With love, from Romania
SANJAY KUMAR
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Plays of Ionesco, Chekov and Matei Visniec were staged in Delhi.
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No lover of theatre would have missed a chance to see Eugene Ionesco's brilliant craft put on stage by his own countrymen. It was a treat for the capital's theatre lovers when the UNESCO Chair for Theatre in Romania of The International Theatre Institute - ITI - decided to initiate a cultural dialogue with two continents - ISAKC 2007-India, Singapore, Australia, Korea, and China. The Indian leg of the tour was organised in collaboration with the National School of Drama, Delhi.
"This cultural dialogue has three dimensions - pedagogical, artistic and theoretical", remarked Professor Cornelie Dumetric, chair holder of the UNESCO Chair of ITI. The students and staff of NSD were participating as part of the training in acting and directorial skills. However, the real delight of the weeklong event was the three performances that the visiting delegation of actors and directors from Bucharest presented in the evenings, this past week.
Timeless
The first performance was vintage Theatre of the Absurd - Ionesco's "The Lesson". Performed and directed by the faculty of the Drama School form the University of Bucharest It was a testimony not only of the timeless magic of Ionesco's craft but also the superb acting skills of Romanian theatre. Though a bit amateurish in parts, the pun on the language, sound and gestures and the absurdity of human communication was alive on the stage. Interestingly, a play by Matei Visniec that a reputed Romanian director Catalina Buzoianu directed had a long name "The beautiful story of the panda bears told by a saxophonist who had a girlfriend in Frankfurt". Imelda Manu did its scenography. The brilliance of the stagecraft and direction was evident as the directorial touch produced strokes of astonishing visual effects with video, digital art and special effects. The tale of six nights in an apartment between two young lovers was recreated with contemporary techniques of visualisation on stage. "This is a theatre based on directors. We have had great theatre directors who have even surpassed the value of actors", Dumetric added.
The last play of the series was the best in terms of consummate acting skills evident on the Romanian stage today. Horatiu Malaele and Niculae Urs proved their histrionic talents in a brilliant adaptation of Anton. P.Chekov's "The Buffon". The director's "invitation into the fantastic world of our own petty little accomplishments" was true to the spirit of Chekhov's script, and embellished by the outstanding acting of the two veteran Romanian actors. This production from the Bulandra Municipal Theatre from Bucharest received a standing ovation from the theatre students and critics of Delhi. Malele and Urs went down the memory lane of two comedians trying to come to terms with the disjunctions between art and life. The performance was a testimony that theatre, at least of this variety, and the plays of Anton Pavlovici Chekhov are here to stay.
As the UNESCO Chair for Romanian theatre observed, "Theatre is like a drug in Romania".
Yes, indeed, the Indian audience was left intoxicated.
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