Set designer painter

Date and place of birth: 16.06.1957

Studies: "Nicolae Grigorescu" Institute of Fine Arts, Bucharest

Since her debut, Maria Miu has proven to be an exceptional set designer. Not only for the beauty and precision of her sketches, in which the sure line of the drawing happily meets the harmony of colors, but also for her admirable ability to choose materials and follow, in the smallest details, their execution in the workshops (both for the decor and the costumes). She not only follows the correct execution, but also takes the brush and the needle, and effectively works alongside the painters and decorators performing them. It is also one of the reasons why all the collaborators not only esteem her for her talent, but also love her for the dedication and modesty with which she joins them until the end of the work.

At the State Theatre of Oradea she worked relatively little, three shows, between 1984-1987, and all three with her husband, the director Alexandru Darie. It is true that this tandem was received as one of those happy family unions, an artistic couple in which the two are of equal value. The decor and costumes of the show "Jolly Joker" (1984) were rated absolutely by all the critics with a ten. For a fierce satire, like that of Tudor Popescu, Maria Miu found ideal correspondences in images that are hard to forget, of exceptional expressiveness – unstrung or oversized objects, emphasizing decrepitude, disproportion or unnaturalness, personalized, hilarious costumes (baskets, worker caps, plastic bags with fish, purses and "diplomatic bags"), the red carpet, not absent from the "well-known receptions", finally, the entire arsenal of a communist universe with a staff, which actually covered poverty and misery. The scenic images, complementary to the acidic text, "pretty metaphorize in a grotesque register, assiduously hyperbolizing" (Dumitru Chirilă), "the grotesque buffoonery has a dreamlike outline, increasing the weight of the satirical substance" (Ludmila Patlanjoglu). Harshly censored by party forums, the show had numerous problems, being ultimately removed from the schedule, and those responsible being held accountable.

With the following performance, Maria Miu confirmed her exceptional talent. The sets and costumes of the show "Amadeus" will remain as a model of flawless creation, which is true, in an exceptional performance, a peak moment of the 1985/1986 season and, since the performances "Ciocârlia" and "Astă-seară se improvizaţă" there has not been as much talked and written about this show as there has been about this show. Obviously, in this production, which illustrated "a completely personal vision" of the director of Shaffer's play, "the tough confrontation between value and mediocrity" ("the condition of genius in an intolerant society, ossified in its own habits"), the set design played a decisive role. The set designer infused poetry into the setting (in trompe-oeil), and the costumes had refinement and elegance. A columnist rightly noted that "the directorial-scenographic unity also found its correspondences at the level of interpretation".

In the show "Ten Laughter", Maria Miu's task was not easy at all, as she had to think of decorative elements and props for each of the sketches that made up the show. Together with director Alexandru Darie, she found the common decor, to which she added, one by one, suggestive elements. Still following the path of satire, Maria Miu thickened, augmented, caricaturized, using the scenic metaphor, capable of highlighting the satirical element of each "scene", a world of perfect kitsch. Florica Ichim observed the ability of the two creators to "change the register depending on the... satirical address", while the part related to the life of the theater "preserves the natural, colloquial tone". Valentin Silvestru noted that the show has a "polyformism that enhances the comedy", Doina Modola highlights the way in which the show "aims at decommissioning the springs of consciousness". Mircea Morariu clearly concludes that "Maria Miu's extremely suggestive scenography uses a minimum of means - a huge, slightly neorealistic, painted background, reminiscent of the playful world of cartoons, a few pieces of furniture, all contributing to the visual concretization of the kitsch universe that the show denounces."

In Bucharest, at the Bulandra Theater and in various other theaters, Maria Miu continues to create, collaborating with Alexandru Darie, but also with other directors, stage designs highly appreciated by critics and the public.

(Presentation by Elisabeta Pop)

Artistic sheet – Oradea State Theatre

• Set design (debut) for JOLLY JOKER by Tudor Popescu, 1984, dir. Alexandru Darie
• Set design and special paintings in AMADEUS by Peter Shaffer, 1986, dir. Alexandru Darie
• Set design for TEN LAUGHTER by Tudor Popescu, 1987, dir. Alexandru Darie