The one who saw God

The one who saw God, adaptation after "La Lieci" - a new Sorescian show at TNC

The first performance of the show He Saw God, adapted from the literary work La Lilieci, by Marin Sorescu, took place on Saturday, October 5, from 6:30 p.m., at the "Amza Pellea" hall of the T.N.C.
The show, directed by Mirela Cioabă, stars: Monica Ardeleanu, Gina Călinoiu, Anca Dinu, Geni Maxim, Dragoș Măceșanu, Ștefan Mirea, Tudorel Petrescu, Raluca Păun, Angel Rababoc, Cosmin Radescu, Cătălin Vieru.
Assistant director, Gina Călinoiu, scenography by Viorel Penișoara-Stegaru.
Adaptation, Ana-Maria Nistor.

Technical direction: Mircea Vărzaru
It is the first time that the National Theater that bears his name stages a show based on a literary work other than the Sorescian theater itself. At T.N.C., Marin Sorescu's six plays have been performed so far: "A treia teăpă", "Matca", "Cousin Shakespeare", "Iona", "The Chapel", "Există nervi", and the artist Tudor Gheorghe performed in unforgettable recitals ("Party", "La Lilieci").

The idea of this book was born from homesickness, which - for me - manifested itself very concretely: I was obsessed with the first memories related to the places where I was born.
The book La Lilieci can also be read in the light of the concrete poetry, which reifies the words, it can also be taken as an attempt to reconstruct the epic of the village (in the beginning it was the epic), and as a book of childhood memories. One of my biggest ambitions was to prove that the Olten language (blamed by some) is just as literary as the others, which the Olten people accepted in good faith.
Marin Sorescu

Branches, 11/2013
A bunch of Sorescian "Bats" on the Craiova scene
by Toma Grigorie

The second premiere of the "Marin Sorescu" National Theater in Craiova, of the Autumn Season (2013), was represented by the show "The One Who Saw God", adapted from La Lilieci, by Marin Sorescu, signed by the Bucharest writer , Ana-Maria Nistor, directed by the actress Mirela Cioabă, assisted by another actress from Craiova, Gina Călinoiu.
The show "He saw God" was well directed and performed by a team of the best-known actors from Craiova, whom we will uncover along the way.
The introduction into the atmosphere of revolutionary times is well emphasized by the appropriate musical line, as well as by the initial night on stage, symbolizing and inciting the descent of the viewer's imagination into the fog of times. But, of course, also by the inspiration of the scenographer Viorel Penişoara-Stegaru, who encloses the characters in vertical coffins, with transparent doors, made of metal trees, with crosses inlaid in the same material, from which the protagonists of the play come out one by one, brought back to life by the pen of the writer. Making the connection with the epic, we start from the title and locate the action in the cemetery of "La Lilieci", from where the local people are brought to the light of the present. In the epic, the cemetery is named after the lilac bushes and is used as a kind of curse for those who quarrel with the village law. "To the Bats, to the Bats!" these are sent. The choice of the show to place the action in the cemetery seems to mitigate somewhat the aplomb and the bubbling life of Olten, the epic being put under the sign of playfulness, the joy of trouble, but also of stoicism.
In prolonging the life of the cemetery, there is also the feast with cabbage, sausages and brandy to commemorate the dead according to tradition. Nea Miai (Ştefan Mirea), the elderly and liar from Bulzeşti, a kind of PR of the village, leads the verbal and factual hostilities, supported by his elderly wife (Gina Călinoiu), with the fear of men characteristic of those times. A kind of great chatter is produced, here rural, somehow similar to the urban one noticed by Mircea Iorgulescu at I.L. Caragiale. They are engaged in ramblings on secular and religious themes, sprinkled with Olten words and expressions, some spicy, especially Maria Bălii (Geni Maxim) with her husband, Nea Florea (Tudorel Petrescu), Anica Bolânda (Raluca Păun), Păun Umblatu (Cosmin Rădescu ), Radu Clanaristu (Cătălin Vieru).
The skirmishes are interrupted by the terrifying musical cry of the crucifix seller, Mitrel (Angel Rababoc), which also takes place by the village madman, well individualized in the epic. This one with a tenor voice, on an acute tonality gives chills, but also produces hilarity through repeated returns. He is accompanied by his wife, Leana (Anca Dinu), who defends her husband with sagacity. It is precisely Mitrel, the one beaten by fate, who is chosen by God to appear to him. The moment of telling the story is well done, producing a dramatized rumor between the characters-actors and a real one between the spectators. In parentheses, let it be said, the author Ana Maria Nistor in tandem with the director Mirela Cioabă and the assistant director, Gina Călinoiu, skillfully condensed two or more characters of the epic into one stage character.