Festival in Iasi, Romania: 153 Seconds, a documentary of contemporary tragedy
The exposed nerve of a reignited public tragedy hangs in the ether of Teatrul Luceafărul Iaşi.
We don’t quite know what to do; is it over? How can we applaud that which has just unfolded before us? How do we, the bystanders, simply move past the performance we have just experienced?
Young women and men around the theatre cry – not just those hiding in the safety of the audience, but those courageous young souls onstage, as well. Real, unencumbered sobs wrack their way through the room; together, we bond in the aftereffects of a societal trauma.
We have engaged in the collective act of healing.
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153 Seconds, directed by Ioana Paun, is nothing short of superb. From the viscerally affecting poetry of its script (written in Romanian by Svetlana Cârstean) to the modular, impactful scenography (executed by Catalin Rulea), 153 Seconds falls somewhere in between powerful memory and vivid nightmare. To those who do not know 153 Seconds’ historical context, they will leave the theatre feeling merely unsettled. To those versed in the reprehensible carelessness that caused the Collectiv Nightclub fire of 2015, they will leave the theatre feeling fundamentally changed in their views on the necessary mediation between political action and creative output.
The Collectiv nightclub fire occurred in Bucharest on 30 October 2015, killing 64 people and injuring 146. Dozens of victims had to be transported to hospitals outside Romania due to overcrowding in both Bucharest and Iaşi.
This fire was preventable on nearly every level: …