Dramatization based on the fairy tale by Ion Creangă by Gheorghe Calamanciuc

Artistic director: Ion Ciubotaru
Assistant director: George Voinese
Sets: Ianis Vasilatos
Costumes: Iuliana Szabo, Marinela Asăvoaie
Premiere date: September 20, 2001

In "The Story of Harap-Alb", we discover a fantastic Bildungsroman and, indirectly, a lesson about honesty, courage, friendship and love, that is, about those elements that make up the very essence of human existence.

The youngest son of the King, the most capable of the brothers, is sent to the court of the Green Emperor to follow him to the throne, since he has no descendants. As a reward for his kind and generous heart, the king's son is advised by Saint Sunday, disguised as a needy old woman and beggar; the separation from home is done only with the father's consent, after the test of courage, which attests that the son is ready for the great journey. Leaving the space of parental worries and advice, the son enters a universe foreign to him, in which a symbolic wandering takes place. The forest appears as a labyrinthine space, as a capital test on the hero's journey. Here the forces of evil take shelter, whose encounter is imminent: The Spruce, wearing the mask of humility and benevolence, misleads the novice hero, not yet accustomed to distinguishing appearance from essence.

The descent into the well is equivalent to a symbolic death of the prince's son, who is reborn as a servant, thus entering a long test of humility, necessary in the process of forming an authentic leader, who must not be alien to the feelings of a subject. Once they arrive at the court of the Green Emperor, Spânul subjects him to difficult trials, intending to lose him and keep the throne of the kingdom for himself: to bring him salads from the bear's garden, the skin of an enchanted deer, beaten with gems, and the daughter of the Red Emperor. The trials to which Harap-Alb is subjected test not so much his warrior virtues, but especially his human side. For each of the trials, he finds reliable allies: the horse, the ants, the bees, and Holy Sunday.

For the maturation process to be complete, the hero must also initiate himself on a sentimental level; this is the symbolic function of the third attempt, meant to also develop the motive of friendship with the fabulous characters Ochilă, Setilă, Gerilă, Flămânzilă, Gerilă and Păsări-Lăți-Lungilă.

Upon returning to the Green Emperor's court, the girl reveals the truth and marries Harap-Alb, forming together the ideal couple, possessing the great human qualities that ensure their path to happiness.

Distribution:

The King:  Ion Ruscut
The eldest son, Gerilă:  Sebastian Wolf
The middle son, Ochilă:  Pavel Sarghi
The youngest son, Harap Alb:  Serban Borda
The Hunchbacked Lady, Holy Sunday:  Mona Erhan
The Bear, the Red Emperor's Faithful:  Igor Lungu
The Horse, Setila:  Alexander Rusu
Emperor Green:  George Voinese
A boyar:  Petre Ghimbasan
Deer:  Mirela Nita Lupu
Daughter I:  Simona Nica
Second daughter:  Mirela Nita Lupu
Third daughter:  Corina Cernea
The Red Emperor's Daughter:  Angela Tanko
Glutton:  Richard Balint
The tree:  Andrian Locovei
Long-Wide Birds:  Sorin Ciofu
Red Emperor:  Tiberiu Covaci
In other roles:  Anca Turcut, Zentania Lupse, Adrian Marian, Mirela Jurca

Technical director: Ofelia Fîrte
Prompter: Iuliana Chelu
Lights: Iosif Balogh, Sorin Precup, László Attila Oláh
Sound: Sorin Domide