Dinu Gutu A couple of months ago, Sleaford Mods front man Jason Williamson announced he was no longer allowed to vote in the UK Labor leadership election, after he called Dan Jarvis, one of the candidates for Parliament, a “posing cunt” in a public post. Williamson sings about the condition of the working classes and social inequality in England. He joined Labor to support Jeremy Corbyn. He remained involved in politics from the stage and not from any party. This is why I chose to write from a political perspective about the Sleaford Mods’ latest album, Key Markets. The recipe…
by Zaharia Stancu Zaharia Stancu was one of the most radical left-wing opponents of the fascist dictatorship in Romania. Ever since he became a journalist, in 1934, he militated against the political terror the country would experience in the 1940s. He was arrested and interned in Târgu-Jiu internment camp during the winter of 1942-1943: “I became prisoner nr. 3912, who was ‘responsible for spreading alarming news with the criminal intent to undermine citizens’ morale.’” His book, Prison Days [Zile de lagăr] was published for the first time in 1945. Prison Days documents the time spent in the camp, the oppressive…
by Irina Costache After Trajan and Decebalus. (From the Pages of Gay History in Romania) By/With: Paul Dunca, Mihaela Michailov Scenography: Andrei Dinu How would one live a “gay lifestyle” in Romania before 1989? What where the meeting points? What were the rituals for socializing and how did the oppressive structures work? What were the outcomes of article 200, whose provisions punished sexual relations between persons of the same sex by 1 to 5 years in prison? How could you be yourself by avoiding your identity, yet still live in a regime of passive acceptance? How did the abuses against…
by Simina Guga Born in the Wrong Place By: Alice Monica Marinescu and David Schwartz Cast: Alexandru Fifea, Katia Pascariu, Mihaela Rădescu, Andrei Șerban, Silviana Vișan Scenography: Adrian Cristea Music: Cătălin Rulea Special thanks: Bashar Al-Kishawi, Margareta Eschenazy, Valentina Ivanov, Ahmad Marwi, Sana Rahimo, Simina Guga The performance Born in the Wrong Place is based on the documentary theater text written by Alice Monica Marinescu and David Schwartz in 2011 using the verbatim method. The text intertwines the life stories of 5 people who have gone through the experience of seeking asylum with fragments from The Guide to Obtaining…
by Ana-Maria Murg Underground. The Jiu Valley after 1989 By: Mihaela Michailov and David Schwartz Cast: Alice Monica Marinescu, Katia Pascariu, Alexandru Potocean, Andrei Șerban Scenography: Adrian Cristea Music: Bobo Burlăcianu Video and Photo Documentation: Vlad Petri Theater Underground. The Jiu Valley after 1989 is a project of observation and analysis of the everyday life of those communities decisively affected by the social and political changes which began in the early 1990s. The project aims to document the economic situation, life and work of the miners during post-Socialism. Theater Underground is a project of performative reconstruction of the document-stories which…
Review by Ionuț Sociu ForTheWin Performance by Bogdan Georgescu, with Andreea Eșanu, Andrei Ioniță, Sânziana Nicola Corporation v. community ACTIVE ART Galeria 26 (OTA), Bucharest In ForTheWin, there is a lot of talking about death (a ski accident, a case of suicide due to debt, a case of overworking), but the manner of speaking is detached and bland, lacking in voice variations. Here, death seems to be just another piece of information among others, and one of the merits of this performance is that it captures a type of homogenous communication in which banal observations are in the same league…
Dead Man’s Capitalism by Mihaela Michailov The discussions around gold exploitation in the historical mining site at Roşia Montană (in the Western Carpathians) have brought about the formation of an alliance between the Romanian state and Roşia Montană Gold Corporation (RMGC). Both the state and the corporation have obsessively promoted a discourse of job creation, sustainability, high wages and a better future for the children of Roşia Montană in order to camouflage the drive for excessive profits and the destruction of community and environment alike. In the name of “development”, President Traian Băsescu has been one of the most ardent…