Dumitru Solomon și teatrul de idei - II -

Abstract

Dumitru Solomon and Theater of Ideas (II)
In Dumitru Solomon’s dramaturgy, the debate of ideas is combined with metaphor, leading to a theater that is equally philosophical and ideological. If we consider Mihail Bahtin’s theory of dialogism, we can say that the Romanian playwright creates symbolic characters, in search of a major meaning of existence. Solomon’s ʻheroesʼ – especially those in Fata Morgana, Transference of personality and The Repeatable Balcony Scene – find themselves in situations that bring to light the problems of existence and the relationship of the individual with the social environment. Thus, comedy is placed in immediate relation with ethical landmarks, exploring themes such as truth, justice, moral responsibility, veracity and simulacrum. Solomon’s plays borrow techniques and themes from the theater of Camil Petrescu, Eugen Ionescu, Bertolt Brecht and others, but not through the formula of imitation or pastiche, but through the critical and ironic probing of dramatic situations. In the Athenian trilogy – Socrates, Plato, Diogenes the Dog –, the author subjects the fate of philosophers to a lucid examination, appealing to the elements of metaphor and to a critical analysis of life and the numerous incompatibilities of the individual with society. Finally, in The Repeatable Balcony Scene, we encounter an intertextual farce, in which theatrical symbols are deconstructed to the threshold of a minimal meaningful unit, which facilitates the exploration of the relationship between reality and fiction. It can be said that, in Dumitru Solomon’s work, comedy plays a true cathartic role, irony and absurdity revealing both social and ontological problems. Theater becomes something more than a simple mirror of reality, through the active interrogation of the world in which we live, the only one that allows us to take a step further in finding the truth about ourselves and others.