Current Repertory
Prophet Ilya
by Tadeusz Słobodzianek
Prophet Ilya
by Tadeusz Słobodzianek
Premiere: 16.02.2025
Duration: 2 h 5 min / Pause: No
Not recommended for people under 18: emotionally disturbing scenes, licentious language, scenes with sexual connotations.
Due to stroboscopic and light effects, of short duration and intensity, the show is not recommended for people with photosensitivity and those who suffer from epilepsy! The performance uses odorless stage smoke!
Inspired by the true story of the preacher Eliasz Klimowicz in the 1930s and 1940s, because it "mirrors like a crystal ball all the utopias of the 20th century: Christianity, nationalism, socialism..." Polish playwright Tadeusz Słobodzianek recreates the apocalypse of humanity in "The Prophet Elijah". The inhabitants of a village on the Belarusian border live in the belief that the pastor of their community, who foretells the end of the world, is Christ, and they intend to crucify him in order to find salvation. The text, written in 1991, has stirred much controversy, with the author criticized for harsh and inappropriate language. In fact, Słobodzianek speaks of a world "turned upside down", primitive in its beliefs and values, drawing attention to the dangers of religious fanaticism and extremist ideologies. In his medieval mystery drama, in which religions, languages and nations mix, the sacred sublime is converted into grotesque comedy, faith into superstition, the divine into the human, and the miracle of Passion Week is delayed.
At a time of deep spiritual and moral crisis facing contemporary societies, Botond Nagy invites, with his second staging on the TNB stage - "The Prophet Elijah", to a deep and sincere meditation on faith and religion. If the God of Słobodzianek's drama died with Nietzsche's statement, nevertheless, He exists in the love and humanity in which the young director continues to believe.
"Without being an in-your-face manifesto, The Prophet Ilya is perhaps my most virulent artistic project through which I wish to highlight the systemic problems of a deeply ingrained mentality in a country that, I admit, I seriously considered leaving. Any form of fanaticism is terribly worrying, and those who glorify it with prefabricated judgments cause me nothing but visceral fear. They frighten me precisely because they leave no room for doubt, debate or dialog, their judgment being dogmatic. For me, faith is perhaps the most intimate, delicate and sacred moment we can have with ourselves. For me, this text is a return to faith, but above all to my faith in theater and theater-making, which I rediscover in myself with each project. I first encountered this text in high school, when my teacher László Bocsárdi's staging created a moment of pure catharsis. This performance is also a moment of aesthetic reconsideration of my own artistic vision, but also a gesture of gratitude and thanks to my teacher.
I have always spoken in my performances about the human condition, and even now I cannot avoid the tragedy of contemporary society's disconnection from the foundations of a clean spirituality. Things gain perspective when one faces one's own mortality and I believe that collectively, our world has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and we need, as anyone would, to get our priorities in order.
It is my hope that through this artistic project, viewers will look at their own beliefs in a new light and understand the true value of that miraculous inter-human connection that is faith, because in each of us, I believe, is a compass that helps us to know right from wrong. It is my intimate conviction that we will find together, but also separately, in this performance, a reconciliation with our spiritual selves in their most organic sense. Because, as I have already said, faith should not mean a set of dogmas that we blindly follow, but a deep conviction in the face of a set of values that I believe theater in general, and my show in particular, addresses, sometimes with tragedy, sometimes with humor!" Botond Nagy
Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu
Photos by Andrei Văleanu, Costi Șimon and Florin Ghioca
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| The Studio Hall | 19:00 | Buy tickets |
| The Studio Hall | 19:00 | Buy tickets |
| Ilya, prophet from the countryside: | Richard Bovnoczki | Olga, sinner, afterwards sainted: | Aylin Cadîr |
| Wiera, saint, afterwards sinner: | Florentina Ţilea | The Drunk: | Silviu Mircescu |
| Rotschild, merchant from Bialystock: | Emilian Mârnea | Bumblebee, afterwards a scarecrow: | Răzvan Oprea |
| Pałaszka, afterwards the wife of Pilate: | Ofelia Popii | Marczuk, afterwards Roman soldier: | Florin Călbăjos |
| Hariton, afterwards Judas: | Lari Giorgescu | Aćko, afterwards Pilate: | Leonard Chionac |
| The young women, afterwards Saint Veronica: |
Laura Gabriela Oana Teo Dincă |
The blind man, the young women`s father: | Vitalie Bichir |
| The Catholic, afterwards Herod: | Mihai Calotă |
"Prophet Ilya" is the most powerful theater production of the moment. Right now, in the cold, after the epiphany of the depth and frankness of the staging of a text written in 1991 by Polish playwright Tadeusz Słobodzianek, I believe it is the performance of the year. What other performance will have the courage to tackle such a delicate subject in the Polish society of the last century, in the Romanian society of today and, in general, in any society in the world in which religion plays a central role?
I strongly affirm that "Prophet Ilya" is a manifesto of faith in the art of theater to change the world for the better. And, to clarify for those who don't live in a theocracy though he behaves like one - controversy will follow this staging like a shadow - director Botond Nagy doesn't desacralize anything. He does not blaspheme. He does not blaspheme. He does not even challenge the primitivism of the simple man in relation to religion. He does, yes. Does it comment on it artistically? Of course, that's one of the roles of theater.
Horia Ghibutiu, Zile și Nopți – The Faith of Botond Nagy
The performance "Prophet Ilya" is not an answer but a mirror. In it, we see both the distant past of the historical attested Prophet Ilya and the reality that surrounds us, stylized and enriched by the parallels drawn by the story on stage. We recognize our credulity caused by the lies that creep around us, but also our need for landmarks and the danger of following a false prophet indiscriminately. Prophet Ilya is not just a story about a village far from the world and what we call civilization, but about human mechanisms that repeat themselves obsessively, in any time and in any community. And theater becomes here, especially in relation to today's reality, an act of warning, a cry that resounds beyond the stage, in our consciences, even without making it explicit, without putting a finger in anyone's eye. How much of what we see and experience is truth and how much is just the illusion of a polished but fragile world? It is a question worth asking and one that the performance urges us to reflect on.
Octavian Neculai, Agenda Liternet - Maybe our world is not the world of the Prophet Ilya
What is maddeningly beautiful in this performance is the vitality with which the story is told and acted, it is the excitement, it is the color, it is life itself that escapes from people's petrifying souls. Ofelia Popii, Richard Bovnoczki, Lari Giorgescu, Aylin Cadir, Florentina Tilea, Vitalie Bichir, Mihai Calota, Emilian Marnea, Silviu Mircescu create characters that stick to the spectator, making him think at length about the world he lives in, about its values that become so volatile that good and evil not only become confused, but even end up taking each other's place, then disappearing like dust in the middle of nowhere that laughs sardonically at what we once called sense and lived as sense.
Go and see it, my friends, it is simply a well-deserved awakening.
Ana Barton
Botond Nagy's production, "Prophet Ilya", the latest premiere of the Bucharest National Theater, is as hard as a boulder thrown from the sky. It torments you, it grinds you, it twists you. Yes, you want to get up and leave the theater. The spectator who sees a quality artistic product and the simple man who refuses to believe that we are hurtling towards a foggy end, mired in ignorance, drowsiness and prejudice. Why such a text? Does it not provoke and incite even more violence and hatred in a time when racism and anti-Semitism are sneering, in a humanity that is again looking for scapegoats like Eliasz Klimowicz? Will the message not be misperceived by increasingly feeble minds, increasingly anemic judgment? The desire for the miraculous is so great that it stifles potential murder. Free will transcends the sphere of divine gifts into that of punishment. Anyone, but not us to make decisions. The Way, Truth and Life are abandoned in the hands of any impostor who spoils them in sullen and languorous tones.
All of us who are lucid today feel the end of a certain world. We live in times of shattering mental locks. Extremism is easily masquerading as good faith and setting itself up as a democratic symbol. Nothing surprises us any more. Man remains a strange, imperfect, uncontrollable, unpredictable entity, completely inaccessible to knowledge.
Alina Mariana Maer, Agenda Liternet - The world's non-judgment and the end now - Prophet Ilya
Translated by Andreea Codrea-Boeriu
