Operation Firecracker by Catinca Drăgănescu, premiering at the Nottara Theater

The \. This tale of courage vs. lașitate is written and directed by Catinca Drăgănescu, the dynamic, multi-functional set is designed by Gabi Albu, and Luiza Enescu created the period-specific costumes with chromatic and stylistic fidelity. In the cast you will find Vlad Bălan, Ioana Calotă, Alexandru Mike Gheorghiu, Ion Grosu, Isabela Neamțu and Vladimir Purdel, each of them playing multiple roles. A tour de force for all the actors who manage to reproduce the absurdity of a world where fear and censorship dominated society. More than 30 years after the fall of communism, there are still many aspects incompletely understood and assumed, and our relationship with the recent past is still a problematic one.

The playwright and director Catinca Drăgănescu turned her attention to the last years of the regime, creating a story inspired by a real case, that of the anarchist Valentin Hurduc (documented by Luiza Vasiliu in Casa Jurnalistului), who, in 1987, set fire to the plywood arch . The micro-universe of this character and those around him is a reflection of the state of dissatisfaction and austerity that characterizes the whole society. \. It is a cinematic theater performance in which, starting from the idea that the camera is not a means of reproduction, but of investigating reality, three complementary perspectives on the subject are presented. There's a lot of humor, even suspense, but I thought it was important to also have emotion, to be about how this story feels, viewed both then and now.

Valentin Hurduc, the character from whose history the show is inspired, does not represent the classic typology of a political dissident. He doesn't listen to Free Europe and has no intellectual roots, he comes from the communist ghettos and shows their growing hatred of everything the regime stands for in everyday life. He is an anarchist, a provocateur, a show creator, an atypical character who expresses the anger and discontent of an entire social category, animated by the deprivations and terror felt by the common man. Far from being, in the classical sense of the term, a hero, Valentin Hurduc is a complex individual. \.

The symmetrical space and repetitiveness with monotonous rhythm of the architectural elements, are specific to the interiors of printing houses, factories or weavers. The objects of furniture are metamorphic, nothing remains what it initially appears to be. The atmosphere of the late 80s is enhanced by the dull browns and grays characteristic of that era. The small authentic props, specific to that period, are meant to activate the memories of the viewers who lived those years, to involve them emotionally, to increase their empathetic potential. (Gabi Albu)\n.

Tickets are available at www. Nottara. ro and at the Nottara Theater agency (Magheru bd no. 20). .