The Dragon, Yuri Kordonsky's performance based on a text by Evgheniy Schwarz, a production of the German State Theater Timișoara (GSTT), will have two performances in November.
The first of them will take place on November 13, 2024, at the GSTT venue, starting at 7.30 pm, and will be followed by a discussion with the audience moderated by theater critic Daniela Șilindean.
Tickets here: https://www.entertix.ro/bilete/25323/der-drache-dragonul-the-dragon-13-noiembrie-2024-teatrul-german-de-stat-timisoara.html
Then, on November 16, 2024, the performance will take the stage of the 11th edition of the Interethnic Theatre Festival organized by the Proscenium Foundation and the Association of Hungarian Theatres MASZIN, in partnership with the Department for Interethnic Relations of the Romanian Government. This year's festival takes place in Satu Mare, and our performance will start at 19.30.
A dragon has subjugated a city for centuries. The inhabitants must feed it thousands of cows, sheep and chickens and sacrifice a maiden to it every year. But the people have come to terms with this, no one rebels against it, on the contrary, in fact they consider the dragon's rule to be safe. One day a young man, the knight Lancelot, appears and questions this order. He falls in love with the beautiful Elsa, who is to be sacrificed that year, and wants to fight the dragon. But virtually no one sees him as a possible liberator or would be willing to support him in battle.
In 1943, Russian author Yevgeny Schwarz dressed his criticism of the German Nazi regime in the garb of a fairy tale. But the Communist leaders of the Soviet Union at the time also saw themselves reflected in the play The Dragon. After two dress rehearsals in Moscow in 1944, the performance was banned. The parable has remained frighteningly topical in light of Russia's war against Ukraine. For Schwarz not only satirizes dictatorships, but also shows that arbitrariness and violence endure because people have internalized the mechanisms and values of such a system of government. We all carry the dragon within us.
The cast includes Isa Berger, Robert Bogdanov-Schein, Alma Diaconu, Ioana Iacob, Marc Illich, Alexandru Mihăescu, and Harald Weisz. The set and costumes are by Ioana Popescu, GSTT set designer, and the dramaturgy is by Rudolf Herbert.
See you at The Dragon.
