In the context of The Republic of Moldova’s process of joining the EU, UNITER and The Ministry of Culture support Moldavian artists by hosting „The Trap” in the National Theatre Festival of 2022, after „On The Run ” by Mikhail Bulgakov, a production of the Mihai Eminescu National Threatre in Chișinău (sciprt, direction and music by Petru Hadârcă.
4 October 2022 NTF PRESS RELEASES, News
The performance had its premiere on the 15. September 2022 at the 7th edition of the Gathering of Romanian National Theaters in Chișinău, whose theme was „Artists for Peace, Freedom, Hope”.
„The idea of this performace arose in the context of the debates over Russian culture, the responsibility of authors and the impact of their works on mentalities and social opinions, debates generated by the war in Ukraine. I believe that it is not the prohibition but, on the contrary, the reading, reading again, detached analysis, discussion and reflections on details, that could help us understand what is happening nowadays, and thus maybe we could understand how come we got again to the confrontation of two worlds, of two such different models of organizing life and society. For such an endeavor, I have chosen the fate and the work of Mikhail Bulgakov.
After the 1917 Revolution, Bulgakov remained in the Soviet Union, not because he chose so but because he was suffering from typhus and was unconscious, thus never made it to seek refuge abroad with his siblings. When he got better, he regretted having missed that opportunity and tried to adapt to life in the Bolshevik regime. After various attempts to get a passport and leave, and after various publishing prohibitions, Bulgakov started to write letters to the leaders of the Soviet Union, asking for permission to leave the country. To his dismay, he received a call from Stalin himself. Bulgakov did not have the courage to repeat his request on the phone, but let himself be seduced by Stalin’s offer to become playwright of the Moskov Art Theater. This time he made a conscious choice. Which consequences did this have on his personal destiny, how did it influence his writings and to what extent does this choice offer a key for deciphering the questions we are facing a century from that moment – this performance is an attempt to launch a debate on these topics.” (Petru Hadârcă, director)