13 November | 17:00 – www.fnt.ro
The show has been available for viewing from Saturday 13 November, from 17.00, until Monday, 15 November, at 17.00. English translation.
No, Tom and Jerry is not a cartoon! It is rather an action film for grown-ups. It’s a daring text and performance on murder and “compassion – one’s greatest enemy”, for those who enjoy strong sensations and particularly dark humour. Tom and Jerry 2.0 resembles an American blockbuster that has it all, à la Tarantino. Badass characters. Extreme situations. Adrenaline.
Adaptation after Jerry and Tom by Rick Cleveland
Translation by Florin Piersic Jr.
Cast:
Tom: Marius Turdeanu
Jerry: Ali Deac
The Victim: Ioan Paraschiv
Direction: Florin Piersic Jr.
Set design and costumes: Tudor Prodan
Director of photography: Alexandru Condurache
Sound design: Ovidiu Păcurar
Radu Stanca National Theatre Sibiu
Duration: 1 h 35 min
Not suitable under 16 years of age
Performance in Romanian with English subtitles
This production is presented through an agreement with Concord Theatricals, representing Samuel Frech, Inc. (www.concordtheatricals.com)
Plus many other questions (and answers) that have always haunted you. Who killed Kennedy? Or Elvis? Who was Marilyn Monroe’s real secret lover? What great role should Al Pacino have played? And last but not least: how is it possible for a bunch of bloody hitmen to become such captivating characters? Deeply imbued with contemporary American mythology, in which cinematographic influences, marginal underground characters and the violence specific to the end of 20th-century social context converge in a magnetic fictitious world, Rick Cleveland’s text presents, in an exhilarating fragmented succession, the friendship between two natural born killers who try to conform to the life philosophy imposed by their job. On the line between caricature and gangster (anti)hero, the characters in Tom and Jerry 2.0 offer a cynical foray into the world of those who kill or are killed and who truly believe that friendship can defeat anything. Even though they might be wrong…
“In 2000, I used the play Tom and Jerry in a volume of one act plays (that had received awards at several festivals). I was amazed by the way it approached a taboo theme: death. I was 30 years old. Death was still very far away. I appreciated the author’s humour (similar to Tarantino’s, yet very original in how it was built and the way the story developed). I was happy to discover a man who was able to laugh at death, yet without minimalizing the grandeur of its scythe. In 2020 I’ve come to experience times when death seems to have become omnipresent: in the news, in funny online videos, everywhere. People give me the impression that they have grown accustomed to its ever-growing shadow in the general landscape.
I believe Tom and Jerry 2.0 is a good exercise for exorcising the demons that haunt us every day. The healing laughter is the (natural, bio) medicine I confidently always turn to. I think I still have time to make fun of some of the threats that all people face, in the end. Too many existential questions vs. too little time. And for the three actors involved in this project, I hope Tom and Jerry 2.0 is the opportunity to once again play dodgeball, this time as grown-ups. Perhaps their favourite game will soon become the spectators’ favourite, too.” – Florin Piersic Jr., director
Photo credit: Rareș Helici
