{"id":14677,"date":"2025-11-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teatrulreginamaria.ro\/?p=14677"},"modified":"2026-06-10T13:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:43:16","slug":"broken-mirror-an-interview-with-timofei-kuliabin-and-roman-doljanski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teatrulreginamaria.ro\/en\/oglinda-sparta-un-interviu-cu-timofei-kuliabin-si-roman-doljanski\/","title":{"rendered":"THE BROKEN MIRROR | an interview with Timofei Kuliabin and Roman Doljanski"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview taken from LiterNet.ro<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queen Maria Theatre:<\/strong> You chose to stage in Oradea an adaptation of the text "Broken Glass", written by Arthur Miller towards the end of his career as a playwright, being a play perhaps less well-known than "Death of a Salesman" or "The Crucible", but with a great socio-political charge. What influenced you to make this choice and what do you feel is the greatest directorial potential of the text?<\/em>
Roman Doljanski:<\/strong> I was in negotiations with the theater. It was commissioned\u2026 not this title, but it was commissioned by the theater; it was the theater's desire to choose a title from the American dramaturgy of the last century. Recently, I worked with another text by the great playwright Eugene O'Neill, in Sibiu, so, within this direction, the question arose about why it would be interesting to choose from American dramaturgy. Mainly, Eugene O'Neill; there is also Tennessee Williams, who is known everywhere, and Arthur Miller, who although he is an important playwright, is perhaps less known, and his presence in the theater repertoires \u2013 both globally and in Romania \u2013 is no longer as significant as it used to be. So the idea was for Arthur Miller to be the one suggested, but the choice for Broken Glass belonged to Timofei. My choice was the playwright, and the play was the director's choice.
Timofey Kuliabin: <\/strong>Yes, I chose this play because it is one of the author's last texts; it is not that well-known and not translated. Moreover, it is not translated into Romanian. It may not be the most well-known play, but it is interesting to me because it explores the family drama itself. There are only three main characters, and the play is a typical family drama, which is my direction. I like stories in which conflict arises between people with very close relationships \u2014 in this case, husband and wife. That is on the one hand. On the other hand, although it is a family drama, the play also touches on several very current social issues, such as the new ethics, the moral dilemmas of modern society or the new wave of anti-Semitism. Thus, it is not just a simple family drama, but also covers social issues that can be integrated into the same production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n


TRM: <\/strong>How was the meeting with the team of actors of the "Iosif Vulcan" Troupe? How did the rehearsals and the entire work process on the show go? What are the biggest challenges you encountered?<\/em>
TK: <\/strong>I would say it was excellent. A very comfortable, professional time. I am very happy to work with the theater team. They are strong and professional. From the first rehearsal, from the first meeting, we had an understanding, and they fully understood my and Roman's intentions, our approach to the text, why we changed the text, why we added new characters and scenes, and how we treat the text and the story. There were no misunderstandings between us. It was very comfortable to work, as if it was not the first time we met. A warm and professional atmosphere.
RD:<\/strong> I have to say that they are disciplined. It's natural, but sometimes when you work in big cities, in capitals, it's difficult to get everyone together in the same room for rehearsals because everyone has other commitments. Here, everyone is professional and disciplined. I've worked in big cities, in metropolises. When no actor is even a minute late for rehearsals \u2014 although it's normal \u2014 it's a rare thing. This kind of focus on work, on the process, where everyone is very open and, at the same time, very serious, is valuable. Maybe it's also because the city isn't that big, but I'm sure that even in smaller places, sometimes, this level of dedication to theater, to the profession, to rehearsals is beautiful and impressive. We are very satisfied and we felt very good here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


TRM: <\/strong>This is your second production in Romania, after collaborating with the Radu Stanca National Theatre this spring, with the show Lungul drum al zilei c\u00eerta noapte. How do you perceive the Romanian theatrical environment compared to the Russian and Western ones?<\/em>
TK: <\/strong>It would be a very long and complicated answer, because, from my perspective \u2014 I had never been to Romania before. I would honestly say that I had never seen a Romanian live show. Since I came here this year, I have been impressed by the level and quality of the theater school, the actors, their skills and professionalism, which, for me, were unexpected. The average level of skills of Romanian actors is very high, no less than that of German or Russian ones. The top acting skills were a pleasant surprise for me.
RD:<\/strong> I am familiar with Romanian theater a little more and I visited Romania, on the occasion of different festivals in Sibiu, Bucharest, Craiova, so I knew more, maybe, about theater, about directors, about the structure. Of course, the institutional structure is similar to what we are used to in Russia, in Germany, in Poland, more or less, in all Eastern European countries. I know that this type of system was, is and will be criticized, with permanent troupes, with state theaters. It was criticized in Russia because it seemed \u2014 and still seems \u2014 that it was not flexible enough for us playwrights, for new forms of theater, such as postdramatic theater, and others, because there are many new trends. With time \u2014 and this is a personal attitude \u2014 I become less critical of this system and I think it is valuable. You have a lot of quality and many possibilities to grow a new audience, to develop new attitudes and aesthetics. This system, which is criticized and which my colleagues in Romania sometimes complain about as outdated and in need of more flexibility \u2014 and it's true, I completely agree with them \u2014 but which at the same time, I believe has value. It can be contemporary, it can be serious, and it can confront and answer many of the questions that theater in our day and in our world needs to answer and discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRM:<\/strong> In this adaptation, there are a few changes from Miller's text: the disappearance of Hyman's wife, and the appearance of a new character: Robert Wilson, the director of the clinic. The latter seems to play a third-party role for the narrative. Did you think the play also needed a more neutral perspective?<\/em>
DR.<\/strong>: I think so, because each generation looks at the classical heritage, the old plays, through a contemporary perspective. Of course, we can pretend that on stage we are playing the story from the 1930s, as in the original play, or even from the 1990s, when it was written by Arthur Miller. Many directors choose this method of interpretation. They pretend to create a world of the past, and this is another choice. Timofei usually looks and suggests that the characters be seen from a contemporary perspective. We live in the same times as our audience, so there is no need to pretend that there is another world from the past \u2014 which can also be done in an interesting way \u2014 but here it is another decision of the director, another aesthetic system. That is why when you look at the material with contemporary eyes, from our point of view, you immediately understand that many things have changed. It doesn't mean that the text has lost its artistic value, because that's exactly why I chose it \u2014 it's an interesting situation \u2014 but to be contemporary, you have to be in dialogue with the text. When you start this dialogue, you are ready for some decisions about how to work with this text, what to do. This topic, as Timofei already said \u2014 about medical ethics, manipulation, the complicated relationships between doctors and patients, what is allowed and what is not allowed \u2014 all these situations in our society and times, in different countries and in different ways, in different parts of the world, all these are questions that are being examined today. So when you follow this kind of thinking, this kind of relationship with the text, you know how to intervene, what to do. That's why I covered Arthur Miller's plot with a kind of contemporary dome. That's the idea, and the audience will tell us if the result is convincing.
TK:<\/strong> Yes, that's right. We live in a world where one wrong word can cost you your career... even your life. Today, the value of words has changed significantly.
RD:<\/strong> Not just words\u2026 gestures\u2026 intentions\u2026 even looks.
TK: <\/strong>This is a big difference from the period in which the play was written, not to mention the period in which the action takes place in the original text. In order to bring the plot into the present, we had to conceive these new circumstances, to have this new character who is, at the same time, a witness, an arbitrator, a judge. So he is the one who has a distant view of the characters. Of course, each one has their own truth, their own reason for their behavior, but he tries to be a kind of arbitrator, which is perhaps one of the most complicated parts of this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


TRM:<\/strong> In a Europe in full crisis, weighed down by multiple socio-political tensions, where people are constantly bombarded with news about conflagrations around the world, does theater have a duty to react and ask uncomfortable but necessary questions?<\/em>
RD: <\/strong>Theatre cannot be responsible for everything that happens in the world. Theatre cannot change what happens in the world. Theatre has no influence on world events, but it is true that it asks questions. Good theatre does not give answers. Certain politicians or the media think they can give answers, but usually their answers are wrong. I believe that intelligent audiences do not come to the theatre to receive answers, but to learn to formulate appropriate questions. This is the only way and the only value of theatre. No more, but no less.
TK: I completely agree!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


TRM: <\/strong>How did the outbreak of the armed conflict in 2022 influence your approach to theater, both in terms of the selection of plays and the stage vision?<\/em>
TK: <\/strong>It's a complicated question. My personal choices of titles always depend on external conditions, so to speak. Sometimes I can react much more directly. For example, after February 2022, my next shows touched a lot on the subject of war\u2026 not in a direct way, but they were related. Now I'm going back more to the psychological family dramas that I was used to before the times changed. For me, it's about the complexity of the circumstances, of course\u2026 what's happening outside, in the world, what's happening in my personal life influences this aspect. My personal taste, sometimes\u2026 I change the direction and clarify it for myself. For example now, in this period when I'm approaching these family dramas and, in a way, more criminal investigations. My next shows are mainly based around this subject. It's a complicated matter and I think for each director it's a personal approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


TRM:<\/strong> How necessary are such revisitations and adaptations of older or classic texts for contemporary theater?<\/em>
RD: <\/strong>There is no theater that is not contemporary. It is something that people sometimes say: what is classical theater and what is contemporary theater? It is an endless discussion and, for me, a bit useless, but very common, because theater is a contemporary art form. There is no such thing as traditional theater or contemporary theater. All theater is contemporary, because it is happening now, tonight or at least tomorrow, in a week\u2026 There is no such question. Which theater is the real one is a contemporary matter. After that, it is just a matter of means. How do you work? With what instruments? With what ideas? With what type of rehearsals? With what ensemble of ideas? In theater, everything is contemporary. The rest is the method, the approach, the instruments used by each artist. But theater is contemporary. Let's not talk about "traditional theater". It is something that does not exist in nature. Only the texts are classical.
TK: <\/strong>The texts could be classical, but the theater performance is the art form that could be based on classical texts or not. The text in the theater is just the words that the actor recites. The text is in the book, on paper, and it has a different value in the theater. In this case, I can use any classical text, but I don't feel like I have to venerate the work or...
RD:<\/strong> To bow on your knees...
TK: <\/strong>In theater, any text is just for actors to speak. Theater does not serve literature. It is a different art form. Theater is a performing art and has nothing to do with literature, in fact. It uses certain plays or novels to perform them, not to read them to the audience. It is a different direction.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interviu preluat de pe LiterNet.ro Teatrul Regina Maria: A\u021bi ales s\u0103 monta\u021bi la Oradea o adaptare dup\u0103 textul \u201eBroken Glass\u201d, scris de c\u0103tre Arthur Miller c\u0103tre finalul carierei sale de dramaturg, fiind o pies\u0103 poate mai pu\u021bin cunoscut\u0103 dec\u00e2t \u201eDeath of a Salesman\u201d sau \u201eThe Crucible\u201d, dar cu o mare \u00eenc\u0103rc\u0103tur\u0103 socio- politic\u0103. Ce v-a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aparitii-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t