by Bernard Shaw, directed by Andrei Șerban

The play speaks about the division of Europe, about nationalism and xenophobia, about the illusion of peace, but also about the ilussion of love for improving the reality; a show which makes you feel the difference between real love and the one on stage, as at the opera. Even Shaw’s play was written a century ago, the theme is still topical.

Photos by Andrei Runcanu

You will find yourself laughing many times during this play. You will laugh of the pretentious attitude of the amateurs trying to be professionals, of the imagined aristocracies, of the obedience towards a master/leader/boss, of the preciousness and overconfidence, of the ruling hypocrisy. You will laugh of the ones that cannot find themselves in this world, of the ones incapable admitting and following their feelings, of the ones that dream small and pitiful. The play writer and the director satirize the world, the actors satirize their characters, the characters satirize their lines, the lines satirize the meaning, the words, the grimaces become simple masks, card boards behind which only void can exist.

Mihai Brezeanu – LiterNet – July, 2nd 2016

Andrei Şerban brought together a charismatic cast – actors with a remarkable musical ability that manage to transfigure in a brilliantly humorous manner the ancient language of the opera, although not without its candor, declamatory aspects, noisiness, keeping it less aggressive. With obvious grotesque accents and changing situations as seen in vaudevilles, the play is dynamic, surprising and accessible. Although the subject of the play is extremely serious and it discusses current problems such as xenophobia, nationalism, the inclination for parade heroism and love idealism, we cannot say that the production focuses on the seriousness aspects, but more on the constant mentality of humans, from any part of the world and in any era.

Răzvana Niţă – port.ro, September, 19th 2016,

Being aware of the role the director plays in a production – the one of manifesting as a citizen of the present society-, Andrei Șerban, always bring in front of the audience a mirror that reflects the reality. With his well known ingenuity, he respectfully presents Shaw’s play as a comedy about us. You will find yourself laughing right at us, the ones that are trapped in an ill world, grinded by populism.

Ileana Lucaciu, spectatorblogspot, October, 17^th 2016