The debut play by a star of the Polish literary world returns to the capital’s stage in TR Warszawa. A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians is directed by Theodor Cristian Popescu, a Romanian from Canada, and performed by the Tompa Miklos troupe from the National Theatre of Tirgu Mures
Born in 1983, Dorota Masłowska debuted in 2002 with the novel Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną / Snow White and Russian Red. Dwoje biednych Rumunów mówiących po polsku / A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians was the young writer’s first play, which she wrote in 2006. Masłowska herself stated
It is a short play, filled with humor and a whole lot of gags. Two really nice protagonists, acting on mysterious impulses, set off on an unintentionally frantic quest through Poland. It is a quest full of comic adventures, which over time turn out to be no joke, quite the opposite in fact, utterly no joke, indeed, quite tragic. The audience has to consider the fact that the play is not as lighthearted as it seems; its characters do not represent positive social or psychological models, and this journey doesn't have to be a life quest at all. Quite the contrary.
A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians has already been staged abroad, in London in 2008 and New York in 2010. This time, it returns to Warsaw. Who are these Polish-speaking Romanians in the eyes of a foreigner, this time, a Romanian himself? A couple of emotionally and socially unstable people, capable of irrational behaviour, drugging themselves and committing crimes, who "imitate" Parch and Dżin – Poles described in one of Dorota Masłowska’s plays – or magical, almost pagan beings, deeply rooted in the beginnings of the European urbanization process, just as the dancers which perform in the final scene? Theodor Cristian Popescu, a theatre director of Romanian nationality and a resident of Canada, starts off with a road-story about some random, immoral couple in a state of delirium, and, as the play unfolds, he threads out a subtler study on identity, the clash of civilizations, and the repercussions of a global crisis in communication for individuals, who search for an understanding and acceptance.
Popescu is a laurate of numerous prizes for his theatre productions. He has staged over thirty five performances in Romania, the United States and Canada. In his work, he frequently adapts the writings of contemporary literary greats. The authors whose novels and plays Popescu has interpreted include Martin Crimp, Arthur Kopit, Howard Barker, Tony Kushner, Hanoch Levin, Marius von Mayenburg and Roland Schimmelpfennig. He has lectured at the Bucharest Academy of Theatre, Montana University in Missouli, the National Theatre School of Canada and Quebec University (Université du Quebec) in Montreal. He is currently the Dean of the Directing Department at the Academy of Arts in Târgu Mureş, Transylvania.
His staging of Masłowska's play is part of the series Romanian Directors in TR Warszawa, hosted by the theatre throghout March in 2012.
A couple of Poor, Polish-speaking Romanians
written by Dorota Masłowska
directed by Theodor Cristian Popescu set design Judit Dobre-Kóthay music Vlaicu Golcea cast Dorottya Nagy, Orsolya Moldovan, Botond Benedek, Csaba László, Csaba Tollas
Source: http://www.trwarszawa.pl