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On Saturday, the 1st of November, the final book launch within the 24th edition of the National Theatre Festival took place. At the Humanitas Bookstore in Cișmigiu, two books have been uncovered: “Performing Utopias. Radical Artists of the 21st Century American Stage”, by Cristina Modreanu and “Label Curtain. A Private Theater Dictionary” by Gábor Tompa.
6 November 2014, Articles
On Saturday, the 1st of November, the final book launch within the 24th edition of the National Theatre Festival took place. At the Humanitas Bookstore in Cișmigiu, two books have been uncovered: “Performing Utopias. Radical Artists of the 21st Century American Stage”, by Cristina Modreanu and “Label Curtain. A Private Theater Dictionary” by Gábor Tompa.
An article by Judy Florescu
At the launch of the two books, Andras Visky (poet, playwright and essayist) spoke, as did Cristina Modreanu (theatre critic, cultural journalist, university professor, who initiated a number of cultural projects) and George Banu (theatre specialist, university professor at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris)
The first book to be launched was “Performing Utopias. Radical Artists of the 21st Century American Stage”, by Cristina Modreanu, printed by the Humanitas Publishing House.
Andras Visky said of the book by Cristina Modreanu that: “It’s about redefining identity, an ever-changing identity, with a new theme, a new style of interpretation; it’s about the radical reconfiguration of the ideas of actor and spectator and the relationship between them.”
“The absence of discomfort is not a good sign for the quality of the show, quite the opposite”
Performing Utopias, Cristina Modreanu
Andras Visky interpreted this quote as: “Discomfort becomes a part of receiving contemporary shows. This, however, presupposed a redefinition of success in theatre. A very important question- what does theatrical success mean from the standpoint of this change in performance? Success is associated with the masses, but discomfort is bound to the individual. The fact that some viewers leave the hall may prove an element of success.
Cristina Modreanu : “ As every viewer sees the performance differently, so does every reader see things differently in a book. Beyond the book’s subject, what’s more important to me, as well as a problem from the very beginning, was: how can you read about a show today, in an age in which, at least theoretically, you can see most of the performances? What else could you say about that show that’s new and interesting?”
The second book launch was “Label Curtain. A private Theater Dictionary”, written by Gábor Tompa and printed by the Bookart Publishing House.
George Banu said of Label Curtain that it’s a book in the style of Borges, “that is, a dictionary with no objective order, without the will to convey the historical content, but, quite the opposite, a sort of collection of topics, themes, which make up the cultural biography of Gábor Tompa. It’s a faux dictionary, like the treaties of fantasy art by Borges. A dictionary only produces superficial information for ignorant people, while Gábor Tompa’s book gives no information, but at the same time invites us to discover a photogram of a highly cultured artist.My wish for this book is to sincerely enjoy a version in Romanian as soon as possible”.
Photo: Florin Biolan