Leonid Andreev coupé show

Artistic direction: Sergiu Savin
Scenography: Epaminonda Tiotiu
Premiere date: June 12, 1982

In the two short plays that make up the coupé show "The Horse in the Senate. The Beautiful Sabines", the Russian writer Leonid Andreev took up themes or moments from ancient history, dramatically reworking them and giving them new connotations. The historical episode of the abduction of the Sabines to populate the newly founded city of Rome becomes a good pretext for ironic references and satirical appreciations of human nature in general. The vaudeville "The Horse in the Senate" starts from the story told by Suetonius in "The Lives of the 12 Caesars", according to which the eccentric Roman emperor Caligula treated his horse Incitatus with at least strange honors: "He had made him a marble stable, an ivory manger, purple harness, a necklace of precious stones, servants and luxurious furniture." The culmination of this behavior – conferring the rank of Senator on the animal, transforms Andreev's play into a political pamphlet, exposing the flattering and servile attitude towards the powerful.

THE HORSE IN THE SENATE
Vaudeville in one act from the history of Rome
Translation: Mircea Ciobanu

Distribution:
First Senator:  John Martin
Second Senator:  Marcel Popa
Third senator:  Nicolae Barosan
Marcus:  Eugen Harizomenov
Half a senator:  Laurian Jivan
Agrippa:  Marcel Segărceanu
Titus:  Nicholas Thomas
Marcellus:  Ion Tomorrow
Menenius:  Peter the Deacon
First consul:   Eugen Tugulea
Second consul:  Ion Abrudan
Caligula:  Emil Sauciuc
Priscus:  Tiberiu Covaci

THE BEAUTIFUL SABINES
Translation: Tatiana Nicolescu

Adapted from the play "The Abduction of the Sabines", written by Leonid Andreev in 1911, the show proposed by the "Iosif Vulcan" Troupe brings to the fore a series of aspects of immediate reality, mentioned with surprising sincerity and openness: the problems of Romanians in Italy, the global economic crisis, omnipresent corruption, the obsession with physical appearance, fashion shows, the media's pursuit of sensationalism.

The historical episode of the abduction of the Sabine women by the Romans in order to populate the newly founded city of Rome functions only as a pretext to create an engaging, lively comedy, full of gags and inspired jokes, in which the confrontation between women and men or the claims of respectability acquire an ironic allure. Thus, the women are lured with wallets, jewelry and perfumes and look for a handsome, intelligent, rich, virile, obedient, refined and loving man; unable to find all these in a single man, they choose several, one for each quality. The men are quite inefficient, ridiculous and, paradoxically, subordinate to the women they have abducted.

The play is structured in two scenes: the first takes place in the Roman camp, which is trying to reach an agreement with the Sabine women; the second takes place in the Sabine camp, a year and a half later, and depicts the honest preparations of the husbands for the great confrontation through which they hope to recover their lost women. Both worlds are populated by characters symptomatic of contemporary society, types easily recognizable both around us and perhaps in each of us.

Distribution:
Scipio:  Ion Tomorrow
A bold novel:  Tiberiu Covaci
Paul:  Emil Sauciuc
Romans:  Ion Abrudan, Nicolae Barosan, Marcel Popa, Marcel Segărceanu
Cleopatra:  Cristina Schiopu
Prosepin:  Mariana Neagu
Veronica:  Anca Miere Chirilă
Sabine:  Alla Tautu, Simona Constantinescu, Aurora Leonte, Mariana Vasile
Sabines:  Eugen Tugulea, Ion Martin
March:  Eugen Harizomenov
The teacher:  Laurian Jivan
Proserpine's husband:  Nicholas Thomas
Other Sabines:  Eugen Tugulea, Ion Martin

Technical director: Mărioara Goina
Prompter: Florence Szabo
Lights: Iosif Balogh
Sound: Dorel Olea