Text taken from lucianantofi.wordpress.com / author: Luciana Antofi

Power.

A handful of sand for the wide and patient hourglass of the chess games of history that quickly pours another handful of sand on top, sometimes measuring the greatness of the pieces not so much by their importance as by their resistance on the game board at the bottom of the hourglass. This time of a blue fool.

And not just any kind of madman, but an excellently contrived one (Petre Ghimbășan, a sensational Richard III) and brilliantly handled by director Andrei Măjeri together with the "Iosif Vulcan" Troupe of the "Regina Maria" Theatre in Oradea, which holds in classical/contemporary theatrical chess, for more than two hours, the ten most important pieces of power (to which the director has very inspiredly reduced the crowded royal Shakespearean universe with all kinds of ranks and relationships at the Court and dispatched it in a superb neo-medieval-rock - some medieval costumes are reinterpreted contemporarily at the bottom, in black and white with elements of silver armor, British royal symbolism, accessorized with elements of sports equipment, prints and headphones (!) - essentialized and intelligible) for which he even temporarily invented new moves on the game board.

Two kings (Edward, the current one, and Henry, the recently murdered one who visits us from the chronicles, both entrusted to Richard Balint), two queens (the imposing Lady Elisabeth of the impeccable Denisa Irina Vlad, the current queen, and Lady Margret, the imposing Corina Cernea in the role of the grieving former sovereign Margaret of Anjou, daughter of the King of Naples until her marriage to Henry VI), two dukes (George of Clarence, also Richard Balint, brother of the current sick king and Duke Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III, and Buckingham of the excellent Răzvan Vicoveanu, Richard's right hand), two duchesses (The Duchess of York, the tragic heroine of Ioana Dragoș Gajdó, Queen Mother and unwilling gravedigger of the king and the two dukes who are his brothers, and Lady Anne, the sensual Alina Leonte, the Court figure who ensures most of the connections with the contemporary (cool!), freshly seduced a widow who now leads her dead father-in-law to the grave, convinced to marry the Duke of Gloucester), two princes (a crown prince, brought to London for coronation after the king's death, and his brother from the York line, both played by the candid Robert Balint - at one point almost at the same time!), a lord chamberlain (Hastings by the ingenuous Cosmin Petruț) and a cardinal (Richard Balint again!), turned one by one into personal pawns (pages, soldiers, standard-bearers, murderers, mistresses, scoundrels, whatever is needed to quickly reach the top), only good enough to be sacrificed so that the histrionic Richard can win the game, climbing the steps to the heights of the hourglass. Which will flow the still unlived history over the freshly sifted one, in which Richard tries to shake off the still fresh soil stuck with blood from his blue socks stuck in the graves of the freshly murdered, for whom he keeps enlarging the cemetery, in order to ensure his own flow, as long and as special as possible, through the sand that will measure his moments of glory under the much-coveted blue mantle (!), to which he will eventually match his stockings. Advancing victoriously in a game that will allow him to be king for a very short time, which will be won in the end by a random pawn, an earl freshly awakened from sleep who has just dreamed all his nightmares and can put an end (under an equally blue Elizabethan collar!) to the long series of conflicts that have bloodied the throne.

The Wars of the Roses (English civil war between the Houses of Lancaster, under the coat of arms of a red rose, and York, under one with a white rose), translated into a series of battles for the throne of England between the two families from the same noble dynasty (Plantagenet), having as their ancestors the sons of King Edward III, is the historical period that followed the Hundred Years' War between France and England and is the subject of Shakespeare's concerns for the construction of plots and characters in the first historical tetralogy inspired by the Chronicles of Hall and Holinshed, written after the notes of Thomas More ("Richard III" is the last play of the tetralogy, preceded by Parts I, II and III of "Henry VI", from which playwright Alexandra Felseghi carefully extracted for Andrei Măjeri's performance the scenes populated by the characters in the present play, which support the argumentation of the construction of the characters and the relationships between them, revealing and interpreting the origins that now justify the behaviors and relationships proposed to each of them – touché!).

So, behind the curtain, the Wars of the Roses are about to end (along with the Plantagenet dynasty) after Henry VI, the last king (Lancaster) on the throne of England, was killed, and the throne is occupied by a York, now sick (Edward, brother of Richard III, still Duke of Gloucester).

The prying hand of the famous duke, perhaps the most terrible character in universal theatrical history, still gropes for the crown under the curtain that will spit him out again, to show the audience even more crooked than the cursed womb that rejected him. Armed with a monologue left behind from the previous play of the tetralogy, like the characters who will accompany him and will be his (and whom he will corner!, not by chance the formula and their unison statement, "This one was born with teeth!"), spoken at the moment of the murder of Henry VI in an unflattering self-portrait, the odious character (reborn in the prologue from under the curtain who seems not to want to get up to show us the horrors he is capable of) is now spat out into the world not feet first, but only crawling head down in an assumed whining from which he Machiavellianly weaves a short monstrous self-portrait to squeeze out tears and pity (continued after he starts the party with the famous monologue that opens "Richard III") that does not seem to disturb the peaceful sleep of the child sleeping on the edge of the stage in the light of the spotlight from this side. curtain.

Neither will the noisy party that opens the ball of horrors with acoustic and luminous signals in a contemporary club where classical Shakespearean debauchery is unleashed under the careful choreography of Hunor Varga (!). To establish from the beginning the lack of any limits, especially temporal ones.

At first glance, the fascinating construction erected on stage seems to be Vasile Rotaru's set (for the famous Richard III by Ion Marinescu, an actor who passed through the Oradea stage, in a television show made in the TVR studios in 1969 under the direction of Ion Barna and Vasile Rotaru's interesting set, which proposed a grandiose construction consisting of a suite of high and winding stairs of the interior of a castle of MC Escher origins, assembled in a spiral on a black-and-white mosaic with which the Royal Court is paved and which surrounds the hidden throne, revealed only in key moments), skillfully squeezed into the firm fist of the set designer Adrian Balcău (until the throne emerged from it, hidden in the stage's ceiling and lowered only when necessary in various positions) for essentialization and adaptation to the contemporary. Under his bold hand, the tight and fascinatingly twisted stairs in the middle in perfect symmetry are visually united in an hourglass imagined from two rows of steps, by decreasing and increasing horizontally, which allows for a small central round podium and a semicircular balcony-tribune bordered by a canvas screen (on which Andrei Cozlac will project memorable video images, which will be excellently integrated and explored in support of the pleas, testimonies, hierarchies and ambitions to access power unfolded visually in real time on the steps of the hourglass) which reveals in section (by spinning on the turntable) the tyrant's bedchamber, a small masculine boudoir in which the machinations ferment on the chessboard that supports them on the floor, where the never-used armor and shield reign (and distinctly lit by Sabina Reus, a great magician of the shadows of this show) of a fighter with a different kind of weapon, who skillfully delegates the crimes of those around him and retreats here only to catch his breath and receive emotional-medical care until the next victim is executed, far from the watchful eyes on the semicircular screen above, which paranoidly follow every move on stage (!). Through his small intimate space (full of surprises) where he drinks his ritually microwaved milkshake (! according to a recipe known only to Buckingham, just like the doctor Lorenzo prepared his potions in another Shakespearean show staged by Yuri Kordonsky at TNB), which is generally taken care of by the good and devoted Bucky, only those closest to the duke will pass: his mother, the Duchess of York who at one point covers his atrocities with a white sheet, hoping that they will not wake up with their master the next day, and Lady Anne, whom he seduced but who does not feel comfortable for a moment in his single hospital bed, now married.

In its great wisdom, the hourglass of history and Thalia, as if frightened by its own tragedies, sometimes refuses to dramatically flow the quicksand soaked in blood from the horizon of a time that wants to stand still, forcing Richard into a continuous, theatrically fascinating circular movement, from one space to another, with small variations in altitude, always forced to go around the central space of the throne lowered from time to time and occupied by others (which he always tries to cling to, even trying at one point to reach the top, to the tribune of power, directly from his bed) hoping that if they don't let him go up, he will waste his murderous energy on this interesting Moebius strip that he runs on endlessly and will never manage to reach power.

All this would not be possible without the overflowing energy of Petre Ghimbășan, an excellent actor who ensures with all the vigor he is capable of the fluidity of the story in an extremely demanding role on all levels, especially physically. He simply flows through the stage, jumping, running, dancing, tripping, falling, crawling and getting up again and again to carefully supervise each scene and make sure that he doesn't miss anything (the only moments of rest are filmed in the theater that will be filled with Richard-spectators, scattered here and there to take notes while watching the show of power (!) to ensure his diabolical ascension). A sensational Richard III that you rush to hold in your arms, likeable, sly, charming, sweet-talking (the one with double meanings (!), which he masters masterfully) and always in a good mood, often on edge and ready to negotiate amicably with everyone, apparently an unfortunate victim of history and the games in which the others have caught him.

Especially the ladies condemned to cross his destiny, brought together by the director in several earth-shattering scenes that provide the indictment of the crimes committed by Richard on the scaffold of feminism and maternalism (which Andrei Măjeri does not forget to carefully dissect in any show), now of blue blood (!).

Lady Anne, Richard's first and most important human and amorous prey, an appearance with a sad and assumed imprint of Alina Leonte, with her love's gone behind (she's gonna finally enjoy the sound of silence!), interestingly used by Andrei Măjeri to connect and relax the musical atmosphere of the show (tamed in places by Adrian Piciorea's music that carefully caresses her shrillness and identifies their common denominator, faithfully linking them in ceremonial or even religious chords, a kind of Gregorian-Măjerian choirs swaying with lullabies in which they clothe the recognizable human in the music of our times on the generous temporal expanse proposed by Andrei Măjeri, from Simon & Garfunkel - well, rethink, more a la Disturbed - to Rationale or Blondie, which manage to send us together to yesterday's and today's solemnities of any royal acoustic with theatrical attire), through interesting vocal solos carefully inserted into the game actress. To prove even more strongly the inability to love of this Richard-Heart-of-Glass (shit!), transferred equally onto herself. In the famous scene of seduction over the coffin of the deceased King Henry VI, probably the most odious in the romantic history of world conquests, the two fight each other in an eminently mental dialogue, in which both cynically dose their not at all sweet words that hide the desperate need for affection of each of them, two loners willing to a social contract that would prove to themselves that they are otherwise.

Lady Elisabeth, an impeccable Denisa Irina Vlad in a solid Elizabethan theatrical appearance, sister-in-law and imposing Queen No-No-No (read triple negation, already a trademark of Majerian for the actress!) of her brother Edward, the sick king, a strong and tried queen who has preserved her dignity after every humiliation she has had to endure and which has not affected her upright and solemn demeanor or her direct gaze, penetrating as the edge of a sword, and a woman who is difficult to subdue (whom Edward will bring with him but will practically never have). A harsh judge, devoted mother, reliable companion in governance and excellent strategist, she seeks to put everything she holds dear to her in safety, courageously facing allies and enemies alike, as much as her rank and honor acquired with great self-discipline allow.

Lady Margret, the imposing Corina Cernea in the role of the grieving former sovereign who reigned alongside Henry VI and whose child and husband were kidnapped by Richard, one after the other, the master of curses who will fill the stage and the auditorium with her thunderous voice, torn by a rarely encountered pain, before becoming a personal coach in curses for Lady Elisabeth, thrown by Richard into the same unimaginable despair of the pain of losing her own children.

And finally, his inconsolable mother, the Duchess of York, the tragic heroine in the role of the Queen Mother whom Ioana Dragoș Gajdó helps to transcend from the Shakespearean role into an even greater one, of an ancient tragic heroine, a strong actress who puts her qualities to the test to give incredible weight to this character capable of a heartbreaking speech, three times struck in the blood-stained belly by Richard, the one who, after being hated by everyone, becoming a murderer and finally killed, killed one of his brothers and danced happily on the grave of the second, forever mocking her womb, condemning and punishing her unimaginably as a mother, as a grandmother, as a queen.

But most of all as a woman who prays today for his enemies, the main culprit for having brought into the world the filth that is his son and shame alike, spat out like a toothy abortion among the people he dares not bite and tear to the last. Even to the two young nephews who stand in his way to the throne of England!...

Throne occupied in the show by two kings, Edward (from the present and from the intelligently inserted chronicles that help Richard Balint build the charming psychological portrait of the spoiled and misogynistic character, completely opposite to the one presented in the play as the great diplomat who is able to bring peace by supervising relationships and situations between irreconcilable characters, separated by bloody crimes, which will also justify the icy relationship with Lady Elisabeth) and Henry, the recently murdered king, also played by Richard Balint, who visits us only from the chronicles (excellent monologue of the king longing for a normal and peaceful life as a shepherd, in which he would also play nicely with the sand in the hourglass, giving deeper meanings to time, finding that the life of the common man is happier than that of the king who fears betrayal and the nightmares of absurd battles in which fathers, sons and brothers end up killing each other; Henry is also the one who, in a sign of the profound understanding of the absurd war between the differently colored roses of the same shrub (when one blooms another perishes, and their fight destroys thousands of lives, attracting the hatred of the people), puts the dot on R (!), difficult (dramatically!) to bring to the poster from the Ge initially sculpted in video projection from the clouds that shade the house coat of arms from the beginning, specifically inserted into the mind of one brother to make him enmity with another. The same Richard Balint in the role of George de Clarence, the naive and party-loving brother imprisoned by the king in the Tower of London following the prefabricated sayings and predictions of Richard who brought him into his sights (according to which the bearer of the bloody letter will extinguish his descendants) and whom the same Richard will kill in cold blood. In the show of the Magherian, he directly orders Bucky (an interesting choice, repeated a little differently later) after the murderers reveal their faces (!) and thus seal a bloody path, without return, in their criminal companionship. The same one on which Hastings will perish – the ingenious Cosmin Petruț who manages an excellent portrayal as the page in the chronicle – following another plot, also wonderfully simplified (after the Lord Chamberlain dreams of the trap set by Richard for the nephews he wants removed from his path to the crown, both in the charge of Robert Balint who will embody them in different registers (!), almost simultaneously, through a few quickly changed costume tricks), plotted together with the same Buckingham and left to him to execute, so that Richard can keep his sword (ingeniously wielded by the agile Prince of York) clean.

A sword apparently unstained directly by the exaggerated care that Duke Buckingham, Richard's right hand, never repaid, takes of it, the partner and faithful subject of the excellent Răzvan Vicoveanu, with whom Petre Ghimbășan manages, in my opinion, to create one of the most beautiful theatrical couples in the history of Shakespearean (and Machiavellian!) royal courts brought to the stage in the Romanian theatrical space. And whose living and authoritative presence, as dynamic and insidious as that of his master, trains, shapes, delimits, strengthens or erodes, as the case may be, the springs of power, to show us the astonishing cogs in its perfidious mechanism, for a good understanding of the conflicts and finally as a plea for moral balance (not even he, ultimately betrayed, can go as far as Richard!...). They are the authors of the most impressive scene in Măjerian's artistic endeavor (a show in itself, one hundred percent comic, whose plausible and recognizable chilling attests to its validation among the spectators who finally let out a laugh), the one in which they train their Machiavellianism by the light of the candles that illuminate their ascending path through the crowd on the steps of the hourglass. Which will certainly be fascinated by their wonderful interpretation qualities, presented in this excellent manual for using Christian symbols in manipulating the masses (BOR opinion!). Prepare the Bible, the cross, the rosary, the monkish race, let the imagination and prayer come, let the cardinal come! (sorry, he's gone after strawberries!... Come on, it wasn't me who added fuel to the fire, Richard Balint strikes again! As if we had a choice... or a voice!...). At the end of the Christian path thus illuminated, he looks with peace at the sacrificial lamb, ultimately inevitably stained by the dirty blood of an ever-younger Richard, before being avenged by the Earl of Richmond.

A child who dutifully dreamed of peace on the edge of the stage, resting his innocence next to his toy horses (white and red!), witness to all these nightmares of the War of the Roses, full of tendentious gossip and false rumors, humiliations, intrigues, accusations, desecrations, abuses, betrayals, fights and bloody crimes, from which he finds himself forced to snatch the crown through fair combat, to place it over the Elizabethan collar (blue!).

With a victory speech following the liberation of the country from the yoke of tyranny (which marks the historical and official beginning of the Tudor dynasty), urging us to defend our families and to rescue our children from the terror of despots and their swords with which they threaten our peace and future, this Richmond by the talented Luca Bran (a validated child of the "Iosif Vulcan" troupe, already a title character in two other shows of the "Regina Maria" Theater in Oradea), will put an end to it with the promised dagger on his white T-shirt, undoubtedly stuck in the glass heart of the rat-Richard in the mirror black T-shirt of the main character whose place he has just taken.

Sending this Richard-Heart-of-Glass out of the hourglass, whom history would do well to never give birth to again.