Play in three acts by Dragomir Asenov
Translation: Elisabeta Pop
National premiere

Artistic director: Eugen Ţugulea
Scenography: Camelia Micu
Premiere date: May 10, 1984

The play "Face to Face" places its action in a large Bulgarian factory and captures various professional and socio-human situations of its leaders, from the perspective of communist morality. "A (former) director of an important enterprise, raised under his watch and leadership, spends his last moments in the director's office he has occupied for many years and which had become his second home. Dismissed from office, deprived of his managerial prerogatives, engineer Spasov has the opportunity to get to know his collaborators better, or more precisely, now he sees them in their true light, because they no longer see themselves as obliged to be flatterers, hypocrites or submissive. Engineer Nuneva fought him for a long time, their conflict was open and notorious, so her hostility is not a surprise; secretary Marinceva will make a few common sense remarks to him, not to offend him, but to make him better understand the situation and the causes that generated it; on the other hand, deputy Lekov, the one who has adored him for years, tickling his pride and maintaining his belief that everything he undertakes is within the realm of perfection, is the first to raise stone, passing without hesitation and without remorse, with "weapons and baggage", into the service of the new director, Petrunov. The latter, in turn - young, energetic, professionally gifted - will try from the first moment to consolidate the new position, by completely disqualifying his predecessor, setting up an investigation from which it will result that Spasov has not only professional-organizational faults but also of a criminal nature, that is, he would have brought premeditated and interested damages to the enterprise. Nuneva refuses with dignity to join the cabal, but instead Lekov enters without hesitation, committing to "solve the file"." (Dumitru Chirilă, "Familia", May 1984).

Gradually, the conflict moves from the professional sphere to the family one, with more and more clashes of ideas and attitudes. In the end, Petrunov understands that he has a duty to fight with honest weapons, in a loyal, manly, unequivocal confrontation. Hence the option for the title (the original title being "Coating in Gold"): as the play's director, Eugen Țugulea, states in the program booklet, the performance becomes "a plea for the right to stand face to face and to be able to look openly, one into the other's eyes.".

Distribution:

Spasov:  Eugen Tugulea
Marinceva:  Mariana Vasile
No one:  Simona Constantinescu
Lekov:  Ion Abrudan
Petrunov:  Tiberiu Covaci
Cornflower:  Ileana Iurciuc
Hinko:  Emil Sauciuc

Technical director: Mărioara Goina
Prompter: Iuliana Chelu
Lighting: Vasile Blejan
Sound: Dorel Olea