23 May 1998
If a director has to work with such a young cast as that of Figura
and the director himself is a university student, then hardly a better choice
could have been made than this commedia dell’arte.
The momentous and well crafted play presents the nippy playfulness
of medieval scribes and took the audience back from where the Decameron set out
on its journey. This production isn’t about anything else, but life itself:
money, love, purity and indecency, shown in a playful or solemn light. The
resounding notes of Carmina Burana in the last act aim to remind us of this
very fact.
Gelu Badea did not aim for stylistic deconstruction. He sets the play in traditional frames backed by Alexandru Iuga’s functional, creative scenic design. A lot of novelty, youthful ideas, brave comedic spirit fills the scene and the director made the actors believe that they can handle the play. (Their excellence was so resourceful that anyone who knows the company can only speak of it in superlatives. First and foremost I am thinking of Elvira Péter who plays Falmina, who only appears on the scene a handful of times and still managed to be one of the most memorable characters in the entire production.)
From midnight to dawn when according to hearsay ghosts and spirits
claim the night Gelu Badea raises some figures from ages long gone by. With
less speech, but all the more play and prankish comedy makes them tell their
tales that everything is in vain. (…)
György Bajna (Hargita Népe: May 27th 1998.)
Umbaldo Graziani
Arrigo Morandi
Alfonso Lumaga
Matamoros Spavento
Cellio
Tullio
Isabella
Flaminia
Laudomia
Fulvia
Colombina
Arlecchino
As well as
Compilated by:
Gelu Badea
Hungarian translation:
Csűrös Réka
Set designer:
Alexandru Iuga
Directed by: Gelu Badea