Reactor presented a performance of Finally the End livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 18 October 2020 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 20:00 CEST (Cluj, UTC +3).
By: Brîndușa Ban
Directing: Diana Dragoș
Set design: Gábor Zsófi
Light design: Cătălin Filip
Video assistance: Doru Vatavului
With: Raluca Mara, Paula Rotar, Lucian Teodor Rus, Cosmin Stănilă, Adonis Tanța
A young couple is expecting. An emergent musician is trying to survive without betraying his artistic persona. A junker iis trying to escape into the subaquatic world of his imaginary fish. The Woman brings them all together, shows them the Truth and promises peace. The planet is suffocating. The (breathe in) most (breathe out) dangerous (breathe in) pathogen (breathe out) agent (breathe in) is (breathe out) Man.
Produced by Reactor
About the author: Brîndușa Ban
Brîndușa Ban has a BA in Computer Science (2008) and one in Theater Studies (2010). Starting with 2008, Brîndușa collaborated with the Man.In.Fest cultural magazine, where she published numerous theatre, movie, book and music reviews, as well as theatre plays. In the same year she became part of the program Dramaturgia Cotidianului (Everyday Drama), which investigated the changes of thinking and behaviour of young people with ages between 14 and 25 years old and also the artistic exploration of the results. In 2011, Brîndușa was one of the founders of Theatre 2.0 (Independent Theatre) aiming towards a theatre upgrade by adapting it to a contemporary audience. In the same year she wrote the Yellow piece, directed by Diana Dragoș, part of the itinerary performance Rubick at The Paintbrush Factory in Cluj Napoca. She continued working as a playwright and dramaturg, writing both children and adult plays.
About the project:
Focus: Contemporary Playwriting
Eight performances written by eight contemporary Romanian playwrights.
The project aims to gather a selection of representative performances from some of Romania’s young playwrights working today. Despite differing styles, they are all dealing with current issues faced by their mostly young audience: from parental abandonment, the educational system or the complex ways they are being influenced by pop culture, to couple relations and the sense of imminent planetary disaster.
Six of these performances have been produced by the independent theatre Reactor, based in Cluj, Transylvania, while two others are coproductions of four other independent cultural organizations.
This cultural event is co-funded by The Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN). The project doesn’t necessarily express the views of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of this project, nor for the way its products are being used. That is solely the responsibility of the grant beneficiary.
The project is also co-funded by the Cluj-Napoca City Hall and Local Council.
About Reactor:
Reactor (Reactor – a place for creative experiments - full name) is an independent theatre founded in 2014 and focusing on contemporary dramaturgy, artistic experiment and social themes. It is also encouraging constant artistic development by organizing workshops for theatre professionals as well as the general public, and by offering residencies for emerging artists. Two of the plays included in this series have been written during the Drama 5 playwriting residency happening at Reactor annually since 2016 (All’s Well That Ends and Our Little Centenary).
Reactor is also working towards a more open and reciprocal relation with its audience, by audience developing programs, cultural mediation and community activities. Three of the productions included in this series have been voted by the audience to be staged, after presenting the first 15 minutes of each of them (out of a total of five possibilities): I Like Sushi, Finally the End, and Glory.
Find out more at their website or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
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