Text taken from LiterNet.ro | author: Răzvan Rocaș

We live in a time when everything that happens around us seems to push us into polemics with those around us. We often discover that what we thought we knew about these people is, in fact, erroneous. In such moments, we need something that gives us the certainty that things or people dear to us will remain unchanged, as we remember them. These landmarks instill in us a necessary sense of security. It's just that it is precisely in the midst of them that the most brutal changes can occur, forcing us to make drastic decisions.

We also encounter such a relational split in the newest premiere of the Regina Maria Theater in Oradea, Things I know to be true, which premieres on September 16 and 17, 2025. In the foreground is a family from a small Australian town, which at first glance does not seem any different from other families of their kind. It's just that its depths carry a tension that is ready to burst at any moment. The return of the youngest from her European trip seems to be the wingbeat that will finally provoke the hurricane of revelations that descends on the Price family. The cast includes actors Richard Balint, Corina Cernea, Denisa Irina Vlad, Eugen Neag, Cosmin Petruț and Giorgiana Coman, in a stage construction that promises to be emotional and relatable.

Director Vlad Bălan, who builds his stage discourse in the most naturalistic manner possible, offers a penetrating look at the sinuous dynamics that ultimately lead to an irreversible erosion of the foundations on which the Price family seemed to be supported. Thus, the whole ends up crumbling to the point of becoming unrecognizable. The original music composed by Cristina Juncu emphasizes this restlessness and impatience that the family members feel towards the things that have remained unsaid for too long, at the same time offering a reflective framework for the viewer to look at their own choices through the eyes of the characters. The set design signed by Gabi Albu, which relies on a realistic setting, becomes an important tool of immersion, so that the viewers become part of the story, silent but present witnesses of the major changes.

The show explores themes such as personal empowerment, the fragility of what we think we know about those closest to us, and the conflict that can arise between the need for our certainties to remain unaltered and the speed with which they change without us realizing it. What happens when what we once called "home" becomes a distant, foreign space?

Things I know to be true is a show that invites openness: honesty towards oneself, sincerity towards others, frankness towards what we know and towards what we think we know. In these times, when truth and personal perception are almost inseparably confused, we need moments that challenge us to take a closer look at the things we take for granted. So, at the first premiere of the season, we invite viewers to look beyond appearances and, why not, beyond their own expectations.