On Dictators and Other Demons

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In October 2010, I had the pleasure of meeting one of my favourite people in the world of theatre: the director Alexander Hausvater. He asked me if I had ever sat in, from beginning to end, on the rehearsals for a play. I told him I hadn’t but that I’d be more than interested to give it a go. He then made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He was about to start work at the Timișoara National Theatre on a new production of Julius Caesar, a political play he was going to bring bang up to date. The whole thing would take two months, and I would be able to sit in on the rehearsals and then write about what I’d seen. I thanked him, saying I’d need a couple of days to think about it and see if I could rearrange my schedule. But temptation got the better of me. The next day I called him to say I was in. “Great!” came his laconic reply. Unfortunately, my ongoing work commitments meant I wasn’t able to be there right from the start or to be present for the entire duration. But for a whole five weeks I would never miss a single rehearsal. I was all eyes and ears, memorising everything. When there was a risk of information overload, I diligently took notes on everything I’d witnessed. Above all, I got to speak with the cast! And so now, finally, two years later, I have produced this book, which brings together my observations and conversations from that time sitting in on the rehearsals. The results are laid bare in the pages of the book, with excerpts from the script printed in italics and the director’s instructions during rehearsals printed in bold.     

Cristina Rusiecki

 

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Cristina Rusiecki’s literary labours involved her sitting in on rehearsals, taking copious notes and holding discussions with the director, the actors, the set designer, the choreographer, the composer of the musical score, etc., including the transcription thereof. She gathered material, made a selection and then arranged it all in her chosen format for the book, the result being On Dictators and Other Demons – Julius Caesar, A Diary of Rehearsals. While providing ample detail about the production itself, we also learn about how complex the creative process can be, about all the worries, concerns, feelings, hopes and effort it involves, about the psychological substrata to the art of theatre. Cristina Rusiecki has pulled it off: she has hit upon the right tone and measure to paint a portrait of a difficult director whose effect on the theatre companies he works with is akin to that of an aesthetic thunder storm, a director who has left his mark on Romanian theatre in recent decades. Alexander Hausvater introduced to Romanian theatre new theatrical methods and practices taken from the West, where he has worked for many years; he imposed his own personal way of working, involving physicality, total commitment, theatrical boot camps, the suspension of all “civilian activities”, and a shaking up of the spectator experience. He asks nothing of those he works with that he is not capable of himself, he works shoulder to shoulder with the actors and others, whom he instils with new resources whose origins not even they are aware of. This is a polyphonic diary: in it we hear the voices of the set designer Judit Dobre Kothay, the costume designer Velica Panduru, the composer Yves Chamberland, the choreographer Răzvan Mazilu, the lighting designer Lucian Moga, the actors Ion Rizea, Colin Buzoianu, Doru Iosif, Cătălin Ursu, Victor Manovici, Romeo Ioan, Andrea Tokai, Benone Viziteu, Alina Ilea, Ana Maria Cojocaru, Matei Chioariu and Călin Stanciu Jr, the literary secretary Codruţa Popov, etc. Cristina Rusiecki’s style is pleasant, colloquial and friendly, guiding the reader on their journey through the microcosm of a theatre production. Reaching the final sentence of this book, you will feel sad that you’re at the end but thoroughly enriched theatrically speaking.

Oltița Cîntec, “Foreword”

 

 

Traducerea textelor în limba engleză: Samuel W.F. Onn