Premiere date: June 10, 1962

The semicentennial of Caragiale, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the writer's death, represented a celebration of Caragiale's personality and work, which falls within the general evolution of the dramaturgy of the era (Chekhov, Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Jarry, Craig) and precedes some subsequent developments in dramatic art (Eugen Ionescu). "The qualitative level always considered by Caragiale is the European one. Creating a quintessence of the national spirit, the playwright also had a true European vocation, proven in the work by the synthesis he drew between the traditional means of the theater and the demands of modern drama". (I. Constantinescu – "Caragiale and the beginnings of modern European theater", Ed. Minerva, Bucharest, 1974).

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 has been at the forefront of all major political events in the recent past. Conu Leonida imagines that he was once one of the perpetrators of the revolution, nostalgically evoking 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.

 The second part of the show, written by Dorel Dorian, was subtitled „Moments, sketches, verses, thoughts, aphorisms and many others… so to speak, whims…”. The publication „Moftul român” appeared in three series, two of which (1893 and 1901-1902) were under the direction of IL Caragiale. The essential characteristic of the magazine was the scope of satire, including that directed at other publications of the time. As Ștefan Cazimir observes („IL Caragiale facing kitsch”, Ed. Cartea Românească, 1988), „moftul” anticipates another term, established after the Second World War – „kitsch”, both having the meaning of something devoid of value or content, trifle, lie, empty talk. The source of the phenomenon is identified in the slum environment, but not necessarily in the physical one, but in the "intellectual slum", where people of all categories mix. Everything in this world is under the sign of falsehood, of ostentation. Although it claims to oppose the phenomenon, the Caragiale world is dominated by Moft, and the Oradea show has revived some of the emblematic figures of this universe of irony and excess.

LEONIDAS CONE FACE TO REACTION
Fasce in one act
Artistic director: Dorel Urlăţeanu
Scenography: Tatiana Manolescu Uleu
Distribution:
Leonidas:  Dorel Urlățeanu
Efimita:  Maud Mary
Saptha, their maidservant:  Anca Miere Chirilă

ROMANIAN FAVORITE
National premiere
Special edition by Dorel Dorian
Artistic director: Ion Deloreanu
Scenography: Tatiana Manolescu Uleu
Distribution:
The esteemed:  Constantin Simionescu
Consort:  Doina Urlățeanu
The fruit of their love:  Anca Miere Chirilă
The Minister:  Ricardo Colbert
Own grandson:  Ilie Iliescu
The scientist:  Radu Reisel
Friend X:  Jean Sandulescu
The chronicler:  Valentin Avrigeanu
Director:  Lili Mihailescu
The Major:  Eugen Tugulea
The prefect:  John the Baptist
Lache and Mache:  Gheorghe V. Gheorghe, Ioan Martin
Extras and Nea Iancu's Man:  Dorel Urlățeanu