HOT L Baltimore

By: Lanford Wilson

Directed by: Peter Schneider

Artistic Direction: Peter Schneider

Assistant Director: Gina Călinoiu

Costumes: Mircea Filimon

Asistent decor: Adriana Dinulescu

Duration 150

Genre of the show: drama

Translation: Mircea Filimon

Costumes: Mircea Filimon

Assistant Director: Gina Călinoiu

Technical direction: Mircea Vărzaru

Prompter: Bogdana Dumitriu

(in order of appearance)

Doamna Oxenham – Corina DRUC

Bill Lewis – Dragoş MĂCEŞANU

Paul Granger al III-lea – Ştefan CEPOI

The girl – Iulia COLAN

Millie – Mirela CIOABĂ

Mrs. Belloti – Anca DINU

April Green – Raluca PĂUN

Mr. Morse – Valeriu DOGARU

Domnul Katz – Valentin MIHALI

Jackie – Gina CĂLINOIU

Jamie – Cătălin VIERU

Suzy – Romaniţa IONESCU, Ramona DRĂGULESCU

Suzy client – Cosmin RĂDESCU

Pizza boy – Tudorel PETRESCU

The taxi driver – Mircea TUDOSĂ

 

Ileana Lucaciu – Un regizor american și un spectacol coerent
http://ileanalucaciu.blogspot.ro/2014/02/hot-l-baltimore-teatrul-national-marin.html

Chronicle Ileana Lucaciu, February 5, 2014
The play chosen from his rich dramaturgy takes place in an old hotel in present-day Baltimore, on the verge of demolition. As in America, the hotel also becomes a home, a place of refuge for many people, Lanford Wilson captures short x-rays of the destinies of ten people from different social categories. He puts some stories in the foreground, leaves others in the background, the thematic goal being the human condition, the defeat of the individual by social conditions. The play is epic, the structure of a central conflict is absent, the characters are described by line and monologue, not by causing the reaction to major conflict situations.

Director Peter Schneider applies to this simple text by construction, the "classic" method of realistic theater derived from Stanislavski's concept. In America and on Broadway at the shows with established stars, even in musicals, you find the same method applied starting from Stanislavski, and it should not be omitted that there, art studies are based on that theory, translated and twisted. Peter Schneider proves professionalism through the thorough way in which he focuses on each theatrical department - scenography, directing the actors -, which contributes to the creation of a show along the lines of realistic, ordinary illustration, without the intervention of directorial effects to emphasize and draw attention to the thematic essence of the play .

Romanița Ionescu as Suzy, one of the three resident prostitutes of the hotel, central roles of the action with various particularities, deservedly arouses applause at the monologue towards the end. The expressive characterization of the character typology is believable. Iulia Colan in the young girl with easy morals, always curious about what is happening around her, perfectly pencils the character, increasing the tension of the stories exposed through inner thought for each meaning of the line. The story of the three prostitutes is amplified by the admirable interpretation of the fat Asprin Green by Raluca Păun. The actress avoids vulgarity and naturally her character comments on the situations of those around her. Cătălin Vieru in Jamie, the shy brother who accompanies Jackie, his sister in the desire to find a solution for life, and Gina Călinoiu in Jackie proves her nerve in demonstrations, being also assistant director of the performance, and Mirela Cioabă in Millie sensibly supports an explanatory monologue of the character's presence in the hotel. We cannot overlook the precise drawing of the secondary characters impeccably done by Valentin Mihali as Katz, one of the clerks at the hotel reception, Valeriu Dogaru as Mr. Morse, Anca Dinu as Mrs. Belloti, Corina Druc as Mrs. Oxenham, Dragoș Măceșanu as Bill, Ștefan Cepoi in Paul, who are joined by Cosmin Radescu (Suzy's client), Tudorel Petrescu (the pizza boy) and Mircea Tudosă (the taxi driver) in brief appearances.

"HOT L Baltimore" is a play on words, it could be called "Hotel Baltimore" in a more understandable way for everyone from us - the "e" is missing from the chosen title, not because of the translation of the word "hot", but we suspect with the intention of showing the degradation of the inhabitants its -, it remains a coherent, fairly realistic show.

Grid Modorcea – The Ship of Fools or The American Lesson in the Capital of Romanian Theater, February 2, 2014

The Ship of Fools or The Americans' Lesson in the Capital of Romanian Theater

The play is, as Schneider himself writes, about a marginal world: "Three prostitutes. Two tired office workers and their dyspeptic boss. Some elderly tenants, one capricious, another resigned. A bored young man in search of a missing grandfather. And an intriguing lesbian and her unfortunate brother". A world of all kinds of marginalized people of fate, where prostitutes are the most full of dreams and advice. The language is picturesque, a language of the street and of emigrants, of those who come and go, because that's America, that's the world, like an airport, like a hotel. We have echoes from movies with the mafia, with the pioneers of the New World, but also from Williams' plays, such as A Streetcar Named Desire. The decoration presents the lobby of a hotel, and the spectators, who take their seats in this lobby, step through the hinged door, on the side bleachers.

The play is, as Schneider himself writes, about a marginal world: "Three prostitutes. Two tired office workers and their dyspeptic boss. Some elderly tenants, one capricious, another resigned. A bored young man in search of a missing grandfather. And an intriguing lesbian and her unfortunate brother". A world of all kinds of marginalized people of fate, where prostitutes are the most full of dreams and advice. The language is picturesque, a language of the street and of emigrants, of those who come and go, because that's America, that's the world, like an airport, like a hotel. We have echoes from movies with the mafia, with the pioneers of the New World, but also from Williams' plays, such as A Streetcar Named Desire. The decoration presents the lobby of a hotel, and the spectators, who take their seats in this lobby, step through the hinged door, on the side bleachers.

 

Staging Lanford Wilson's "Hot L Baltimore" at the Craiova National, which begins an ambitious year that will bring a show directed by Robert Wilson and an edition of the Shakespeare Festival that wants to live up to the rest, the well-known American theater man Peter Schneider is taking a risk. As befits the artist, to take risks. What would it be like to realistically stage an American realistic play in a boring Romania. Well, now in his first collaboration with a Romanian theater, Peter Schneider brought to the stage of the big hall in Craiova the dreams and shattered dreams of some Americans built by the playwright in the image and likeness of real Americans, tender characters, in which echoes from the texts resound of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee. And he relied on the universality of these troubled, restless characters, out of place, in perpetual transition.

A coat that keeps you warm when it's cold and you're in danger, the dream, be it shattered, pulsed in "Hot L Baltimore" in a melodramatic tale of decay and powerlessness just like the ancient pharmakon: it's both medicine and poison. Peter Schneider captures it simply, frankly, without artifices or pretensions, in a show made according to a simple recipe, devoid of cryptic elements. His presence in the Craiova theater, undoubtedly a success of the management team, is a good sign for the beginning of a promising year, full of dreams.

Dana Ionescu – YORIK, weekly theater magazine. Issue 202, February 4-10, 2014
http://yorick.ro/eu-am-vise-fir-ar-al-dracului-el-ce-are/

Trailer