales are a reflex of inward hygiene. This play is Romanian to the core and that is why it can be, at any time, international.” With Pearls, thread yourselves, the playwright helps us discover the path to ourselves. It makes us dream… Live the story… Dan Puric’s „story” overwhelms us with its tragic grandness, but also with its gentleness – the trait that gets it closer to the essence of Romanian fairytale, to the fundamental truth of life.   The set and costumes were designed by Doina Levintza, whose concept lays stress on a luxurious universe, full of shapes and colours. Main characters : Dan Puric, Constantin Dinulescu, Amalia Ciolan, Maria Dinulescu/Beatrice Rubică, Lari Giorgescu/Ștefan Ruxanda, Silviu Biriş/Gavril Pătru, Irina Cojar, Carmen Ionescu, Ovidiu Cuncea, Alexandru Hasnaş, Axel Moustache, Eduard Adam, Oana Vânătoru, Afrodita Androne, Iuliana Moise, Tatiana Constantin, Erika Băieşu, Violeta Huluba, Florin Roșu, Silviu Oltean. The official premiere of the play will take place on Saturday, the 18th of April, 2015 and the first meetings with the audience on 19th, 21st, 29th and 30th of April, at 7 pm. Translated by: Bianca-Lidia Zbarcea MTTLC, University of Bucharest

This year as well, The "I. L. Caragiale" National Theatre in Bucharest participates in the running of the programme Another Kind of School: To Know More, To Be Better!, providing the public a series of performances at a low cost ticket. As of April 7, with tickets of 30 and 20 lei at the Studio Hall and of 20 lei - in the other halls, will be seen the following performances: Tuesday, April 7 - Allegro, ma non troppo by Ion Minulescu (Painting Hall - Sala Pictura, 8:00 p.m.), The Venetian Anonymous by Giuseppe Berto (Atelier Hall - Sala Atelier, 8.00 p.m.); Wednesday, April 8; Gossip, rumors and lies by Neil Simon (Studio Hall - Sala Studio, 19.30), The Little Inferno by Mircea Ștefănescu (Painting Hall - Sala Pictura, 19.30), The Girl Inside the Rainbow, written and directed by Lia Bugnar (Atelier Hall - Sala Atelier, 8.00 p.m.); Thursday, April 9: God wears second-hand clothes by Iulian Margue (Studio Hall - Sala Studio, 19.30); Allegro, ma non troppo by Ion Minulescu (Painting Hall - Sala Pictura, 8.00 p.m.), A Tectonics of feelings by Eric Emmanuel Schmitt (Atelier Hall - Sala Atelier, 19.30).                                             Tickets go on sale on Saturday, 21 March 2015. For reservations and more information: 021 314.71.71 - The Organizing Shows Department, TNB (The National Theatre in Bucharest).                                                                              Translated by Toma (Grama) Aureliana MTTLC, University of Bucharest

One of the most appreciated and long-lasting comedies, Little Hell by Mircea Ștefănescu, will celebrate 100 performances on Tuesday, the 31st of March, 2015, at the Painting Hall of the National Theatre of Bucharest. Its distribution is unforgettable: Ileana Stana Ionescu / Rodica Popescu Bitănescu – the mother in law, Ilinca Goia – the wife, Liviu Lucaci – the husband, Marius Rizea – the doctor, Dragoş Stemate – the wooer, Daniel Badale – the orderly, Fulvia Folosea – the secretary; directed by Mircea Cornişteanu and with the decor set by Clara Labancz. The beloved play of the dramatist Mircea Ştefănescu is a family comedy about non-perishable values, but also about how difficult it is to maintain a relationship throughout the decades and in the dynamic context of an entire generation. A topic of the hour in a story from 1948. A play with period attire about us, the people from nowadays and the comic circumstances which emerge in the case of a couple that is going through…marital hell. With tactfulness and faith, flair and imagination, this little hell can be turned into a long-distance journey, where the man and the woman take turns at the wheel, which is mostly held by the mother-in-law (an epoch-making part, whose shades and liveliness have been portrayed throughout time in different ways by two great actresses from the National Theatre of Bucharest). On Tuesday, you will have the honour to see perform Ileana Stana Ionescu. Thus, after only one year and a half from its premiere, Little Hell reaches a round figure, with its hundredth performance taking place at the end of March. We are inviting you to witness this wonderful moment of celebration and great humour, with a classic comedy which is (once again) proving its youth!                                                 Translated by Bianca-Lidia Zbarcea MTTLC, University of Bucharest