The Theatre Times: Each year, the Romanian higher education system supplies, through its art universities with their faculties and institutes in Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, Iaşi, and Tg Mureş (every two years), around 15 graduates in Performance Arts and Directing. In an unchanging, predictable institutional system, with the same number of state-owned theatres and staff grids, and with quasi-limited financial resources and perspectives for the independent/private field, it is not easy for young talents to emerge. On the other hand, the Romanian art environment, dominated by the idea that the director is responsible for theatrical success or failure, is impatient with the young directors, who achieve success early in their careers and who manage to go with the current, despite the burden of general expectations and success, which may come too early in some cases. Bobi Pricop made his mark! He surprised everybody beginning with his debut, in 2011, with Backyard Games, by Edna Mazya, his bachelor’s degree exam as a director graduate, following his BA in Theatre Acting.
3 comments:
I always find it rather impressive whenever I hear of the theatrical world in places like Europe and Asia. It's thrilling to know that the work in other countries are vastly different from the work we create here whilst still keeping the common denominator of story telling. I find Pricops story greatly relateable as he also pursued a higher education to get his foot in the door, but he acknoledges every other way way of doing so, like hard work. I want to see work like this come to the U.S, ones that break boundaries in terms of theatrical innovation and technology. Something that Pricops story contains a load of and something that young audiences are relating to day and day. It's that type of discipline that creates modern foreign pieces of art that audiences all around the world are attracted and enamoured by every day.
This was a particularly interesting article to read as it reviews the theatrical processes of a theater company in Romania, a place I haven't heard of often when it comes to performing arts. It was also fun to read about the process of creating The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time, and how the role of the audience was a key factor in making many of the creative and directorial decisions. In this particular production, the article states how the typical role of the audience is switched from "contemplative to reactive". This process was complemented by the various design aspects of the show, such as the background scenery moving forward at different angles to create a more all-encompassing environment for the spectators. Reading about this show made me want to be involved in it-- interactive and unconventional theatre is some of the most exciting live performance to me, and some of the most controversial as well.
After reading this article, in many ways I admire Bobi Pricop. Similar, to Shazad I am impressed by how Bobi reached success even in an artistically harsh environment that gives young artists very little support. Within that closed environment, I think it is more impressive that I wonder where Bobi will head next. No doubt, his approach to theater is revolutionary, but it takes a lot of effort to break out of the established theater scene. I like the way that he involves the audience in his pieces, that engages the audience and does not allow them to simply sit back and enjoy the performance. This attitude reminds me a lot of Bertolt Brecht, and epic theater where the goal is not to immerse the audience in a story, but to make them think. In a similar manner Pricop attempts to trigger a great deal of empathy, and not just to see the story, but think about all of the implications.
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