And yet “Exit” is not a rock opera. This is a performance deliberately staged under the sign of impurity. From dirt of the highest quality. About impurity as a defining sign of our time.

Oskaras Korshunovas, born in 1969 in Vilnius, has established himself as one of the leading voices of theater and opera directing in Europe over the past 20 years. This fact is also confirmed by the approximately 40 awards received by the performances created by him, which participate in major international festivals. Among them are some very important ones from Romania. Delhi dance was in the FNT 2021 release proposal, it could be seen earlier Miranda at the International Festival named after Shakespeare from Craiova, martyr in 2016 at FITS there are names that come to mind right now.

So, how much more natural can it be that the management of any major theater in Romanian lands would like to have Oskaras Korshunovas as a guest director? The enthusiasm with which the National Theater named after Mihai Eminescu from Timisoara announced the premiere of the play with the play Entrance Marius Ivashkievičius. There was no economy of words, excellent grades. Custom of the place. They even talked about a historical event. The premiere took place in the last days of the last season, and it probably has few critics. The few truly professional comments I’ve read have had plenty of praise, but also plenty of criticism. All the other commenters wrote this Entrance it’s a good show, even a very good one, monumental, solid, impressive not only by its size (at the premiere it lasted almost five hours), but above all by the completely excellent acting. Some reservations were also formulated, even more than justified, since the director himself felt the need for corrections. Before the show in September, which I am trying to find out in the following, it was walked again, on the scale of some scenes at least some things that did not prove useful during the course were removed test flights.

Was Osakaras Korshunovas wrong to do this? Did he break the statue with his own hand? Was the management of the Timisoara national team wrong to agree to changes in this regard? No, it’s fine. The great Lithuanian director actually taught a lesson. A lesson from a great professional who knows that everything, everything can be improved. That the true creator is responsible for the fate of his own work, let it be ephemeral, like a theatrical performance, while it exists. That the director’s role does not end on the night of the premiere. Konstantin Noyka said somewhere that in reality lessons are not given, but received. Therefore, I hope that the lesson of Oskaras Korshunovas will be accepted first of all by the younger generation of directors. Many of its representatives are prematurely satisfied with themselves. I am convinced that what they have done is perfect, without any corrections.

The Lithuanian director decided on the text written by his compatriot Marius Ivashkiavičius. The text is what it is called Entrance. The work, translated into Romanian by Raluca Redulescu, deals with the eternally relevant topic of migration. Which in the vast majority of ex-communist countries experienced peak pregnancy, especially in the first decade after 1989. Unfortunately, the topic under consideration is the reality, in the case of Romania, that is still extremely relevant.

Perhaps this was the reason why Korshunovas decided ROMANIZATION text. The character whose fate even he himself mentions in the play, which in its updated form lasts about four hours, is called Ben Ivanescu. He is an elite police academy graduate who decided to emigrate one day, in the October before Diana’s death and the attack on the Twin Towers. He chose England and spent 12 years trying to learn to become an Englishman. Much harder than Rika and Usbek, the famous characters of the equally famous work of Montesquieu tried to become Persians. As time passed, disappointments and failures accumulated, Ben understood that in order to live in London, you need to behave like an Englishman. And what they learned from it. That you must give up your original identity and know how to accept others. Some are not very comfortable. This success or failure is evidenced here by what I would call the thames test. Extremely formulated both textually, directorially, and acting (the couple Marin Lupanchuk-Ionuts Iova works flawlessly for four hours, as well as the couple Marin Lupanchuk-Ion Rizea) until the end of the second part, emotional, dramatic, tragic. repeated at the end of the performance.

Therefore, I will not blame Korshunova for the romanization in question, but for inserting songs such as Bukovina, ply with flowers OR We are Romanians. I’ve seen it too many times. But Entrance not Audience with the consul Ion Brad, where I remember very well Danube, Danube. I know I’m risking all sorts of accusations by saying this We are Romanians an unexpected appearance spoils one of the most beautiful, vivid scenes in the montage. The one in which Ben finds his old companion of travels and dramatic events, whom he had known until then only thanks to the pseudonym Vandalul, and whom he only now learned that his real name is Andrew. Vandal was the man who seemed to conquer everything – and how well actor Ionutz Yova emphasizes this in all his appearances, perhaps the biggest surprise of the show – now in the ash jar. Until then, this scene was played to the highest degree by the main character of the series, the sensational Marin Lupanchuk, who, as it should be, was guarded by all those colleagues who play post-December emigrants of the first generation. This song was really unnecessary. But I will talk about Marin Lupanchuk a little later. Because I just have something to say. A lot is good.

The story of young Ben is also told by Ben. Both the same and completely different. Ben has reached a certain age. Perhaps even in time from another world, from which calculations and numbers are finally excluded. We now see Ben confined to a wheelchair. Ion Rizea played very well. Which gets top marks, especially in the character’s moments of desperation, desperation and honesty with himself. It is a pity that the sound intensity is not regulated quite as it should be, and the voice, although amplified by the Ion Rizea microphone, cannot, cannot block the overflow of music. Otherwise, really good music thanks to a great orchestra (band Bandits) in the composition of Tibor Aranya, Sorin Stroje, Francis Moses, Alexander Muntianu, Rezvan Muntianu. I didn’t just listen to them, I watched them Bandits throughout the performance. Despite the fact that in the pit, its components acquired the status of characters. They were clearly emotionally involved in the story. And proud to be a part of the show.

Unfortunately, it’s not just Ion Rizea who struggles with the sound, but so does Katalin Ursu, an otherwise very good interpreter of Pakistani Azim. In this way, the history of football teams, which is by no means purely sports, is lost. She talks about the social and civilizational division of the world. From whom we somehow unconsciously wanted to abstract and to whom we are now repaying.

The orchestra, its presence almost the entire time of the show, is a puppet of the orchestra queen, constant references to Freddie Mercury, expertly crafted inserts from Bohemian rhapsodybar scenes, songs In Play the flawless Tania Ionescu, the wonderful choreography signed by Vesta Rasa Grabsteite, some of the other very beautiful costumes suggested by Corina Gremoshtianu, and many, many other details repeatedly gave me the impression that I was seeing, hearing, listening to a rock opera

And yetEntrance this is not a rock opera. This is a performance deliberately staged under the sign of impurity. From dirt of the highest quality. About impurity as a defining sign of our time.

The story of young Ben begins with the story of his journey in a minibus that looks like him, where the smell of sweat and the aroma of Nairomanian sausage prevail. The sequence is one of the most impressive in the entire show. Thanks to her, we get to know most of the heroes. With Ben, with the vandal, with Gloria, whose real name is Aglaia (Cristina Rotaru Chiperi – another great acting surprise in the show), with Nucea Romanka (Mirela Puia), with a common Romanian (Cristian Sekeres), with two drivers (Kosta Tovarnicki and Sergiu Wernicke), for whom travelers identify themselves with apples, with others and others that will return in one form or another in a story that we will meet again and again. There are people who instead of expected Welcome!, they will have the first fight to the death ordered, for reasons that Harry will only explain to us at the end of the show, with, well, deliberate elegance, ostentatiously demonstrated by Matei Chioaru. And that fight meant only that discovery.

Ben, either captivated by the legend of Freddie Mercury, or horrified by the fact that he is not pure English, but also gay, or by seeing him as the vocalist of the band Queen the savior, the last possible savior, whether he became a security guard or a policeman, resorting to all sorts of petty scams to do so, cannot be separated from the state of the immigrant with a broken head through himself and through the fault of others. Ben cannot, has no right to be different. About the life, context, mentality, state of the foreigner, the colorful world formed by the cast, in which, along with the certified actors of the National (I have to mention here also Daniela Bostan), several young and very developing young employees. From the famous Flavia Giurgiu to Oana Iovice – another acting discovery. I liked Oana Antonovici, Darius Zets, Alexandru Negrea, Teodor Keusch, Vlad Vaidovici, Rezvan Sabescu, Rares Rusan, Roberta Popa, Julia Ioana, Sabine Oshanitsky, Otniel Florutz. Actually, I liked them all. Because at least here everyone is to each other. I think they would have been even better if they weren’t visibly bogged down by the uninspired setting Gintaras Makariavičius envisioned. Something metal, with stairs, with spirals, with unnecessary complications.

Ben wants to be English, but not at any cost. Without completely sacrificing your identity. Hence the reluctance with which he listens to the story transformation the professional role of the physicist Eddy, played by Alexandru Romescu. Another young graduate whose training combines what he learned at the theater faculties in Sibiu (Bachelor’s degree) and Timisoara with what he did in independent troupe performances Arte Factum. –Read the entire article and comment on it at contributors.ro