Mechanical games, family hysteria and lack of money

The first good thing about Sfantul Gheorghe is that you get away from the heat of Bucharest. When you are at peace with your body, things work better, the brain included.

The best thing that can happen to you is to be around the "Atelier" Theatre Festival. Every show here comes complete with its own esthetic challenge. I saw a very interesting buto-dance show: "The story of the girl who follows her lover into the church," a one-man show with Hikaru Otsubo - a genuine magician of inner movement. The Vava Company belonging to choreographer Vava atefanescu came with an impressing theatre-dance show: "www.euridice.ro (Orpheus or about the fall)," a subtle and modern meditation on the myth-reality duality rendered with the latest and most expressive means of contemporary dance. Then, the Hungarian Theatre Szkene, familiarised us with a few "Family hysteria" (by Regos Janos). The apparent reality of the show gave headaches to the audience (they go to the theatre to escape reality and are bothered when they see too much reality on stage). With "Underground notes" after Dostoievski, the young director Vitalie Bichir takes us into a world of existentialist anguish, of rebels without a cause, of the uselessness of life. We survived though, helped by the irony in Radu Afrim's "Job." Teodora Herghelegiu, the creator of the "Nonexistent Theatre" also helped with her "How to." The play makes people laugh every time due to the three young actors: Antoaneta Zaharia, Gabriel Coveseanu and Mihai Razus. "Steps" by Horatiu Mihaiu, takes us into the animation theatre, into the world of the visual, an image essay about the long voyage of man since birth and until he dies. In "Conu' Leonida fata cu reactiunea" (The Intelligence Exploitation Centre Iasi), Ioan Manzatu gave us a different approach of the renowned play. Mita is the no.10 wife of Conul and is much younger than him - thus the following events. A young and libertine Safta who sings "Free at the seaside" is the culmination of the play. Playwright Radu Macrinici, the director of the festival, was absorbed by a very common drama: money. He told us: "This whole festival had the motto The problems of this year's manifestation were the same as last year's: we were not given proper funding, the money arrived late, and promises were not kept... We hope that the next edition will be better." That is the story of the "Atelier" Week in Sfantul Gheorghe.