Comedy in three acts by Teodor Mazilu
Absolute premiere

Artistic direction and musical illustration: Mircea Cornişteanu
Decor:  Alexi Kiss
Costumes: Tatiana Manolescu Uleu
Premiere date: November 29, 1979

„"Art without morality does not exist (…). However, art does not contain moral laws and paragraphs, but seeks to capture morality in relation to the dramatic movement of life, subjecting it to a process of transfiguration, specific to this admirable way of knowing the world." (Teodor Mazilu).

It has been said many times that Teodor Mazilu's dramaturgy is that of a moralist, and the comedy "Furniture and Pain" is no exception. Under the playwright's magnifying glass are two negative destinies, which share the same trait: stupidity. Sile, the director of the "Avântul mobilei" cooperative, an upstart and a philistine, is proud that he ended up losing at a card game, because "this only happens to boyars" and considers that the transition from a stupid priest to a poker player is the great achievement of his life. Gore, his lowly subordinate, seeks to demonstrate perfect discipline, by discipline understanding "the totality of a subordinate's efforts to appear stupider than his boss." (Dimitrie Bălan, "Familia", December 1979). The desire to acquire characterizes all the characters in the play: each one wants leadership positions, trips abroad, pedigree dogs, valuable paintings, but when it comes to giving, immorality and stinginess make them totally helpless. All values are overturned, even respect for the law becomes disqualifying. Any moral feeling is falsified in a whole process of alienation, of loss of the attributes that define the state of normality of the human being.

Distribution:

Strengths:  Liviu Rozorea
Gore:  Nicolae Barosan
Earache:  Eugen Harizomenov
Lizica:  Elisabeta Jar, Florence Manea
Paul:  Nicholas Thomas
Melania:  Cristina Schiopu

Technical director: Elena Varlam
Prompter: Florence Szabo
Lighting: Vasile Blejan
Sound: Dorel Olea

AWARDS:
-For the role of Sile, actor Liviu Rozorea was awarded the Magazine Award Tribune for the year 1979