Text taken from Contributors.ro / author: Mircea Morariu

Like the other eight previous editions, the ninth PHYTO, that is, to Oradea International Theatre Festival, held between June 1-9, organized by the Theatre Queen Mary, had two sections. One with a competitive character, the second reserved for guest performances.

The first section, the one in which a significant number of theaters have entered productions in the competition, intends to preserve the connection with tradition. More precisely, with Short Theatre Week, a festival created in 1976, thanks to the collaboration between the management of the Oradea State Theatre at the time and that of the magazine Family.

There were a number of favorable conditions then, in 1976. The vigilance of the various party organs and not only that supervised (and) everything that happened in the Theaters, could be fooled to some extent by placing all cultural events under the aegis of National Festival "C"The arrival of Romania"In the pages Family Oradea, the famous critic Valentin Silvestru supported a column dedicated to the Romanian one-act play. And the wealth in the field that proved to be of considerable wealth should be put to good use on stage. Fortunately, tradition was also associated with new trends. Perhaps, the world already felt the need to concentrate. Short-form dramatic literature was fashionable almost everywhere in the world and had taken serious roots in Romania, primarily thanks to first-class playwrights, such as Marin Sorescu, Dumitru Solomon or Iosif Naghiu. All of them - and not only them - constantly supported the manifestation of theatrical culture in Oradea, which they honored with their presence every time. In addition, during the 70s and 80s, the Theaters acquired a taste for coupé shows, and this fashion also metamorphosed into an argument in favor of Festival. The host institution prepared for each edition a show that would revalidate the genre. To prove its vitality.

But many years have passed since 1976 and a lot has happened in these years. Shows longer than three hours have become a rarity, while those shorter than 90 minutes are also rare. What was established, through a Regulation drawn up in 1996, should be the maximum duration of shows admitted to the competition. The fact that, at some point, it reached 120 minutes is due to the relentless aberrations during a directorate of sad memory. And since in the grace year 2024, extremely few shows were found, and even fewer were truly good, lasting only an hour and a half, the limit was extended to an hour and three quarters. In some cases, short theatre metamorphosed into shortened theatre. This was, for example, the case of the show with the play Fake maid by Marivaux, directed at the Theatre Maria Filotti from Brăila by Alexandru Mâzgăreanu. But here too, as in several other cases, the story of Bergson and Proust worked with philosophy of time duration and time has passed imperceptibly. So why not give up the tyranny of form once and for all? Why beat a dead horse endlessly?

To the joy of the spectators who honestly paid for their tickets and to the satisfaction of the critic, a bit of a grumbler by nature, who can write without his pen shaking and without resorting to white lies, this year in Oradea we had many good performances in the competitive section. A substantial part of them- Who killed my father? from the Theater Metropolis from Bucharest (directed by: Andrei Măjeri), Hedwig and the Hungry Inch (directed by: Răzvan Mazilu from the Theatre Stella Popescu also from Bucharest),  Elektra (directed by: Botond Nagy) from the Hungarian State Theatre in Cluj-Napoca, truth (directed by: Radu Iacoban) from the National Film Festival in Timișoara, Parent (directed by: Mariana Cămărășan) from the National Theatre Radu Stanca from Sibiu, mentioned above Fake maid are on the list of nominees and award winners. A list established by a jury made up of director Bobi Pricop, set designer Irina Moscu and actress Cosmina Stratan, whom I, as I said, a natural scoundrel, would not reproach for anything.

I was happy to see actors in great form performing in the aforementioned shows. Like, for example, the sensational Lucian Ionescu in Hedwig in The Hungry Inch, the very young and talented Adelin Tudorache, Alex Iezdmir, Eduard Chimac, Hunor Varga, Iustin Danalache, Vlad-Ionuț Popescu, that is, "Măjeri's boys" in Who killed my father??, Emilian Oprea, Blanca Dobă, Corina Borș, Ciprian Chiricheș in Fake maid, all the actors cast in Elektra, led by the excellent Albert Csilla, Diana Văcaru-Lazăr and Cendana Trifan, both moving and perfectly attuned in Parent, Matei Chioariu in truthAnd, of course, the very young and admirable actors cast by Diana Mititelu in the show The backyard game, production of the Constanta State Theatre. A staging that was well received in other festivals as well. Which gives me the opportunity to note a “novelty”. I think the organizers would do no harm in reflecting on the usefulness of which. Namely, the abandonment of the provision according to which only performances produced between two editions of the Festival are accepted in the selection. As long as the Festival has an annual periodicity and which is to be hoped that it will remain so, I do not really see the usefulness of “recoveries” of any nature. Otherwise, as I was saying, I noticed the actors Ecaterina Lupu, Ștefan Mihai, Andrei Bibire, Cătălin Bucur and Theodor Șoptelea, 

They, that is, all those already named, were joined by Zoltan Lovas in One (wo)man show-the one at the Classical Theatre John Slavici from Arad, George Constantinescu and Ștefan Iancu, very good at the rather long nițeleș American Buffalo from the Bucharest Art Theatre (directed by Bogdan Budeș), Nora Covali and Elena Popa in Dolores from the Youth Theatre in Piatra Neamț (directed by: Ciprian V. Nechita), the entire cast from A super-happy story (about what it's like to be super sad) from the Theater Bacovia from Bacău (directed by Horia Suru).

But if "Majeri's boys" were at a high level, the same cannot be said about two of the Category B goddesses of the same director. A fact never seen by me in 40 years of theater criticism, the actresses Silvia Luca, from the Teatrul Michael Eminescu from Botoșani, and Elena Ivanca, from the National Theater Lucian Blaga from Cluj-Napoca, they came, they made a little scandal that they wanted a hotel of a different category, they still slept in the hotel that they had not initially liked at all, but they refused to play. In this way, they made fun of the audience, of their castmate Ioana Dragoș Gajdó, of the director whom they had forgotten that they had previously assured us would be a kind of alter-ego of Paris, of the jury, of the management of the Theatre Queen Mary. And, first of all, by profession. Thus definitively disqualifying themselves artistically, becoming sub-category actresses and proving that what they say on stage in their minds and souls means nothing more than a series of empty words.

The host theatre presented in the competition section Who do I vote for? directed by Gavril Pinte. A show that I think still needs work. The German State Theatre from Timișoara was present at the Oradea Festival with Sales people, a sample of documentary theater directed by Carmen Lidia Vidu, a show well played by the actors in the cast, but which, worst of all! - suffers from some documentary errors. In about the same aesthetic area is also placed dispossessed, a performance by director Bálint Botos based on a text by Szilárd Borbély at the National Theatre Csokonay from Debrecen.

I prefer not to say too many things about Maybe you're dreaming from the Northern Theater in Satu Mare and about Life is a dream from the West Theatre in Reșița. It's just that in both cases, the dream took the form of a nightmare. Director Toma Enache treated Caldéron's famous play in a minor register, probably considering it a text for children. Meanwhile, in Satu Mare, Diana Dragoș created a sample of a show that poorly mimics wisdom and modernity.

The guest performances section gave us many reasons for satisfaction. It was a great joy to see the octogenarian Dorina Lazar shining in the remarkable show. Restlessness from the Theater Odeum from Bucharest, just as the question of how her outstanding performance could not have been even noticed by the jury of nominations for the UNITER awards could not help but cross my mind again. There are signs that Ceaușescu continues to haunt not only Romanians, but also those outside the country's borders. The show is proof The Last Days of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Theatre production Polsky Bydgoszczy from Poland. Directed by Wojciech Faruga. I hardly vibrated at all at Tzuki and Daddy brought from Romanian Playwrights' Theatre, although the cast included Marius Bodochi and Florin Piersic Jr. As I don't think I've seen in the best formula The Memory Trilogy, show directed by Radu Afrim at the National Theater Marin Sorescu from Craiova, I reserve the right to return to the installation only after a second meeting. If this second meeting takes place.  

Theater Queen Mary from Oradea presented the national premiere of the play Kid by Pozsgay Zsólt. To which I will return as soon as possible.

There were also book launches in the Oradea Festival program, two in number, and a few concerts, one of which was held by Nicu Alifantis. As part of a national program supported by UNITER. Which was represented by the executive vice president Aura Corbeanu and the program director Doina Lupu. Unfortunately, very few critics took part in this edition. Real critics, not penmen who write texts similar to an erotic massage. And also unfortunately, this ninth edition of PHYTO is the last one whose director is provided by the actor Daniel Vulcu. The Director of the Theatre Queen Mary from Oradea. To whom belongs the idea of having thought of resuming the Festival after a rather long interruption and revitalizing it after the catastrophic directorship that I mentioned above, in passing. Another nightmare that the Oradea Theater would do well to get rid of as soon as possible. And to be protected from the danger that, after Daniel Vulcu's departure, another one will be installed.