The Hungarian Theatre of Cluj will premiere its production of Mercenaris – Corneliu Seghedi’s Gentle Touch, directed by Ioana Păun, on Saturday, May 11, at 8 pm. The performance is based on one of the winning projects submitted to the Competition for Young Theatre Directors, in 2017, being the third such proposal staged by the theatre.

The concept of the production was created by an interdisciplinary team, assembled and staged by director Ioana Păun, who has studied the meeting point of war and pornography through several theatrical languages. According to the script written by the director and co-author Mona Bozdog, we are in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks. A group of 10-year-olds are listening to their history professor's speech. Mr. Seghedi talks to them zealously about his passion for America, about the war on terror, and takes pictures of them with Rambo. But what the teacher fundamentally forgets is to explain to them what powerlessness means.