A PERMANENTLY

OPEN

HORIZON

    The Equinox Theatre is a cultural phenomenon. A major culture - and the Romanian culture has every right to aspire to this position - affords, along with the continuation of the „classical”, “academic” direction, to practice the experiment as well, the theatrical experiment in this case.

    The mere mention of the prestigious performances that the Equinox Theatre staged, as well as the mention of the important awards granted to this theatre, would take, even in a brief presentation, lots of pages. But I won’t talk about it, I will talk about the theatrical thrill, about the rediscovery of the archaic, of archetypes, about going down to the subtle layer where language was born, about modern reading, sometimes paradoxical, of some classical texts, belonging, among others, to Eminescu, Caragiale, and Nichita Stanescu.

    I will talk about something else, too. A human being needs a soul in order to exist. Since 1980, the soul of the Equinox Theatre is called Mihai Vasile. Any attempt to emulation, any spiritual group, any intellectual movement, no matter how prolific and full of qualities, needs a ferment, a seed, a spiritus rector. For the Equinox Theatre, this is represented by Mihai Vasile. One must posses great attraction power to mobilize young people, to direct visionary performances, full of significance, to play with a full house without enjoying the financial benefits that the „official” theatres enjoy, to go round the communist censorship, by a subtle complicity with the enlightened spirits which exist in any system, even in totalitarian ones!

    The performance portfolio from before 1980 shows a fascinating thing: the dictatorship period didn’t manage to smother the talent, the courage or the experiment. Back to normal after the Romanian Revolution, the Equinox Theatre confronts, after the communist censorship with the new economic censorship of a society in a continuous transition. But Mihai Vasile is an old fighter. What the communist totalitarianism did not succeed in smothering, the brutal capitalism did not and will not succeed in destroying either. The Equinox Theatre continues its spiritual experiment, opening new doors, leaning upon new authors, using new means, in more and more personal forms.

 

    These new, yet old directions are the ones that fascinate the audience of the Equinox Theatre. On board of a paradoxical ship, driven by the adventure’s waves, the spectators have a permanently open horizon in front of them. Somewhere, by the rudder, shiny from so many years of sailing on seductive and dangerous seas, there is a slender and forever young captain, even though the effort of advancing through the endless ocean of ideas turned his hair gray sooner. At their places, up on the mast or working below, in the hold, the crew members – never, yet always the same – assist him, forming what means for a long time, now, a team. May you be helped by the wind.

 

 

   Florin Sicoie

    (writer) 2003