In 2018, a prestigious French publishing house Seuil published a booklet of about 85 pages, signed by an unknown writer. Still on Seuil two other books appeared to him, the writer’s name was Edouard Louis, and the volume was called that Who killed dad? The name was simply a pseudonym, which the writer resorted to not so much with the thought of literary fame as forced by necessity. His name was actually Louis Beautiesagain beauty means in French beautiful moa A fact that inclined the owner to a lot of unsalted jokes not only from his schoolmates, but also from the whole small community, among which he spent his childhood and youth. A community that has heard no sign of Shakespeare’s interrogation Name, what a name?

And if that was all. Young Belgel was marked, branded with guilt for being different. He was sensitive, did not like heavy sports, did not like football or basketball, preferred reading, books. Don’t you think he danced well? Seems too good for a boy. So the world spoke. Attention, not quite academic French mouth it is said Güell. And the mouth of the world cannot be closed with any categorical Shut up!. Whispers also reached the ears of young Eddie’s family. Eddie became a source of shame. He clearly belonged to the minority. Another.

The family consisted of a father, raised on the cult of courage, the indisputable superiority of men, a mother who had to endure the drunkenness and beatings of her husband, and a brother who prematurely became addicted to alcohol.

What did courage mean to his father? Among other things, the fact that the man does not like books. And teaching too. Mechanically repeated belief that school years are kind of useless. But was it about sincere conviction? Or about a idThis isit’s repeatedinand? Is it about the search for an explanation of an intimate ailment as such? The father also repeated that a person works until the end of his life no matter what, regardless of any sacrifices. That he drinks, that he dominates the family in an imperious, even despotic way, that he has the right of life and death over it, that he does not allow such small emotions as the one caused by watching the film. Titanic. That no one is allowed to interrupt a man.

In the name of this courage, Eddie’s father forbade even the joy of listening to Puccini’s famous aria In Mia Bambina Carra. He did it secretly, struggling to hold back tears.

All this was the subject of a little book by young Eduard Louis. And it was also about politicians, famous names such as Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy, Macron, who strengthened labor legislation. So the real father, who once suffered a serious accident at work, had to go back to work. He insisted on doing it, even if it was part-time, for a monthly salary of around €600.

Perhaps the editors of Seuil they saw in Edouard Louis a new angry young man. Perhaps they were struck by the radicality of his speech. About the directness of writing in the first person. About style rageThis is. Maybe some were on the left. Perhaps some of the lecturers were reminded of the volume of even 100 pages Les Thibault, a river novel by Roger Martin du Gard, about the destructive authority of a father and the rebellion of a young Jacques. From that story Blue notebook. Maybe someone remembered the Jew’s exclamation Families, I hate you! Who knows?

Undoubtedly, Edouard Louis’ autobiographical novel quickly became a bestseller, translated into more than 20 languages. This is how it all happened with Finish with Eddie BellegeleAnd with A history of violence. Books are also published in Romanian, in the publishing house lettertranslated by Alexander Matei.

For the stage, primarily French, it was almost impossible to remain indifferent to all these writings. After the performance of Who killed dad? performed in the form of a monologue, in which the father was represented by a statue, followed by others. Signed by big names of modern directing. From Thomas Ostermeier to Milo Rau. by the way A history of violencefilmed first, could also be seen in Bucharest in autumn 2023.

Bucharest Theater Megapolis and the director Andrei Majeri is credited with being the first to bring the dramatization of Eduard Lui’s work to the Romanian stage. And it’s not something mimetic. In some ways, Andrey Mayeri is a knowledgeable director, aware of what is happening in the world, travels, and is attentive to new things. The staging was performed by Mihaela Mihailov. To her credit, she understood the terrain, did preliminary preparation of the text for the scene. However, Andrii Mayeri had a mission to find answers to some important questions. Like, how do you get Eddie on stage? How to make sure that the father is present? How do other members of the family and community become visible? The play is limited to a monologue formula, that is, there will be something like that the strongest not that the director can’t do it either (he proved it by staging his own play Individually composed from which, with the help of actor Bohdan Yanku, he made a play in the law) or will he prefer the polyphonic formula? Of the many voices that intertwine, complement each other, contradict each other. Which duplicates, multiplies the same symbol. When making a decision, Andrei Mayeri took into account the fact that neither Eddie nor his father are always the same. And if the father is mainly played by Alex Iezdmir, a young talented actor, five other young actors reveal Eddie’s versatility. That is, the oldest co-author Vlad Ionuc Popescu (predecessors from Medea‘WITHboys they can be seen in the security of the actor’s performance) and newcomers Adeline Tudorake (a wonderful playful spirit), Varga Hunor-Josef (who sings a Puccini aria beautifully; and on the small TV screen we see Maria Callas, also beautiful as the Mother) and finally Justine Danelake and Eduard Chimak. So, we are talking about an exclusively male team. The same as in Medea‘s Boys from Apollo 111. All six artists move well, dance flawlessly (and the choreography suggested by Andrea Gavriliou is far from simple), but the last two work wonders. The final scene impresses with both the idea and the choreographic-visual realization of Eddie’s entrance into the dress. Final Membership Confirmation Badge. Decision. Acceptance of personality. And write a decision. The scene is built in the relationship of addition to the scene of the beginning. With the boys, in the gym. Dance moments are imposed both by the reality of the original text and the adaptation. They are endowed with energy functions.

The Măjeri show, played in the Small Hall from Megapolis (hence the difficulty, hence the fact that the actors are required to play very close to the audience, hence the higher, emotional communication with him) has several other anthological scenes. What about celebrating Christmas, what about a story with a favorite movie Titanic, the scene of Puccini’s aria and the emotions associated with it, the family confrontation, the accident and the illness of the father or the last moment. His choreographic decision.

The decor, designed by Adrian Balcău, is also multi-signal. It is a gym, a living room, and an open space. The gym also implies confrontation, competition and masculinity. Courage to which both father and son will pay tribute. It should also be emphasized the contribution of the sound design, the echo, which was cleverly created by Adrian Piciorea.

Of course, the actors still have to work on their voice. Expression There will also be (a lot of) work on the quality of the French we hear several times on stage. In songs or when the hero’s name is announced. It’s not about pleasant moments at all, at least for me. There are two or three gaps of air, there are also voltage drops, there are several moments when the show loses its height. There are also two or three limbs. The long-standing illness of directors Andrii Magheri. And not only him.

However, the overall result is excellent. That’s why Who killed dad?, the director, his performers deserved a little more attention from the one who carelessly, arrogantly, hastily, on his knees compiled a page dedicated to the play on the Theater’s website. _Read the entire article and comment on Contributors.ro