by Aurel Gh. Ardeleanu

Artistic direction: Sergiu Savin
Scenography: Petru Voichescu
Music: Nicolae Moranciu
Premiere date: November 23, 1976

„"Appassionata" is affiliated with political theater, having its sources, as the author confesses, in the newspapers of the time, in the reports of the Security informants, in discussions with illegalists and in the hearing of university lecturers specialized in the communist and labor movement. The period covered by the play's action is between 1941-1944, when the government of Marshal Antonescu and the royal power were facing the adversities caused by the Second World War and the communist movement that was gaining increasing momentum behind the front. A series of ”photograms„ without explicit compositional connections confront the two camps of the time: on the one hand, the representatives of state power – the Prefect, the Quaestor, the Agent, overwhelmed by the actions of communist propaganda, against which various measures are taken (arrests, combat brigades, executions, etc.), but they do not have the expected result – and on the other hand, the communists, towards whom the author’s sympathy is obviously directed. Several key moments of their activity are captured: meetings to organize the illegalist struggle, the establishment of the Resistance Committee, the procurement of weapons, the drafting of the manifesto, the enthusiastic formation of partisan detachments, sabotage actions against the German army.

The finale depicts the collapse of the pro-German Antonescu regime, with the turning of arms against fascism and the communists' ambitious plans to reconstruct the country sick and wounded by recent historical events.

Distribution:

Valentine:  Ion Abrudan
Stefan:  Nicolae Barosan
A communist:  Simona Constantinescu
Ilona:  Ileana Iurciuc
German officer:  Laurian Jivan, Radu Vaida
Girl:  Florence Manea
The young man:  John Martin
Mrs. Pauli:  Anca Miere Chirilă
The prefect:  Ion Tomorrow
Woman:  Olympia Tomorrow
The boy with the guitar:  Nicolae Moranciu
Grandmother:  Eugenia Papaiani
Chief of Protocol:  Marcel Popa
The agent:  Jean Sandulescu
The worker:  Marcel Segărceanu
Wife:  Alla Tautu
Former soldier:  Nicholas Thomas
The Quaestor:  Eugen Tugulea
The young woman:  Mariana Vasile
The Clerk and the Sculptor:  Radu Vaida

Technical director: Elena Varlam
Prompter: Dimitrios Stefanidis