Graniţa dintre teatru politic şi teatru popular – spectacolul „Ia uite cine s-a întors!”, regia Theodor-Cristian Popescu, Compania Tompa Miklós, Teatrul Naţional Târgu-Mureş

Abstract

The Border Between Political and Popular Theatre – “Look Who’s Back!”, directed by Theodor-Cristian Popescu – Tompa Miklós Company, Târgu-Mureş National Theatre

History, through its object – the close look at the forms that developed the social phenomenon, through its wish to rebuild by studying humanity's past and human societies - systematizes events and facts. Most of the times, when theatre decides to get a close look at significant historical events, it risks politicizing a history already political to its core. 73 years after finding his way out of the stage, probably the most abominable political figure of the 20th century, the character of Adolf Hitler rebuilt on the theatre stage could easily fall in the region of political theatre. The value of Theodor-Cristian Popescu's performance, “Look Who's Back!” (Tompa Miklós Company, Târgu-Mureş National Theatre, 2017), resides precisely in avoiding this trap by choosing elements that characterize popular theatre. Using as a starting point two essays, Mario Vargas Llosa's “Notes on the Death of Culture: Essays on Spectacle and Society” and Peter Brook's “The Empty Space”, this lecture aims to search the theatrical elements used by the creators of this performance who managed to place their theatrical product in the realm of popular theatre and not in that of political theatre.