Comedy by Mikhail Bulgakov
Translation: Aneta Dobre and Galina Cernicova

Artistic direction and stage version: Alexandru Colpacci
Scenography: architect Dan Jitianu
Musical illustration: Felix Şipoş
Premiere date: June 4, 1981

The starting point of the comedy "Tsar Ivan Changes His Profession" is placed in Moscow in the 1930s, a context in which the engineer Timofeev invents a rudimentary time machine, through which he sends the block administrator Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha four centuries into the past. In his place appears the fierce and legendary Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Thus, the upheaval is total: Bunsha finds himself still in Moscow, but at Ivan's court, while the latter is transported to the future and must understand and behave according to the avatars of the modern world. Bunsha substitutes for the Tsar, an opportunity which reveals his true tyrannical nature; Ivan the Terrible, taken as a talented actor, tries to sort out the sentimental entanglements of the engineer Timofeev. The scenes of the comedy alternate rapidly between eras, the effect being almost cinematic. The confusions and qui-pro-quos are continuous, and the comic is accentuated by the modern elements of contemporary language overlaid with archaisms used four centuries ago.

The interest of the play does not lie, however, in the differences between the two eras, but in their perhaps unexpected convergence. The similarities are found in the qualities of the people, which have remained essentially the same over the centuries, but also in the situations depicted, which have a timeless character. The parodic substratum transforms the entire incident into a parable.

In the end of the play – dominated by a lyrical note –, order is restored, each character returns to his era, and moreover, it is suggested that everything was only a dream of engineer Timofeev, but a dream with a great load of ideas, associations and meanings.

Distribution:

Timofeev:  Liviu Rozorea
Bunsha and Tsar Ivan:  Nicholas Thomas
Miloslawski:  Eugen Harizomenov
Shpak:  Ion Abrudan
Jakin:  Marcel Popa
Fedka:  Laurian Jivan
The Swedish Ambassador and the Ballerina:  György Tóth
The Bishop:  Grig Schiţcu
Zinaida:  Ileana Iurciuc
Militiaman:  John Martin
Uliana and Tsarina:  Mariana Neagu
Soloist:  Anca Miere Chirilă

Technical director: Mărioara Goina
Prompter: Dimitrios Stefanidis
Lighting: Vasile Blejan, Iosif Balogh
Sound: Dorel Olea