Cluj-Napoca National Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Lucian Blaga
National Theatre (Romanian
: Teatrul Naţional Lucian Blaga) in Cluj-Napoca
, Romania
is one of the most prestigious theatrical institutions in Romania. The theatre shares the same building with the Romanian Opera
.
architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer
who designed several theatres and palaces across Europe in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the theatres in Iaşi
, Oradea
, Timişoara
and Chernivtsi
(Romanian: Cernăuţi).
The project was financed using only private capital (Sandor Ujfalfy bequeathed his domains and estates from Szolnok-Doboka to the National Theatre Fund from Kolozsvár)
The theatre opened on 8 September 1906 with Ferenc Herczeg
's Bujdosók and until 1919, as Cluj was part of the Kingdom of Hungary
, it was home to the local Hungarian National Theatre . The last performance of the Hungarian troupe was held on September 30, 1919 and presented Shakespeare's Hamlet: "Horatio, I am dead; / Thou livest; report me and my cause aright / To the unsatisfied."
Since 1919, the building has been home to the local Romanian National Theatre and Romanian Opera, while the local Hungarian Theatre and Opera
received the theatre building in Emil Isac street, close to the Central Park and Someşul Mic River
.
After the Second Vienna Award
the building was again the home of the Hungarian Theatre. On 31 October 1944 the Romanian and Hungarian actors celebrating the freedom of the city held a common performance, the revenue being donated to the Russian and Romanian wounded soldiers.
The hall initially had a capacity of 928 places, being conceived in the Neo-baroque
style, with some inflexions inspired by the Secessionism in the decoration of the foyer. Between 1950 and 1956 the stage house was extended to 1200 seats.
The Romanian National Theatre was officially opened on 18 September 1919, simultaneously with the Romanian Opera
and Gheorghe Dima Music Academy. The inauguration performance, Poemul Unirei (The Unification Poem) by Zaharia Bârsan, took place on 1 December 1919.
The founder of the National Theatre of Cluj, as well as his first director, was Zaharia Bârsan, actor, stage director, playwright and animator. Some of the famous first members of the National Theatre include Olimpia Bârsan, Stănescu-Papa, Dem Mihăilescu-Brăila, Neamţu-Ottonel, Jeana Popovici, Stanca Alexandrescu, Ion Tâlvan, Ştefan Braborescu etc.
Between 1936 and 1940, the directorship of Victor Papilian meant a more profound opening towards modernity. In that period, a studio was created, in order to facilitate the contact of the public with the modern dramatic productions. Some famous actors of the time include Magda Tâlvan, Maria Cupcea, Titus Croitoru, Violeta Boitoş, Viorica Iuga, Nicolae Sasu, Gheorghe Aurelian etc.
In 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award
, the theatre, like other Romanian institutions, had to move to the Romanian part of the artificially divided Transylvania
. While the local university
moved to Sibiu
, the national theatre moved to Timişoara
. In December 1945, at the end of World War II
, as Cluj became part of Romania once again, the theatrical institution returned to Cluj and restarted its activity, under the directorship of Aurel Buteanu.
Between 1948 and 1964, although under the initial stages of the Communist
regime, the theatre remarkably managed to keep true to its artistic values. Famous names of the time include Marietta Sadova, Ştefan Braborescu, Radu Stanca, Viorica Cernucan, Maia Ţipan-Kaufmann, Ligia Moga, Gheorghe M. Nuţescu, Emilia Hodiş, Gheorghe Radu, Aurel Giurumia, Alexandru Munte, Silvia Ghelan etc.
After 1965, as Vlad Mugur
became its director, the theatre focused on aesthetic values, refusing the ideological and moralising line imposed by the increasingly strict Communist authorities. The performances became based on a balanced type of Modernism
. In this period the National Theatre established itself as an important European theatrical institution, due to the prestigious artistic tours in Italy
with performances such as Iphigeneia in Tauris
by Euripides
, Caligula
by Albert Camus
, A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
. Among the young famous artists of the time there were Silvia Popovici, Valentino Dain, Melania Ursu, Valeria Seciu, George Motoi, Dorel Vişan, Anton Tauf.
The directors that followed, Ion Vlad, Maia Ţipan-Kaufmann, Petre Bucşa, Constantin Cubleşan and Horia Bădescu, continued to try (and succeeded quite frequently) to avoid the Communist censorship
by maintaining a balance between national and universal dramatic texts and between classical and modern elements. Famous artists of the time include Mihai Măniuţiu
, Gelu Bogdan Ivaşcu, Maria Munteanu, Ileana Negru, Miriam Cuibus, Marius Bodochi, Petre Băcioiu, Dorin Andone. In this period, performances like Săptămîna luminată by M. Săulescu, The Lesson
by Eugène Ionesco
, and Murder in the Cathedral
by T. S. Eliot
were staged during several tours in England
, France
, Yugoslavia
, Finland
, the USA
and Egypt
.
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989
, the performances became more diverse and modern. Famous names of this period include Victor Ioan Frunză, Mihai Măniuţiu, Mona Chirilă, Anca Bradu, Th. Cristian Popescu, Liviu Ciulei
, Crin Teodorescu, Lucian Giurchescu, Mircea Marosin, Sorana Coroamă-Stanca, Horea Popescu, Gheorghe Harag, Dinu Cernescu. The directors of the theatre until 2000 were, successively, V.I. Frunză, Anton Tauf and Dorel Vişan.
Since 2000, the director of the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre has been Ion Vartic. The performances comprise original dramatic works (classic and modern, Romanian and universal). Important stage directors include Vlad Mugur, Mihai Măniuţiu, Sanda Manu and Alexandru Dabija.
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
National Theatre (Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
: Teatrul Naţional Lucian Blaga) in Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
is one of the most prestigious theatrical institutions in Romania. The theatre shares the same building with the Romanian Opera
Cluj-Napoca Romanian Opera
Cluj-Napoca Romanian National Opera is a public opera house and ballet company institution in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The Opera shares the same building with the National Theatre.-Building:...
.
Building
The theatre was built between 1904 and 1906 by the famous AustrianAustrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer
Ferdinand Fellner
Ferdinand Fellner was an Austrian architect. Along with Hermann Helmer, he designed several theatres and palaces across Europe in the late 19th century and early 20th century.Fellner was born in Vienna...
who designed several theatres and palaces across Europe in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the theatres in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, Oradea
Oradea
Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...
, Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
and Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...
(Romanian: Cernăuţi).
The project was financed using only private capital (Sandor Ujfalfy bequeathed his domains and estates from Szolnok-Doboka to the National Theatre Fund from Kolozsvár)
The theatre opened on 8 September 1906 with Ferenc Herczeg
Ferenc Herczeg
Ferenc Herczeg was a Hungarian playwright and author who promoted conservative nationalist opinion in his country. He founded and edited the magazine Új Idők in 1895...
's Bujdosók and until 1919, as Cluj was part of the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, it was home to the local Hungarian National Theatre . The last performance of the Hungarian troupe was held on September 30, 1919 and presented Shakespeare's Hamlet: "Horatio, I am dead; / Thou livest; report me and my cause aright / To the unsatisfied."
Since 1919, the building has been home to the local Romanian National Theatre and Romanian Opera, while the local Hungarian Theatre and Opera
Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Opera
The Hungarian State Opera in Cluj-Napoca is a national opera company of Romania, founded on 17 December 1948.The structure was built during 1909-1910, on the site of an old summer theatre dating back in. The ensemble can host 1,000 people. The building also hosts the Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Theatre....
received the theatre building in Emil Isac street, close to the Central Park and Someşul Mic River
Somesul Mic River
The Someșul Mic River is a river in north-western Romania . It is formed at the confluence of two rivers, Someșul Cald and Someșul Rece, that come from the Apuseni Mountains...
.
After the Second Vienna Award
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...
the building was again the home of the Hungarian Theatre. On 31 October 1944 the Romanian and Hungarian actors celebrating the freedom of the city held a common performance, the revenue being donated to the Russian and Romanian wounded soldiers.
The hall initially had a capacity of 928 places, being conceived in the Neo-baroque
Neo-baroque
The Baroque Revival or Neo-baroque was an architectural style of the late 19th century. The term is used to describe architecture which displays important aspects of Baroque style, but is not of the Baroque period proper—i.e., the 17th and 18th centuries.Some examples of Neo-baroque architecture:*...
style, with some inflexions inspired by the Secessionism in the decoration of the foyer. Between 1950 and 1956 the stage house was extended to 1200 seats.
History
Cluj-Napoca Romanian Opera
Cluj-Napoca Romanian National Opera is a public opera house and ballet company institution in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The Opera shares the same building with the National Theatre.-Building:...
and Gheorghe Dima Music Academy. The inauguration performance, Poemul Unirei (The Unification Poem) by Zaharia Bârsan, took place on 1 December 1919.
The founder of the National Theatre of Cluj, as well as his first director, was Zaharia Bârsan, actor, stage director, playwright and animator. Some of the famous first members of the National Theatre include Olimpia Bârsan, Stănescu-Papa, Dem Mihăilescu-Brăila, Neamţu-Ottonel, Jeana Popovici, Stanca Alexandrescu, Ion Tâlvan, Ştefan Braborescu etc.
Between 1936 and 1940, the directorship of Victor Papilian meant a more profound opening towards modernity. In that period, a studio was created, in order to facilitate the contact of the public with the modern dramatic productions. Some famous actors of the time include Magda Tâlvan, Maria Cupcea, Titus Croitoru, Violeta Boitoş, Viorica Iuga, Nicolae Sasu, Gheorghe Aurelian etc.
In 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...
, the theatre, like other Romanian institutions, had to move to the Romanian part of the artificially divided Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. While the local university
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
moved to Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, the national theatre moved to Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
. In December 1945, at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as Cluj became part of Romania once again, the theatrical institution returned to Cluj and restarted its activity, under the directorship of Aurel Buteanu.
Between 1948 and 1964, although under the initial stages of the Communist
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
regime, the theatre remarkably managed to keep true to its artistic values. Famous names of the time include Marietta Sadova, Ştefan Braborescu, Radu Stanca, Viorica Cernucan, Maia Ţipan-Kaufmann, Ligia Moga, Gheorghe M. Nuţescu, Emilia Hodiş, Gheorghe Radu, Aurel Giurumia, Alexandru Munte, Silvia Ghelan etc.
After 1965, as Vlad Mugur
Vlad Mugur
Vlad Mugur was a Romanian-born German theater director.He graduated from the Bucharest Theater Institute as valedictorian in 1949, but he had already started to direct plays two years earlier, in 1947.In 1965 he became director of the National Theater in Cluj...
became its director, the theatre focused on aesthetic values, refusing the ideological and moralising line imposed by the increasingly strict Communist authorities. The performances became based on a balanced type of Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
. In this period the National Theatre established itself as an important European theatrical institution, due to the prestigious artistic tours in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
with performances such as Iphigeneia in Tauris
Iphigeneia in Tauris
Iphigenia in Tauris is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written between 414 BC and 412 BC. It has much in common with another of Euripides's plays, Helen, and is often described as a romance, a melodrama or an escape play.-Background:...
by Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
, Caligula
Caligula (play)
Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 and published for the first time in May 1944 by Éditions Gallimard. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions. It was part of what the author called the "Cycle of the Absurd", with the novel The Outsider and the essay The Myth...
by Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
, A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. Among the young famous artists of the time there were Silvia Popovici, Valentino Dain, Melania Ursu, Valeria Seciu, George Motoi, Dorel Vişan, Anton Tauf.
The directors that followed, Ion Vlad, Maia Ţipan-Kaufmann, Petre Bucşa, Constantin Cubleşan and Horia Bădescu, continued to try (and succeeded quite frequently) to avoid the Communist censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
by maintaining a balance between national and universal dramatic texts and between classical and modern elements. Famous artists of the time include Mihai Măniuţiu
Mihai Maniutiu
Mihai Maniutiu is a European theatre director, writer and theatre/performance theoretician of Romanian origin. He has directed over eighty productions in important theatres, many of which have been toured internationally, broadcast on European TV chanels, and won numerous awards in the categories...
, Gelu Bogdan Ivaşcu, Maria Munteanu, Ileana Negru, Miriam Cuibus, Marius Bodochi, Petre Băcioiu, Dorin Andone. In this period, performances like Săptămîna luminată by M. Săulescu, The Lesson
La Leçon
The Lesson is a one-act play by Eugène Ionesco. It was first performed in 1951 in a production directed by Marcel Cuvelier . Claude Mansard played the Maid and Rosette Zuchelli played the Pupil in that production. Since 1957 it has been in permanent production at Paris' Théâtre de la Huchette, on...
by Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
, and Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, first performed in 1935...
by T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
were staged during several tours in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, the performances became more diverse and modern. Famous names of this period include Victor Ioan Frunză, Mihai Măniuţiu, Mona Chirilă, Anca Bradu, Th. Cristian Popescu, Liviu Ciulei
Liviu Ciulei
Liviu Ciulei was a Romanian theater and film director, film writer, actor, architect, educator, costume and set designer. During a career spanning over 50 years, he was described by Newsweek as "one of the boldest and most challenging figures on the international scene".-Biography:Born in...
, Crin Teodorescu, Lucian Giurchescu, Mircea Marosin, Sorana Coroamă-Stanca, Horea Popescu, Gheorghe Harag, Dinu Cernescu. The directors of the theatre until 2000 were, successively, V.I. Frunză, Anton Tauf and Dorel Vişan.
Since 2000, the director of the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre has been Ion Vartic. The performances comprise original dramatic works (classic and modern, Romanian and universal). Important stage directors include Vlad Mugur, Mihai Măniuţiu, Sanda Manu and Alexandru Dabija.