Nelinişte de Ivan Vîrîpaev

The performance has been nominated for the UNITER 2024 Awards in the following categories: Best Lighting Design (Cristian Niculescu) and Best Set Design (Velica Panduru), winning the award for Best Set Design.

After the 2020 production of Villa Dolorosa by Rebekka Kricheldorf at the Main Hall, which was nominated for the UNITER Award for Best Performance, renowned director Theodor-Cristian Popescu returns to the National Theatre of Târgu-Mureș – “Liviu Rebreanu” Company with a new production, this time staged at the Small Hall. Ivan Vyrypaev's play Unease benefits from Theodor-Cristian Popescu's consistently fresh and unconventional vision, which has become a hallmark for his audience.

A complex playwright deeply engaged with the social and psychological depths of contemporary humanity, Ivan Vyrypaev offers a highly relevant story. The play reflects both current news echoes and distant historical events, whose impact has only intensified with time.

The young Polish journalist Krzysztof Zieliński secures a rare interview with the famous American writer Ula Richter, who was also born in Poland. Known not only for her literature but also for her sharp, reserved, and uncompromising character, Ula rarely grants interviews, turning them into significant events. At a time when her career is marked by controversy and decline, a moment of honesty could restore her reputation in the eyes of her readers and a world increasingly polarized and unwilling to appreciate nuance, ready to condemn before investigating.
Though tense, Krzysztof senses this interview will be special, but the direction it takes surpasses even his wildest expectations.

Skillfully oscillating between fantasy and reality until the two merge, Vyrypaev's play hypnotizes the audience just as Ula manipulates the interviewer. Sudden role reversals and shifts in perspective challenge the truth as we commonly understand it, questioning the reality whose outlines we often perceive as clear while they create illusions that endlessly replace one another.

The text is thought-provoking and provocative, poetic and disconcerting. Yet, beyond the unease evoked by its title lies a hope: that someday everything will make sense, and contradictions will vanish, much like in our own lives.

Artistic Direction: Theodor-Cristian POPESCU
Set Design: Velica PANDURU
Lighting Design: Cristian NICULESCU
Sound Design: Andrei RAICU
Set Design Assistant: Sabina REUS
Stage Movement: Flavia GIURGIU
Translator: Raluca RĂDULESCU
Prompter: Iolanda BELBE
Technical Direction: Stelian CHIŢACU

The performance is recommended for audiences aged 14 and older.

The show will take place on Saturday, December 14, at 7:30 PM, at the Small Hall.