La ronde

Arthur Schnitzler’s play, The Circle of Love is a series of ten dialogues featuring several characters before and after sexual intercourse in late 19th century Austria. Following the same narrative principle, this total rewrite of Yann Verburgh’s La Ronde gives us interwoven stories in which each character experiences an intimate encounter with the next, exploring the diversity of identities and amorous and sexual practices that are revealed in our contemporary society. Documented through a series of interviews with anonymous individuals about their romantic relationships, the reflection takes shape in the theatre in the plurality of beings and lives brought together in this mosaic of striking and moving stories. The characters in this contemporary version express a deep desire to exist, to flourish without being subject to outdated moral and normative rules. Between confrontation and seduction, ambiguity and truth, fantasy and poetry, La Ronde  is a theatrical fiction about love.

”La Ronde is first and foremost a political and intimate manifesto about sexuality. Yann Verburgh’s play is a courageous text that speaks unashamedly about the polyvalence of love relationships in our age, on the threshold of a new sexual revolution.

I was intrigued by the playwright’s theme that the love relationship between two or more people cancels out the social statuses between the characters, and this allows the stage to portray a universe in which diversity and inclusion play the leading role.

In the form of a contemporary cabaret, my aim with this performance is to sublimate the concerns and aesthetics of the contemporary ’20s, to be explored theatrically in a subversive key, but with a large dose of sensuality and candour”, says director Eugen Jebeleanu.

Performance for the spectators over 18 years of age!

EUGEN JEBELEANU

Born in Timișoara, Eugen Jebeleanu studied acting at UNATC – Bucharest. He also got a master’s degree in directing and dramaturgy in Paris. However, he later dedicated his work to directing theatre, opera and, more recently, film. He currently lives in Paris, the city where, in 2017, he and his partner, playwright Yann Verburgh, founded a theatre company named Compagnie des Ogres. His collaboration with the latter, however, goes back further, in 2010 when they founded Company 28. Their shows are performed in cities all over France and selected for the most important theatre festivals in Europe.

Eugen Jebeleanu has collaborated with some of the most important theatres in Romania, including the “Andrei Mureșanu“ Theatre. He has also directed numerous shows in France and Germany.

In 2017, he directed Căpcăuni (Ogres), a project that was awarded by the Fédération d’Associations de Théâtre Populaire (FATP). With this project he stood out as the only Romanian theatre director who staged in Paris, at the age of 27. For the show Itinerarii. Într-o zi, lumea se va schimba (Itineraries. One Day the World Will Change) made in 2019, he received the award for best direction at the UNITER Awards Gala. He also collaborated with the Lyon Opera for I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky by John Adams. In 2020, he had his film directorial debut with Câmp de maci (Field of Poppies), awarded as Best Director at TIFF, Transylvanian International Film Festival 2021.

Eugen Jebeleanu is also appreciated for the remarkable humanity he has shown over the years, a humanity that is increasingly rare in the world we live in, especially in the competitive world of theatre and film. The director vehemently condemns offenses or abuse of any kind in the director-actor relationship and has a new philosophy of working, especially since he originally established himself as an actor. “As an artist and as a human being, I am one and the same, no matter how much some people try to separate this, I believe that the artist and the human being are the same individual“, he says in a material published by culturaladuba.ro.

ANDREI MUREŞANU THEATRE

The “Andrei Mureşanu” Theater was established in 1987. It is a public institution, financed by the Local Council of Sfantu Gheorghe Municipality. It is the main generator of cultural events for the Romanian minority community in the area (more than 70% are Hungarians). Acting as a repertory theater, our institution offers to its audience performances inspired by both classical Romanian and universal dramaturgy, as well as contemporary plays, being open to all current trends in the theatrical realm.

The “Andrei Mureşanu“ Theater has been invited to major European theater festivals, such as Leipzig (Germany), Nitra (Slovakia), Zsambek (Hungary), Trabzon (Turkey), Tampere (Finland), Bern (Switzerland), Turin (Italy), Faro (Portugal), Varna (Bulgaria), Plymouth (UK), etc. Also, our Theater was present at the most important national theater festivals, where it got numerous proofs of the quality of its productions, being honored with distinctions and prizes. The “Andrei Mureşanu“ Theater collaborated with the highest quality directors, scenographers, actors, composers, choreographers and actors, forming an artistic and technical team of high professionalism. We intend to continue the managerial program on this profile and to remain a unique and original voice in the contemporary theatrical landscape of Romania.

CAST:

Performers: Costi Apostol, Nicholas Catianis, Ioana Alexandrina Costea, Oana Jipa, Sebastian Marina, Fatma Mohamed, Camelia Paraschiv Kátai, Anca Pitaru, Daniel Rizea, Mădălina Muşat, Iulian Trăistaru

Director: Eugen Jebeleanu

Dramaturgy & artistic collaborator: Yann Verburgh

Scenography: Cosmin Florea

Sound design: Eugen Jebeleanu & Rémi Billardon

Audio production: Marius Popa

Lights: Bakó Zoltán

Sound: Magyar Csaba, Somogyi Ede László

Technical direction: Lidia Baciu, Ioana Popescu

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes, without interval / 18+

The language of the performance: RO

Subtitles: HU, EN

Premiere: 6th May, 2023