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Tag: Odeon Theatre

  • Cristian Sofron, the new manager of the Odeon Theater in Bucharest

    Cristian Sofron, the new manager of the Odeon Theater in Bucharest

    The very popular Romanian actress Dorina Lazar was the top-level manager of the Odeon Theater in Bucharest for more than a decade. A substantial change has occurred at this level, since the beginning of 2018 saw actor Cristian Sofron taking up the top managerial position of the aforementioned theater. Cristian Sofron is a well-known actor himself, having shot to fame when he featured in the TV Series At Full Sail, as sailor Mihu. For five years, Cristian Sofron was the Manager of the Nicolae Balcescu UNESCO Cultural center. Early into his term in office manager Cristian Sofron’s main concern is to secure a better promotion of the Odeon Theater outside the country, since the institution he runs has for long been one of Romania’s oldest and most important stages.



    With details on that, here is Cristian Sofron himself : “What I want for the Odeon Theater is that everything happening there, stage performances, related events, all sorts of other events, should fall under the slogan ‘Everything at the level of excellence.’ The Odeon Theater is one of Romania’s most important theaters, what I want is that it should become one of Europe’ best theaters and why not, one of the best theaters in the world. The Odeon Theater has traveled widely, it goes places on a considerable number of occasions, but maybe we should steer our energies towards taking part in the really important festivals across the country as well as abroad, we should try to bring over specialists, so that they may see our work, so that they may appreciate our stage performances…That cannot be achieved in a couple of months, that’s for sure, but I am dead positive that, slowly but surely, the Odeon Theater will become more and more known abroad”.



    The new manager of the Odeon Theatre shares the belief that excellency can also be achieved by inviting important stage directors. So, in the upcoming period, one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed Romanian stage artists, Alexandru Dabija, will work with the Odeon Theater, stage-directing a show titled The Tales of an unknown man, after Tchekhov’s Stories. The name of Alexandru Dabija is closely linked to the history of the Odeon Theater, where he staged a number of shows. We recall Alexandru Dabija was also the manager of Odeon Theater between 1991 and 1994 and 1996 and 2002, respectively. Another stage director, currently employed by the Odeon Theater, Dragos Galgotiu, will be starting rehearsals for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Dragos Galgotiu’s stage version of the play seeks to be an event in its own right. Younger stage directors Andrei and Andreea Grosu, the founders of the Unteatru independent theater, return to Odeon to stage Mihail Sebastian’s Playing Holiday. By the end of the season, director Zoltan Balazs, manager of the Maladype Theater in Budapest, is guest artist as part of the European project titled “Fabulamundi. Playwriting Europe”. Balasz will be staging the young Polish playwright Elżbieta Chowaniec’s Gardenia. Besides the directors invited, manager Cristian Sofron also has other plans for the Odeon Theatre, beginning with the Odeon Gallery.



    Cristian Sofron: “There is a section destined for exhibitions in the Odeon Theatre. I wanted this section to be open to visitors all throughout the day. It doesn’t seem fair that the wonderful works on display there to be seen only by the spectators who come for the shows at the studio hall and who are no more than 100-120 people. We have lots of projects targeting young theatre buffs who can visit our theatre when the stage is being mounted if they want to see how shows are prepared and all. We are running such a project through the Alternate Schooling programme in the following period. So young people and children alike are allowed to come and see for themselves how we mount the set and get the stage ready for every show. We have recently initiated a project, which we called ‘The Night of the Young Director”, during which the National University of Theatre and Cinema can present its most valuable shows on the stage of the Odeon Theatre. I think we should think of the young generations as well.”



    Currently working for the Odeon Theatre, choreographer and director Razvan Mazilu, an artist famous for his contribution to the improvement of Romania’s dance and musical theatre section and for the support he grants to young choreographers, is to stage, as every year, a dance gala, on April 29th, the International Dance Day. Discussions are underway about staging a show on the life of actress Judy Garland.



    The building housing the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest is an architectural gem dating back to 1911. The building has had several incarnations, at present being the only theatre with an Italian stage and a gliding ceiling. Located on the Victory Road, close to the University, the building is one of Bucharest’s major tourist attractions. With completely refurbished premises, reinforced and re-adorned after the initial projects of 1911, the Odeon Theatre can address even foreign tourists, provided the shows are translated. Here is again manager Cristian Sofron.



    Cristian Sofron: “The Odeon Theatre has the proper installation and most of the shows here have been translated into English. We have the right personnel trained for this job, so we are waiting for foreign tourists as well. We are very committed to this aspect and we have some challenges for the travel agencies. It’s for the first time I make this statement: in my opinion a complete travel package should also include a cultural event, a theatre performance…and I am convinced that when I can present travel agencies with this proposal, the answer will be a positive one.”



    A first initiative of the new Odeon director has been to enlarge the theatre’s acting crew by hiring several young and also some famous actors such as Adrian Titieni and Andi Vasluianu, two actors who have attained international recognition thanks to the roles they played in films.



  • Odeon Theatre Celebrates 70th anniversary

    Odeon Theatre Celebrates 70th anniversary

    Originally The Romanian Railways Workers Theatre, Odeon was open to the public in Bucharests Giulesti neighborhood in September 1946. It later on changed its name to Giulesti Theatre and in 1974 it was relocated to the well-known building on Victoria Road – the Comedia-Majestic Compound. In 1990, it was renamed Odeon Theater, at the initiative of stage director Vlad Mugur, its director at the time. According to historian Maria Magdalena Ionita, the name of the theatre was chosen, among other reasons, because initially, the architect who designed the building, Grigore Cerchez drew inspiration from the architecture of the Odeon Theatre in Paris. Furthermore, the repertory of the theatre was inspired form that of the Odeon Theatre in Paris.



    Bucharests Odeon Theatre has recently celebrated its 70th anniversary. On that occasion, two busts were unveiled: that of Elena Deleanu, who was the director of the theatre for 38 years, and that of actor Stefan Banica, who was a member of the Giulesti Theatre troupe and gained a local star status. Elena Deleanu was the one who went at all lengths to obtain a second hall for Giulesti Theatre, right at the heart of Bucharest, which is todays Majestic Hall.



    In order to mark Odeon Theatres seven decades of existence, an anniversary volume was launched, entitled “Odeon 70: A Historical Adventure and a Tribute. Its author is drama critic Miruna Runcan, the literary secretary of the theatre between 1991 and 1994. According to the author, the title was intended as a challenge for the reader:



    Miruna Runcan: I used the title as bait, because the book is not just an annotated database. It is a volume that celebrates the venerable age of Odeon Theatre, formerly Giulesti Theatre. On the other hand, the research process was a true adventure for me. There are scarce sources of information available. Some of them, especially reviews, can be found in the Odeon Theatre Archives. The most unusual period was between 1950 and 1960, right after the theatre was founded in 1946. I hardly found anything on the years 1946-1950, so I had to dig deep into the existing documentary material. But the title, I believe, was also an attempt to transfer, one way or another, the tone I strived to find, which is emotionally involved, given that I was born just across the street from the Giulesti Theatre. I took a keen interest in how theatre was born there, I was also interested in the whole story of the blend between the communist ideology which lay at the basis of the theatres overnight establishment, and the actual needs of the place it was born in, a place which has a tradition everyone has completely forgotten and that had to be retrieved.



    The text has a chronological structure, but the author took into account on one hand the political context of the moment, with the various distinct stages of the 45-year long communist period, so as to enable readers to set the activity of the theatre against that backdrop. On the other hand, the book underscores the successive aesthetic trends, the way the idea of stage direction developed in Romania. According to Miruna Runcan, the most representative moments in the history of Odeon Theatre, as they appear in the book, were the following:



    Miruna Runcan: One landmark was the 1956 moment. It is a turning point as regards aesthetic thinking and the outlook on stage directing. Actually, back then Giulesti Theatre was at the vanguard of redesigning the concept of theatre, with two young and very vocal directors, who were also very well-read on the topic, working there. They were Lucian Giurchescu and Horea Popescu. Later on, in the 1970s or thereabouts, there was a very good time for Romanian theatre in general. Dinu Cernescu was the director of Giulesti Theatre during those years. In the 1980s, there may have been a couple of high-quality shows, but all in all it was bad for Romanian theatre, just as it was for the entire Romanian people. The 1980s were terrible years. And of course, there was the period marked by a great personality, director Alexandru Dabija. Dating from this period is a series of absolutely extraordinary shows for the history of Romanian theatre, such as “And they put handcuffs on flowers, the first show by Alexander Hausvater in Romania, Mihai Maniutius version of “Richard III, “The Gypsy Girls, also stage-directed by Hausvater, some shows by Dragos Galgotiu …After that point, the choice is more difficult for me, because Odeon had a very steady progress. It is one of Romanias few theatres with a steady development after 1996. There was hardly any season without the theatre at least maintaining, if not improving its previous achievements.



    According to Miruna Runcan, the Odeon was the first theatre that after 1990 created a very diverse offer, going way beyond the repertory offer proper. It approached very recent plays, it came up with cycles of reading performances, staged exhibitions and initiated programs dedicated to children. For 20 years now, actress Dorina Lazar has been at helm of Odeon Theatre. Dorina Lazar has been a member of the troupe since 1969. Between 1996 and 2002 she was artistic director, and since 2003 Dorina Lazar has been the manager of the institution. Here she is now, speaking about the relationship the Giulesti/Odeon Theatre has had with the public all these years:



    Dorina Lazar: In Giulesti as well as here, the public is made up of people who love theatre. In Giulesti, it wasnt just the locals who came to the shows, there were also people coming all the way down from the city centre. That is precisely why a bus stop was created, which is still in place today at the Grant Bridge, so that people may get off the bus and come to the theatre. It is a faithful public. People who are now old have been coming to our theatre ever since they were young, they bring their grandchildren along. Fortunately, our shows are tailored for all age categories, and we see them coming, together with their grandchildren, for the music education performances, for instance. There are a lot of young people. Odeon has always been open to the young. We have not increased ticket prices either, so that everyone may come to our shows.“