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22 February 2027
ora 19:00
Opera Nationala Romana, Bucuresti
"A Lost Letter"
February 22, 2027 at 19:00
A Lost Letter... for eternity!
I receive a call from the beloved actor Valentin Teodosiu: Eugen, you weren't in Bucharest for the premiere. We're coming to Cluj and I'm inviting you on November 10th. I had seen, 10 years ago, at the Comedy Theatre, an excellent production by Alex. Dabija and I wrote the review. I'm thinking: What else can you bring, besides some great actors, to the most performed play?! Sometimes we are mistaken..
Although there were better times when much was done for Romania (even in Caragiale's time!), the eternal great dilemma remains: Who do we vote for?! More acute than ever! Only Uncle Iancu enjoys the unanimous vote of Romanians!
The premiere exactly 141 years ago, TN Bucharest, November 25, 1884, had great public success, but not with those "targeted" who harassed him so much (and invented lawsuits!) until he had to "flee", for his safety, 1,700 km away, to Berlin. Is it different today?!
The success of some valuable productions shows that, on the banks of the Dâmbovița, not much has changed, and worse: Caragiale's characters are toddlers compared to today's. If someone were to clone Trahanache, Tipătescu, Cațavencu & Co. (all with genuine baccalaureate degrees in 12 subjects and real doctorates from Paris and Berlin) and they were to meet today's similar fauna, they would wrinkle their noses in disgust and kick them out the door!
Here is the "scandal" team: direction / Toma Enache acting: Valentin Teodosiu Zaharia Trahanache, Monica Davidescu / Zoe Trahanache, Aurelian Temișan / Ștefan Tipătescu, Marius Rizea / Ghiță Pristanda, Ovidiu Cuncea / Nae Cațavencu, Claudiu Bleonț / Dandanache, Dan Istrate / Brânzovenescu, Emanuel Varga / Farfuridi, Cosmin Vijeu / The tipsy citizen.
Vladimir Turturică's suggestive minimalist set design is subtly ingenious and detailed: Tipătescu's house facade is shaped like an open envelope where we all enter and exit: an eternal glorious pyramid dedicated to the charlatans we can't escape: the mouth of Dante's Inferno!
The "VOTE RED / VOTE BLUE" booths, meaning ejusdem farinae / same chaff, are not only indigenous but still recall the valid division West / Blue – East / Red, demonstrating that this little country, poor Romania! (Cațavencu) hasn't escaped from freeloaders internationally either!
The booths are on wheels and spin with the drunk Citizen, while the rest of us & we exclaim in unison, dizzy, with director Enache: "At one point, we all ask ourselves, who am I voting for?!" The fact that there are no walls shows that "everything is seen / known"!
The orator's tribune has the shape of an immense phallus-shaped stamp suggesting to the electorate: If you don't want us, we want you! Shut up, because we... Retro furniture for today's neo-rich scoundrels.
Doina Levintza's original costumes perfectly complement the retro-modern scenography, highlighting the characters, creating typological models themselves. The politician protagonists have ridiculous black-and-white checkered clothes like circus clowns or in the surrealist, backward performances of the famous mad years, 1920, in Paris or Berlin.
Only Zoe is a superb exception with the chromatic fairy tale of splendid toilets – message: woman brings feelings, love, and beauty into this violently patriarchal world led by aggressive cold reason that has become irrationally destructive! Her female characters, beyond some flaws (due to the world of men), are truly human!
Fănică loves her and is loved by Zoe, which we no longer see today! Politico-erotic relationships between men and women are consumed on the back seat of luxury cars and in offices guarded by gorgonic cerberuses.
Only the police chief, Ghiță Pristanda, is half-and-half with a red tunic and dark brown pants (some coprological allusion?) like a servile chameleon to whoever is in power: Lick them in the mouth and eat everything!
The tormented citizen is dressed like many on the street: a gray coat, like their lives, and striped pants of a semi-convict, confined within the borders of Romania! The vests have banknotes with Caragiale: the fateful self-sustaining currency we can no longer escape.
Sets and costumes: pure refinement!
The action being known, we emphasize special moments and interpretations. The effervescent-original comedy of Valentin Teodosiu stands out (we wrote this in the review of the Dabija staging): he equals the classic Giugaru. His invention: he knows about Zoe's connection with Fănică, but, a seasoned merchant, he takes full advantage.
He delights us with his duplicitous game: Look, I am the "naive" one who knows - so what! He clarifies when he kisses Fănică on the forehead, saying, "We have been old friends for eight years. Others are scoundrels!" with a comically diabolical, sly grimace!
Zoe, the positive character, enjoys the complex, well-dosed, and varied performance of Monica Davidescu: she goes through all possible states, showing what a woman suffers to defend and save her love in a harsh world: she is gentle, lascivious, firm, never cunning, being the only honest and direct one!
She tells everyone with all the courage of a lioness defending her dear cub (and Fănică): "Whoever fights with Cațavencu, fights with me!" She has many powerful scenes, but memorable is the trick / supreme stratagem of women: "If we don't do this, Fănică, I will die!" She stretches provocatively and lasciviously on the sofa, holding a lit candle on her chest! Mission: Impossible?! Not with Zoe!
We also recall the moment when he jumps back at Fănică and leads him like a wild horse, who needs a jockey to show him the way to victory: a timeless tribute to Toma Caragiu's interpretation in this role.
Marius Rizea / Ghiță Pristanda has a presence that is reminiscent of Birlic: the audience laughs as soon as he appears on stage. The actor, with a native comic talent in every cell, was noticed from the beginning; Best Actor Award at the Young Actor Gala, Mangalia, 2001. It's no wonder: he graduated from the class of master Dem Rădulescu, 1988.
Every small gesture - dropping the obedient waiter's napkin, bringing glasses and champagne, exiting or entering the stage, crying, whistling, spitting... - is captivating and full of humor: Chapeau!
Ovidiu Cuncea's Cațavencu (hard to compete with the brilliant classics of Sică Alexandrescu: here, Ion Talianu) is subtly (most) updated in his vision and it's possible that his real model is a top-notch politician and opportunist.
Cosmin Vijeu also has a very high bar in the memorably tormented Costache Antoniu. He manages (it's hard to get out of the character's parameters) to offer us the (alcoholic) perfume of a likable character, more dazed by history than by alcohol. The ingenious trick with 2-3 hats, the masculine version of "Another hat, same Mary": the ordinary man is forced to constantly "adapt" in the ruthless Balkan world if he wants to survive!
Claudiu Bleonț creatively distinguishes himself from the classic Dandanache of Radu Beligan and, in a clownish costume, delights us with the character he proposes: a jester at the court of despotic kings who knows all the undercurrents, takes advantage, and beats them with their own weapons.
Other effective actions that pleasantly animated the spectators: orators turn them into an audience, each side distributes red / blue flags in the front row and mobilizes the hall to shout at the opposition "Thieves! Thieves!" So much truth...
Aurelian Temișan proposes a (too) serious Fănică, full of himself, correctly interpreted, without leaving the audience with the memory of a special character. The duo Dan Istrate / Brânzovenescu, Emanuel Varga / Farfuridi is a slapstick pastiche of Stan & Bran, on the same line as Mircea Diaconu-Dem Rădulescu in Liviu Ciulei's staging, the '80s, and that's also somewhat forced.
Finally, a criticism: apart from a few pale "lizards" to the present, updates are missing (almost all the productions in our country): Who is afraid of... Woolf?! Before 1990 there was a lot of courage with immense risks! Today, no risk – no fun!
Director Toma Enache, with his team, managed to offer another sparkling version of the eternal comedy, intelligently compressed into a single act, and the generous applause rewarded them for a long time.
The actors signed autographs on the elegant Playbill (not done in Cluj anymore) and Valentin Teodosiu on his superb, highly successful book (5th edition!): A Clown for Eternity.
And we, Romanians, are left with a Caragiale for eternity...
Review by Eugen Cojocaru (Tribuna Magazine, Cluj)Access rules:
o Please respect the local rules in force at the time of the concert.
o After 7:10 PM, access to the hall is prohibited.
o Children under 7 years old are not allowed; those over 7 years old pay full price.
o The value of the tickets will not be refunded, for any reason.
o DO NOT purchase tickets from unauthorized websites, such as Viagogo – you risk not being admitted to the venue!
Book your seats now and enjoy a unique experience!
"A Lost Letter"
February 22, 2027 at 19:00
A Lost Letter... for eternity!
I receive a call from the beloved actor Valentin Teodosiu: Eugen, you weren't in Bucharest for the premiere. We're coming to Cluj and I'm inviting you on November 10th. I had seen, 10 years ago, at the Comedy Theatre, an excellent production by Alex. Dabija and I wrote the review. I'm thinking: What else can you bring, besides some great actors, to the most performed play?! Sometimes we are mistaken..
Although there were better times when much was done for Romania (even in Caragiale's time!), the eternal great dilemma remains: Who do we vote for?! More acute than ever! Only Uncle Iancu enjoys the unanimous vote of Romanians!
The premiere exactly 141 years ago, TN Bucharest, November 25, 1884, had great public success, but not with those "targeted" who harassed him so much (and invented lawsuits!) until he had to "flee", for his safety, 1,700 km away, to Berlin. Is it different today?!
The success of some valuable productions shows that, on the banks of the Dâmbovița, not much has changed, and worse: Caragiale's characters are toddlers compared to today's. If someone were to clone Trahanache, Tipătescu, Cațavencu & Co. (all with genuine baccalaureate degrees in 12 subjects and real doctorates from Paris and Berlin) and they were to meet today's similar fauna, they would wrinkle their noses in disgust and kick them out the door!
Here is the "scandal" team: direction / Toma Enache acting: Valentin Teodosiu Zaharia Trahanache, Monica Davidescu / Zoe Trahanache, Aurelian Temișan / Ștefan Tipătescu, Marius Rizea / Ghiță Pristanda, Ovidiu Cuncea / Nae Cațavencu, Claudiu Bleonț / Dandanache, Dan Istrate / Brânzovenescu, Emanuel Varga / Farfuridi, Cosmin Vijeu / The tipsy citizen.
Vladimir Turturică's suggestive minimalist set design is subtly ingenious and detailed: Tipătescu's house facade is shaped like an open envelope where we all enter and exit: an eternal glorious pyramid dedicated to the charlatans we can't escape: the mouth of Dante's Inferno!
The "VOTE RED / VOTE BLUE" booths, meaning ejusdem farinae / same chaff, are not only indigenous but still recall the valid division West / Blue – East / Red, demonstrating that this little country, poor Romania! (Cațavencu) hasn't escaped from freeloaders internationally either!
The booths are on wheels and spin with the drunk Citizen, while the rest of us & we exclaim in unison, dizzy, with director Enache: "At one point, we all ask ourselves, who am I voting for?!" The fact that there are no walls shows that "everything is seen / known"!
The orator's tribune has the shape of an immense phallus-shaped stamp suggesting to the electorate: If you don't want us, we want you! Shut up, because we... Retro furniture for today's neo-rich scoundrels.
Doina Levintza's original costumes perfectly complement the retro-modern scenography, highlighting the characters, creating typological models themselves. The politician protagonists have ridiculous black-and-white checkered clothes like circus clowns or in the surrealist, backward performances of the famous mad years, 1920, in Paris or Berlin.
Only Zoe is a superb exception with the chromatic fairy tale of splendid toilets – message: woman brings feelings, love, and beauty into this violently patriarchal world led by aggressive cold reason that has become irrationally destructive! Her female characters, beyond some flaws (due to the world of men), are truly human!
Fănică loves her and is loved by Zoe, which we no longer see today! Politico-erotic relationships between men and women are consumed on the back seat of luxury cars and in offices guarded by gorgonic cerberuses.
Only the police chief, Ghiță Pristanda, is half-and-half with a red tunic and dark brown pants (some coprological allusion?) like a servile chameleon to whoever is in power: Lick them in the mouth and eat everything!
The tormented citizen is dressed like many on the street: a gray coat, like their lives, and striped pants of a semi-convict, confined within the borders of Romania! The vests have banknotes with Caragiale: the fateful self-sustaining currency we can no longer escape.
Sets and costumes: pure refinement!
The action being known, we emphasize special moments and interpretations. The effervescent-original comedy of Valentin Teodosiu stands out (we wrote this in the review of the Dabija staging): he equals the classic Giugaru. His invention: he knows about Zoe's connection with Fănică, but, a seasoned merchant, he takes full advantage.
He delights us with his duplicitous game: Look, I am the "naive" one who knows - so what! He clarifies when he kisses Fănică on the forehead, saying, "We have been old friends for eight years. Others are scoundrels!" with a comically diabolical, sly grimace!
Zoe, the positive character, enjoys the complex, well-dosed, and varied performance of Monica Davidescu: she goes through all possible states, showing what a woman suffers to defend and save her love in a harsh world: she is gentle, lascivious, firm, never cunning, being the only honest and direct one!
She tells everyone with all the courage of a lioness defending her dear cub (and Fănică): "Whoever fights with Cațavencu, fights with me!" She has many powerful scenes, but memorable is the trick / supreme stratagem of women: "If we don't do this, Fănică, I will die!" She stretches provocatively and lasciviously on the sofa, holding a lit candle on her chest! Mission: Impossible?! Not with Zoe!
We also recall the moment when he jumps back at Fănică and leads him like a wild horse, who needs a jockey to show him the way to victory: a timeless tribute to Toma Caragiu's interpretation in this role.
Marius Rizea / Ghiță Pristanda has a presence that is reminiscent of Birlic: the audience laughs as soon as he appears on stage. The actor, with a native comic talent in every cell, was noticed from the beginning; Best Actor Award at the Young Actor Gala, Mangalia, 2001. It's no wonder: he graduated from the class of master Dem Rădulescu, 1988.
Every small gesture - dropping the obedient waiter's napkin, bringing glasses and champagne, exiting or entering the stage, crying, whistling, spitting... - is captivating and full of humor: Chapeau!
Ovidiu Cuncea's Cațavencu (hard to compete with the brilliant classics of Sică Alexandrescu: here, Ion Talianu) is subtly (most) updated in his vision and it's possible that his real model is a top-notch politician and opportunist.
Cosmin Vijeu also has a very high bar in the memorably tormented Costache Antoniu. He manages (it's hard to get out of the character's parameters) to offer us the (alcoholic) perfume of a likable character, more dazed by history than by alcohol. The ingenious trick with 2-3 hats, the masculine version of "Another hat, same Mary": the ordinary man is forced to constantly "adapt" in the ruthless Balkan world if he wants to survive!
Claudiu Bleonț creatively distinguishes himself from the classic Dandanache of Radu Beligan and, in a clownish costume, delights us with the character he proposes: a jester at the court of despotic kings who knows all the undercurrents, takes advantage, and beats them with their own weapons.
Other effective actions that pleasantly animated the spectators: orators turn them into an audience, each side distributes red / blue flags in the front row and mobilizes the hall to shout at the opposition "Thieves! Thieves!" So much truth...
Aurelian Temișan proposes a (too) serious Fănică, full of himself, correctly interpreted, without leaving the audience with the memory of a special character. The duo Dan Istrate / Brânzovenescu, Emanuel Varga / Farfuridi is a slapstick pastiche of Stan & Bran, on the same line as Mircea Diaconu-Dem Rădulescu in Liviu Ciulei's staging, the '80s, and that's also somewhat forced.
Finally, a criticism: apart from a few pale "lizards" to the present, updates are missing (almost all the productions in our country): Who is afraid of... Woolf?! Before 1990 there was a lot of courage with immense risks! Today, no risk – no fun!
Director Toma Enache, with his team, managed to offer another sparkling version of the eternal comedy, intelligently compressed into a single act, and the generous applause rewarded them for a long time.
The actors signed autographs on the elegant Playbill (not done in Cluj anymore) and Valentin Teodosiu on his superb, highly successful book (5th edition!): A Clown for Eternity.
And we, Romanians, are left with a Caragiale for eternity...
Review by Eugen Cojocaru (Tribuna Magazine, Cluj)Access rules:
o Please respect the local rules in force at the time of the concert.
o After 7:10 PM, access to the hall is prohibited.
o Children under 7 years old are not allowed; those over 7 years old pay full price.
o The value of the tickets will not be refunded, for any reason.
o DO NOT purchase tickets from unauthorized websites, such as Viagogo – you risk not being admitted to the venue!
Book your seats now and enjoy a unique experience!
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