"On Theatre-Mirror, Theatre-Hammer, Theatre-Veil in the Romanian Theatre"

Abstract

"Starting from the Shakespearian observation that the theatre seems to be a mirroring of its age, we notice how in the The Theatre magazine – published from 1956 to 1989 – this allegory is treated. At the same time, we turn our attention to the way in which this allegory is appreciated by the Romanian theatre people nowadays. At the same time, we investigate the way in which the socialist-realism was aesthetically and ideologically evaluated in the current Romanian theatre and in the second half of the twentieth century. Analyzing the moments when the social reality of the present is the source of inspiration for the theatrical performance, we notice that not the reality of the present is reflected scenically, but a reality projected into an immediate future. In a first stage, we conclude that what leads to this perspective is how reality is understood. In the next stage, we identify a few points of view that challenge the allegory of the theatre as a mirror that tries to replace the mirror with hammer, veil, and we thus notice that the most important perspective from which theatre must be approached as a reflection of a reality of the present time is that of identifying and recognizing the characteristics of this present."