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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