Synopsis
The show "Professor of Religion" deals with the way truth can be interpreted and manipulated in various ways so that its meaning becomes relative. Belief in a single truth breaks into dozens of pieces. In religion class, the teacher asks the students to say what the definition of truth is; this starts a real dispute and controversy. One of the students, Mara, with an imagination above the class average, argues that truth is relative and that everyone has their own truth. After religion class, when Mara couldn't get her point across, she convinces one of her classmates, Anca, that the religion teacher had touched her on the knee in an inappropriate way. It's a child's way of taking revenge on authority, hovering between personal fantasy and mystified reality. Anca didn't see what happened or what didn't happen, but she allows herself to be persuaded and even manipulated by Mara into retelling the facts to the class teacher. The children's families add to the confusion, and the media, in their desire to give the actual event a degree of veracity, will cause further disturbance and confusion. The adult reaction negatively enhances children's confusion in a world where truth and lies undermine each other. It is the war of all against all.
Chronicles:
"The Mihailov-Bobi Pricop tandem registered a great success at the National Theater in Craiova, where the show "Profu' de religie" had its premiere. The idea of the play belongs to the playwright Mihaela Michailov and is important not only as a philosophical problem (what is the truth?), but especially in the context of repeated conflicts between the truth taught by educators (school, church, family) and the reality of school life. (…) Following the course of a well-calibrated crescendo, the show convincingly suggests the jamming of the truth in a society insecure on the principles preached that weaken the human condition. He does it without moralizing, with a well-controlled laugh… of trouble.”
Doina Papp, " Professor of Religion ", a show about dogma and truth, rev. „Adevărul.ro” , 15 Dec.2013
"Bobi Pricop also has another rare directorial quality, that of using the actor as the main means to support the directorial vision. He worked admirably with the actors. Each of them has several typologies to mark, under the condition of transforming in front of the public with the help of costume accessories, and they do it flawlessly. (…) The professional mastery of these actors is fully demonstrated by the way they credibly define human profiles from our reality. "Profu' de religion", a bitter comedy, is a show of "real theater", about the "truth" of our reality, made by an excellent team, aware of the purpose of theater in relation to the present and the audience of our days."
Ileana Lucaciu, "Successful target with purpose... our reality!"
"Resuming clichés from everyday life, Pricop brings us face to face with ideas and concepts that we bump into all the time, and that is precisely why we no longer see them in their true dimensions, in their true colors. Mass media is becoming more and more a tool for information manipulation, and news broadcasts have more and more entertainment features. How can we find a truth of our own when everyone else has already named it in some way? How can we get rid of labels, preconceived ideas, or prejudices when the whole society embraces them?"
Lia Boangiu, „Adevărul e în joc”, rev. SpectActor, nr.3 (26) / 2013, pag.10
"Bobi Pricop constantly maintains a frenetic rhythm of action, at the beginning and through the news presented with laughter by Marian Politic, then building a veritable whirlwind of the media circus, around the "case" of sexual corruption. There is no mention of dead times, the viewer is kept in awe, and the actors are perfectly connected and flawless in the multiple poses that each one has to interpret. Marian Politic goes from the calm, intelligent, philosopher teacher to a voracious moderator, Dragoş Măceşanu from a pubescent kid, passionate about electronic games, to a spokesperson with all the clichés in his vocabulary and to an envious, insidious and insinuating, and Cătălin Vieru also changes registers, from the polite, shy student (...) enters the role of Andrei's mother or the conductor who investigates honestly, objectively. Romanita Ionescu gives a high-level performance in all the scores. (…) Raluca Păun arouses prolonged laughter, bringing the parody to a paroxysm. (…) Is the truth in textbooks or in the mixer on the small screens, from where the slurs, deafening, suppositions, speculations, incendiary telephones pour out?"
Cornel Mihai Ungureanu, „In search frantic, national, of the truth of the Sea ”, rev. SpectActor, no.3 (26) / 2013, page 5
AWARDS:
Audience Award - "New plays from Europe" Theater Festival in Wiesbaden, Germany - June 24, 2014.
Bobi Pricop - Award for Best Direction - Oradea Short Theater Festival, 2014, 20th edition - Bobi Pricop.
Bobi Pricop – Best Director Award – EXCELSIOR TEEN-FEST Theater Festival, 2015
"Mihai Mihail" Award for the Modernity of the show - National Comedy Festival from Galati, Oct. 2015
Actress Romanița Ionescu has been nominated for the 2014 UNITER Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for the roles Mara, Marei's mother, Psychologist, TV Presenter
