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THE TRAGEDY OF MAN AS THEATRUM THEOLOGICUM (A DRAMATURG’S DIARY)
Right on the first day, Purcärete let me know that what he needs is not
foremost a minder of the text — this, after all, is a self-evident task for the
dramaturg, especially in the case of such a difficult text as this one — but a
discussion partner, outside observer, and source of inspiration. I’m reminded
of a sentence that Robert Woodruff sent me during rehearsals in Cluj for The
Birthday: “You’re not here to agree with me but to question my suggestions.”
In the course of rehearsals, Purcarete did not indulge in petty power plays
one single time, not even in moments of fatigue or exasperation. A liberating
atmosphere suffuses the rehearsals, as is clearly visible in the actors’ acting
and their creative collaboration.
FEBRUARY 29, 2020
A sentence in the morning — not just one but three, on the sunny bridge over
the river Bega, behind the Orthodox cathedral:
I’ve grown old in your arms
Your embrace has cloaked me in death
Let it be you who takes me to the far shore.
In yesterday’s stroll together, Silviu and I spoke about the Phalanstery scene.
It seems thin, lacking in meat, and, well, the militaristic interpretation of the
situation doesn’t strike us as very inventive. Not, mind, the gastro-labor, the
literal invention of the Phalanstery, which is very mucha Purcarete trademark;
that is, that the Phalanstery should be a kitchen and not a laboratory, where
the old scientist is trying to mix up the flavors of the future. “Maybe we ought
to develop everything from the thought of the gastro-Phalanstery,” I think
aloud. “Let’s go eat and then sleep on it,” he says. By this morning, it has be¬
come clear: it’s impossible to go for a new staging, since time has by now made
us its captives. We can only work with the existing material, deepening and
refining it, and filling out the characters as much as we can. The scene settles
in, the humorous upbeat followed by a truly beautiful Tadeusz Kantoresque
scene with the puppets of the children being separated from their mothers.
The Eskimo scene®’ seems to examine the question: can the essence of hu¬
manity be irrevocably lost? Is evolution in reverse possible: that is, the person’s
8° Thomas Vinterberg, Mogens Rukoy, Bo Hr. Hansen: Sziiletésnap [The Birthday]. Hungarian
State Theater of Cluj, 4 October 2011. Stage adaptation: Andras Visky and Robert Woodruff;
Director: Robert Woodruff; Dramaturg: Andras Visky; Scenery and costume design: Carmen¬
cita Brojboiu; Music: Zsolt Laszléffy; Choreography: Ferenc Sink6; Video: Attila Sdos; As¬
sistant directors: Sim6n Hanukai, Andrej Visky; Stage managers: Yvonne Nagy, Zsolt Gyérffy.
87 Madäch: Ibid., Scene 14.
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