"For 70 minutes, the life of some ordinary Romanians passes on fast-forward in front of the beholders, perplex faced with the treachery of history, because no one has the slightest idea where Europe is heading to, where the world is heading to. The director has taken the liberty of contemplating with tolerance the pages from Romanian history and left joy and irony to correctly set the highlights. The plausibility of this enactment which demonstrates that the „present is the masterpiece of the past” is offered by the scenic temperament of the four gifted actors, masterfully coordinated by Dragos Huluba."

Mădălina Dumitrache, Bel-Esprit.ro – With joy and irony, at the whim of history – „Once Upon a Time in Romania”  

"As in a game with time, stories are told either on fast-forward, or on fast-rewind. From the world full of verve of the interwar era, with gorgeous dresses, men in tailcoats and strolls on Calea Victoriei, to the grey years of the Communist period, where an orange can light up a whole world on a winter evening, up to the contemporary mad years, with Mall openings and the alienation of the individual under the stress of modern life, “Once Upon a Time in Romania” invites you to this carousel of history, where you shall laugh, applaud, smile with melancholy or shed a fleeting tear."

Cityfemme.com - “Once Upon a Time in Romania” – a history of the past century at NTB   

"Once Upon a Time in Romania is an event-show, conveying to the Great Public, with much moral, without ostentation and derisory theatrical artifices, emotion and joy to satire. The four actors always turn into typologies specific to the era, entertaining continuously, in a nuanced way various relationships, each having a special savoury moment of expressiveness for the historical time.  

 ... Many moments conceived with fine irony, spontaneously spurring the audience applause, draw the attention to the effects of history on the existence of simple man, whom they can dissatisfy or gladden, in daily life."

Ileana Lucaciu, Spectator – A Joy!  

Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Viewer's opinion

"An alert show of movement and expression that leads you on the fast forward through the modern period of Romania. The fast pace of the play imprinted by the actors and the director can get you lost in the mists of the past, but once you get on this carousel, which sometimes seems to move with the speed of sound, you start to see most of the key moments in slow motion. This evening I relived and recalled moments from my childhood and youth, nostalgic and also joyful moments, but also moments of enormous sadness, perhaps due to the fact that I grew up as a child during the «Golden Age». Congratulations to the entire team that imagined this story and that visually transposed it on stage in a special way and extremely close to the reality of the past."

Dragoș Knappe / Facebook TNB

Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu