1h 30' without intermission
There is a unique type of acting on the surface (I have never before seen anything of its kind on the stage of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj), the presence of simplicity, of that everyday type of feeling (“downplayed”, as the literature calls it), of naturalness and "a bit" of realism, free of the theatrical, which gives way for little emotional expression or embellishment. As if it was real life itself. Of course, that is not the case, since the VR glasses represent the first method of estrangement, being a sort of an aesthetic perspective upon the mundane.
The actors speak this acting language exceptionally well; I have found Miklós Bács especially surprising in the role of the doctor and father, never seeing anything remotely resembling such a portrayal in his entire career. Ferenc Sinkó, Anikó Pethő, Enikő Györgyjakab, Csaba Marosán, Éva Imre and the rarely seen Tekla Tordai – are all great. Their coexistence is implicit, effortless. Sometimes they give the impression of improvisation, although there is no way to achieve that if the film and the stage have to constantly be synchronized. It's so lifelike that one cannot possibly get tired of it.
The VR glasses bring this world very close to the audience, without changing the fixed theatrical focus (that is, they are no close-ups, no cuts, only long shots), yet it is as if we were looking through a microscope and closely studying a fantastically alive, active anthill living an intense life. Because that was what was literally happening before our very own eyes.
Ilegitimate, directed by Adrian Sitaru, is probably one of the most important premieres of 2018, precisely in terms of the topics addressed, but also in the way in which they are staged, presented to the public, and then dissected in a personal and modern way, raising certain questions and thus creating an overview of too narrow a lens for such a sensitive and broad theme. Completed by a beautiful performance of the cast and a technological novelty, the production is indeed one that requires the attention of theatre lovers.
The radical novelty of this new medium astonishes and provokes. Responding to the courage of the authors (we are talking about Adrian Sitaru's stage debut!) and the producers (it is not easy, nor cheap to bring VR onto the stage!), the audience is caught up in an exciting game that has every chance of creating the most interesting and valuable repercussions. Employed in a competent and intelligent way, video-digital technology proves to be able to revolutionize both the theatre and cinema, while in no way depriving the two forms of artistic expression of their classical attributes. Emotions, thoughts, the carnal nature of the physical closeness to the stage, the cerebral nature lent by the distance created by the screen between the viewer and the object of their gaze, are still favored.
- Tranzit Feszt, Satu Mare, 2018
- FEST(in) pe Bulevard Festival, Bucharest, 2018
- Best performance, FEST(in) pe Bulevard Festival, 2018
- Best actor (Miklós Bács), FEST(in) pe Bulevard Festival, 2018
Date of the opening: february 17, 2018
A disintegrated, confused family, lacking the presence of a mother, where each person struggles with their own prejudices and is right in their own way. It is a miniature image of the world we live in, of our blindness, and inevitable ignorance, due to the way we perceive things differently and in a deformed way, may we be ordinary people, or philosophers. We go through life wearing invisible goggles, blinkers or colored glasses, we only see what we want and it becomes convenient for us to only notice what we have learnt to see. We are turning around and around, in a circle, repetitively, and live parallel realities in our minds. Might we perchance have the opportunity to rise above? Perhaps unconditional love is the missing piece, as perhaps the lack of the mother is also very present within this family.
Adrian Sitaru