by ILCaragiale

Artistic director: Alina Hiristea
Scenography: Cosmin Hiristea
Set design assistant: Oana Cernea
Musical illustration: Floriana Chelu, Alina Hiristea, Gabriel Băruţa
Premiere date: January 13, 2000

The setting of the one-act farce "Conu Leonida Faces the Reaction" is a modest room in a Bucharest slum. Here, Conu Leonida, a pensioner, is talking to Efimita, his wife, about the political situation in the country. The emphasis falls on the old man's unbridled desire to praise his qualities, his merits as a "republican", whose family was at the forefront in '48, and in '90, and in '96 (allusions to political life after the fall of communism). Conu Leonida imagines that he was once one of the perpetrators of the revolution, evoking with nostalgia the bright past. The comic results from the description of the events and the atmosphere, with "flags, music, gongs, drums, great things and the world, the world ..." so that the idealized revolution becomes nothing more nor less than a popular fair. Coana Efimița uses superlative terms to maintain this empty and ridiculous chatter, actually understanding very little of what she hears. In the quiet of their marital home, the two declare themselves the most fervent supporters of the republic, which they would defend at the cost of their lives. But when they are awakened from their sleep by bangs, hooting, volleys and shouts, the couple are terribly scared that the revolution has broken out and are ready to flee to Ploiești – the capital of Caragiale republicanism.

The second interpretation of the infernal noise outside is given by Conu Leonida based on the breaking news read in "Aurora Democratică": "It's not a revolution, sir, it's a reaction." Thus, Victor Fanache states, "in this second connotation, the noise is given a meaning contrary to the previous one. It descends on the scale of social events, from the maximum to the minimum level of significance, from the sacred fire of the revolution to the destructive one of the reaction." (Analytical Dictionary of Romanian Literary Works, coord. Ion Pop).

The mystery of the events is unraveled at dawn, when the maid Safta arrives, who tells the terrified masters that the previous night there was a big party on the occasion of the End of the Century at the corner grocer, and when the party broke up, the drunken guests booed and fired their pistols, gestures that Safta's common sense qualified as a "Mitocan custom". It is the moment when the civic courage of the two old men is reborn, as is Efimită's unconditional admiration for the genius of her husband, who knows everything.

Distribution:

Efimita:  Ileana Iurciuc
Leonidas:  George Voinese
Week:  Mona Erhan

Technical director: Ofelia Fîrte
Prompter: Florence Szabo
Lighting: Iosif Balogh, Sorin Precup
Sound: Sorin Domide