Play in two parts by Ileana Vulpescu
Stage version: Ileana Vulpescu and George Bănică.
The play ran for three seasons.

Artistic director: Zoe Anghel Stanca
Scenography: Camelia Micu
Premiere date: November 3, 1983

"I know what I want from this world – fairness, agreement with my own conscience, a simple and upright life" is the phrase that summarizes the credo about existence of Dr. Sânziana Hangan, the heroine of the play based on "The Art of Conversation" by Ileana Vulpescu, "a romance novel set in a period setting", as Leon Baconsky defines it (Analytical dictionary of Romanian literary works, vol. I, House of the Science Book, Cluj-Napoca, 2007).

A 40-year-old doctor, endowed with calm beauty, a brilliant and analytical intelligence, Sânziana Hangan fails in her marriage to the writer Alexandru Bujor, incompatible with her true ideals and founded on a thoughtless youthful enthusiasm. Some time after the divorce, her daughter Maria is joined by a younger sister, Ana, the voluntary fruit of a summer of love with the future doctor Pavel Vlas. Ignoring her paternity for years, but sensing the reality, he arrives at Sânziana to immediately recognize his daughter. This visit takes place on a Bucharest afternoon and is the setting for the doctor's series of confessions, through which the figures who have marked Sânziana's existence come to life: Mother, Professor Daniel Şerban (Nenea Dal), Doctor Murgu, Doctor Nini Naiculescu, Doctor Gheorghe Vladimirescu, Engineer Mircea Nicoară, French microbiologist Jacques Héraut. The afternoon spent in "conversations" takes on the character of a moment of assessment, both of the personal erotic unfulfillments and of the socio-political and professional experiences of the main character, a moral instance with common sense and unwavering verticality. The ending allows us to glimpse a new beginning for Sânziana Hangan, alongside the gentle, honest and realistic colleague and family friend Tudor Şerban, who is also in a spiritual impasse after a failed marriage: "Everything, then, is as it should be."„

Distribution:

Sanziana Hangan:   Cristina Schiopu
Parent:  Simona Constantinescu
Alexander Bujor:   Ion Abrudan
Pavel Vlas:  Ion Ruscut
Mary:  Ileana Iurciuc
Tudor Serban:  Eugen Harizomenov
Doctor Murgu:  Marcel Popa

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