Director general of Chisinau-based theatre says he plays parts, stages plays in Moldovan capital, two Romanian cities in 2018

Interview given exclusively with the MOLDPRES State News Agency by Director General of the Mihai Eminescu National Theatre, People’s Artist Petru Hadarca.  

MOLDPRES: Mr. Director, how the 2018 year was for the institution you lead?

Petru Hadarca: We had more projects dedicated to the Union (with Romania) Centenary. The fourth issue of the Meeting of National Theatres was fully dedicated to this event. For the first time ever, all Romanian national theatres participated in the Meeting: from Bucharest, Iasi, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca, Targu Mures Craiova and Timisoara, as well as the ones from Moldova. All brought from their repertoire by two plays from the Romanian dramaturgy. We opened the Meeting with the play Carnavalul (The Carnival) by I.L. Caragiale, staged by Romanian stage manager Alexa Visarion, who is an encyclopedia of the Caragiale world. With the first performance of this play, we inaugurated both the theatrical season and the Meeting of National Theatres. On 1 October 2018, we participated in the Theatre Festival from Vaslui with the play, The Star without a Name, and on 12 October – in the Comedy Festival from Galati, with the play, The Joyful Hubbub, in which we were present as honorary guests, given that we had earlier got the Great Prize at this festival. On 23 October, we took part in the National Theatre Festival from Bucharest with the play KRUM by Hanoch Levin, stage management by Luminita Tacu. On 5, 6 and 7 November, we staged three plays in Buzau: The Star without a Name, The Joyful Hubbub and In Your Charming Eyes, after which, on 11 November, we participated in the International Theatre Festival from Brasov, with the play, In Your Charming Eyes. And here, according to the tradition, we ended the festival with a play with which we got the Great Prize at the previous issue. In last December, we were in Cluj, at the National Theatres Week, organized by the theatre from this city. In 2018, we had two co-productions: Miss Liberty – The Last Madrigal with the National Theatre from Targu Mures, and the play Sfatul Tarii (The Country Council), with the National Theatre from Iasi, the premiere of which took place on 30 December.     

M.: How have you started this year and what are you going to accomplish in 2019?

P.H.:  The first performance of the play The Cherry Orchard by A. P. Chekhov will take place on 19 and 20 January, stage management by Alexandru Cozub. Simultaneously, plays from the repertoire are staged. On 22 January, we will stage in Iasi the play Sfatul Tarii, on 23 January – The Cherry Orchard and on 24 January – The Carnival. On 26 January, the audience is waiting for us at the National Theatre from Bucharest, where we will present also The Carnival and on 27 January, - The Cherry Orchard – in the same hall. In February, we will play for the audience from Chisinau.     

M.: What actor and stage manager Petru Hadarca managed to accomplish in 2018?

P.H.: I made parts and plays, both on stage and at the Radio Bucharest. We started the last year with the premiere of the play The Joyful Hubbub, by S.T. Burke at our theatre. We staged four plays at the National Radio Theatre from Bucharest: Five Years in Donbas, The Tips of Melania, as well as two radio plays dedicated to the Sfatul Tarii (Country Council): Light for Bessarabia and Return Home. I played in The Carnival the part of Cracanel and the part of the American policeman in Miss Liberty – The Last Madrigal, by Mircea M. Ionescu. In Iasi, I staged the play Sfatul Tarii along with Cristian Hadji Culea. Thus, in 2018, I played parts and staged plays in Chisinau, Iasi and Bucharest.      

M.:  Thank you for the interview! Great success!