DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Much thought goes into choosing the plays that we produce.
Education of our students, quality of script, interest to the audience,
relevance to all our worlds, ability to create a fine production, and many
other factors are considered.
So why Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest?
First, Caryl Churchill is a very important contemporary
experimental playwright. She is among the most widely
performed and published British dramatists and her major plays have
enjoyed great success in this country as well. Churchill is a passionate
observer of humankind and Dan Sullivan says in the Los Angeles Times, she
“has the kind of mind that deals with big issues lightly, not to demean
them, but to remind us that issues and answers are abstractions—the spirit
comes first.” Her pursuit of this “spirit” took her to Romania with
a director and group of young actors almost immediately after the 1989
revolution. These theatre folk immersed themselves in the stories the Romanian
people told and through improvisation and experimentation Mad Forest emerged.
Second, Mad Forest is a good play and its almost journalistic portrayal
of the Romanian Revolution fits well into our year of globalization and
diversity. Would that oppression, fear, bigotry and violence were old news.
The timely and contemporary nature of this play has offered all of us (actors,
designers, directors,technicians and dramaturgs) the opportunity through
research to
uncover and understand the realities this play depicts. The experimental
development and style of Mad Forest has also given us the opportunity to
work in ways new to some of us. We spent the first week of rehearsal as
a company, not yet knowing who would play which roles, doing theatre games
to build our ensemble, improvising, and exploring the style and imagery
of the play. We also had to take time out to learn to sing and speak in
Romanian! And last but by no means least, we had the opportunity to work
very closely with Camelia and Sorin Pascu, two members of our Winston-Salem
community who experienced the revolution and all its fear, confusion, triumph
and return to confusion, first hand. It was an opportunity not to be passed
up.
So we chose Mad Forest. It was a good choice.
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The Revolution:
15 - 26 December, 1989
December 15- Father Laszlo Tokes spoke out against Ceausescu
in the town of Timisoara. Backed by thousands, the riot police arrived
to try and remove Tokes and disperse the crowd. A noisy, and at times bloody,
battle ensued in the streets.
December 16- The Securitate and the army were called in to restore
order. The United States State Department reacted with, “It looks like
Romania’s time may have finally come”, although the majority of the world
still believed that Ceausescu would success-fully maintain control.
December 17- A huge crowd amassed in Timisoara. The crowd became
aggressive and marched on the Communist Headquarters at city hall. The
demonstration was severelyanti-government, as portraits of Ceausesecu were
burned and thrown from the building. The army used tanks, tear gas and
water cannons against the crowd.
December 18- The Executive Political Committee in Bucharest ordered
the army to begin firing real bullets into the demonstrators. Civilian
casualties ran high in Timisoara and the dead were collected by the army
and either thrown in mass graves or burned.
December 19-The resistance continued in western Romania, and
the death count rose. The United States condemned the Romanian government
for the use of “brutal force”. The army began to switch over to the side
of the demonstrators.
December 20- Negotiators from Bucharest were sent to Timisoara.
The Securitate continued firing on demonstrators. Ceausescu arrived home
from a visit to Iran and proclaimed martial law. He also blamed the uprising
on Hungarian Fascists.
December 21- Ceausescu addressed a crowd in Bucharest in a televised
speech. Unexpectedly, the crowd became violent and tried to break police
lines. A violent clash ensued in which at least 13 youths were killed.
Protests began breaking out all over the
capitol. The crowds refused to disperse and the police used gunfire
and armored cars against the people.
December 22- More demonstrators began to reassemble early in
the morning. Huge crowds were locked in a standoff with the army in the
main square of Bucharest. Reports of dissidence between Ceausescu and his
army caused the crowd to start
chanting, “the army is with us!” In a last ditch effort, Ceausescu
tried to speak from a balcony, but was shouted down. He and his wife fled
the capital and made plans to leave Romania.
December 23-The fighting and brutality escalated in the streets,
as confusion reigned. Some of the army had switched over to the side of
the people and continued to battle security forces. Ceausescu and his wife
were captured and returned to Bucharest.
Ion Ilescu emerged as a leader of the National Front and made a list
of demands on the government.
December 24-The army continued to battle and gain on the Securitate
in Bucharest. The National Front claimed control of the revolution and
established a provisional government.\
December 25-The Ceausescus were tried and shot in a very speedy
trial.
December 26- The Ceausescu’s bodies were exhibited on TV, marking
“the end” of these initial stages of revolution. Ceausescu was described
as unapologetic and refused to recognize the decision of the courts. Despite
this, fighting continued both in the
capitol and in Timisoara. It is unclear when complete order was restored. |
