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"Out at Sea" by Sławomir Mrożek, directed by Felix Alexa, the first premiere of 2025 at the NTB

The new year begins at “I.L. Caragiale” National Theatre with a premiere directed by Felix Alexa: Out at Sea by Slawomir Mrożek, on the stage of the Pictura Hall. With an outstanding cast and an atmosphere of extraordinary plasticity created by set designers Stefan Caragiu and Liliana Cenean, director Felix Alexa reimagines Slawomir Mrożek's black comedy from the 1960s for today's audiences.
Perhaps the best one-act play by one of the most important playwrights of the 20th century, Out at Sea is a political parable and at the same time an absurdist comedy with a disturbing message behind the humor. Although written in the midst of Soviet censorship, the play is disturbingly topical and seems straight out of today's headlines.4
The play follows the fate of three starving shipwrecked people trying to find a "democratic" way to decide which of them will be eaten by the other two. The arguments become more and more demagogic, the bullying and cajoling more and more intense, until the interventions of a passing postman and an old servant push the action to a frightening climax.
"Out at Sea" condemns, through the cynicism, absurdity and satire so characteristic of Mrożek's writing, the Machiavellian brutality of political power at all times.
"What could be more topical today than "man being eaten by man", as a character in Mrożek's play puts it? I would say that today we are revolving around the nuances of this cannibalistic action, in all its senses. A brilliantly clever text, "Out at Sea" now becomes much more exciting, dangerous and acute than when it was written.
For me, this performance is a wake-up call to the moral degradation of society. Beneath the play's subtle, dark and piercing humor lie the painful truths of our daily lives.
And yet, how far can human beings go with their lack of scruples when "hunger" becomes the main element? Far enough for 'Out at Sea', this gem of absurdist theater, to become cruelly realistic." Felix Alexa
The first performances will take place on January 17, 18 and 19, 2025, at 19.00, and the official premiere on January 24, at 7 pm.
Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu