10 THINGS WE HAVE LOST AT THE MAMAIA FESTIVAL

• Cast
• Tours
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• Reviews

A dreamland. Nostalgia for a past that we didn't live. Or that we forgot.

A contemporary art curator, a former singer in her youth, wins the selection to represent Romania at the Venice Biennale with her performative installation called "10 things we have lost at the Mamaia Festival". Throughout the six months spent in Venice, 10 performers locked in the exhibition relive real or fictional memories from the history of Romanian light music, spent (or not) in Mamaia, related to iconic stars, but especially to small, unfulfilled artistic destinies.

ATTENTION! Some scenes may contain stroboscopic effects that may affect photosensitive viewers.

Cast

• Laura: Liliana Cazan
• Bianca: Dana Dumitrescu
• Corina: Laura Iordan
• Radu: Lucian Iftime
• Andreea: Cristiana Luca
• Irina: Ecaterina Lupu
• Adriana: Luiza Martinescu
• Cristi: Ștefan Mihai
• Crina: Ramona Niculae
• Mireille Plume: Mirela Pană
• Felix: Theodor Șoptelea

Tours

• Festivalul de Teatru Aproape, Baia Mare, 10 - 17 mai 2024
• Festivalul ZILELE TEATRULUI MATEI VIȘNIEC 2024 -Teatrul, diplomație culturală (11 – 19 mai)

Reviews

"For some time now, Constanța has become an important landmark on my theatrical map. After quite a long period of stagnation, the seaside theater seems to have found its stride, returning consistently to the spotlight in recent years. And it’s not just about last year’s ‘hit,’ Afrim’s Seaside Stories, but about an increasingly vibrant and clearly defined presence in the realm of interest for all those who love quality theater. The early November premiere of Ten Things We Lost at the Mamaia Festival by Elena Morar & Gabriel Sandu confirms for me the upward trend of an institution and a team that are becoming increasingly visible. (...) Beyond the excellent acting, I was struck by the extraordinary musical training of most of the Constanța actors, coached for Ten Things… by Inga Postolache (with sound design and musical adaptation by Alexandru Neș). There aren’t many troupes in Romania that could pull off this performance from Constanța. While the show element is dominant, it doesn’t turn the production into a purely musical one. There is a carefully maintained balance between theatricality and music, the latter always used as a means, not an end in itself. (...) This is the kind of performance where each spectator chooses what to take away. Some will undoubtedly prefer the nostalgia and hum the rediscovered refrain of ‘De-ai fi tu salcie la mal...’ for days. Others, especially the younger audience, might be captivated by the vibe of the excellent disco scene. For some, the theme of the artist’s condition will prove important enough to ponder, just as others may find the delicate theme of blockage essential—blockage in the past, in anonymity, in others—and the ways out of these blockages. In the end, the performers ‘trapped’ in the Venice installation discover that the doors had always been open. The show itself, which audiences watched for nearly three hours, will undoubtedly remain memorable for many."

Călin Ciobotari - 7Iași.ro

https://www.7iasi.ro/show-si-ingandurari-via-festivalul-mamaia/?fbclid=IwAR0MpxvVX3LfvbEN4mRdEnOGtiG0NdJe4SwBdfmL8jNcRt7Pv78V4Dox0es

10 Things We Lost at the Mamaia Festival is a mad show. The courage to approach two landmarks in the world of the performing arts, in the broadest sense of the word - Mamaia and Venice - and to transplant their very different textures, shines through in a kaleidoscope of themes (missing, loss, sacrifice, desire as an obsessive form of identity rather than an inner process of acquiring something, etc.) that the actors divinely embrace.

Mihai Ivașcu - Mezanin.ro

http://www.mezanin.ro/5-lucruri-pe-care-le-am-iubit-la-10-lucruri-pe-care-le-am-pierdut-la-festivalul-mamaia/

Mireille, portrayed by Mirela Pană with a blend of strangeness, strength, cruelty, sadness, and mystery, brings together, in Romania’s pavilion at Venice—of course, a fictional edition—ten performers selected through an audition, whose fates have intertwined or intersected in some way, even tangentially, with the Mamaia Festival. The Constanța troupe, featuring many young actors and introducing a debut performance by Ramona Niculae—an outstanding debut, the kind you rarely see—proves itself in this production to be one of the most valuable young ensembles in Romania. Exceptional vocal abilities are matched with wonderful moments of acting. Ecaterina Lupu, in the role of Irina, a mediocre artist whose sole achievement is her ability to perfectly impersonate Marina Voica, delivers one of those performances impossible to overlook. Excellent humor and a flawless construction of a complex role. Lucian Iftime, as a failed artist singing his sadness and anger in cheap bars with a voice reminiscent of Aurelian Andreescu, is striking. He shares with the great artist not only a powerful voice but also the same self-destruction, alcoholism, and a failing liver. Ștefan Mihai’s moment is equally special, profoundly moving in his role as the “visually impaired” boy who only wishes to stop winning first prize at every competition as a social case—and to no longer be compared to George Nicolescu. He’s the boy yearning for his own destiny, yet fate denies him. The 2003 moment, a turning point in the history of the Mamaia Festival, when the controversial Andreea Bălan and Akcent won, is brought up primarily through Cristiana Luca’s performance. Her portrayal captures the superficiality and almost unmanageable personal drama of losing her voice in one fateful summer. This is skillfully conveyed through behavioral patterns that reflect an entire category of young people from that era. The scene with plastic bottles thrown on stage highlights real changes in the audience’s perception and behavior.

Monica Andronescu - artitudini

https://artitudini.ro/festivalul-de-la-mamaia-pierderi-si-regasiri/

Over the last few years, it has become increasingly clear to me that the troupe from the Constanța State Theatre coagulates extremely well around projects that challenge it to surpass itself, to find ever new creative outlets and forms of expression. The actors and actresses have energy, playfulness and a rare vitality that proves to be a veritable gold mine for creators who cross the threshold of the theatre and work with the TSC troupe. 10 Things We Lost at the Mamaia Festival is largely based on the 10+1 individual moments of the 10+1 performers. And, above all, I think it is necessary to mention the vocal performance that the format of the show requires, with the musical preparation of the band carried out by Inga Postolache.

Daria Ancuța - Dissolved Magazine

https://dissolvedmagazine.com/10-ganduri-despre-10-lucruri-pe-care-le-am-pierdut-la-festivalul-mamaia/

It's a robust, bold, complex show, so full of nuance that it would be hard to paint it one colour. But I know for a fact that many will paint it. And for a long time to come. Gabriel Sandu and Elena Morar went straight to the point. Not only at the home of the festival in question, but also at the home of the remarkable band that won UNITER the best show last year, the already famous "Seaside stories" by Radu Afrim, a soul show for many generations based on texts by young Romanian authors. (...)

Luciana Antofi

https://lucianantofi.wordpress.com/2023/11/11/restitutio-in-estivalum-sau-slagarul-culiselor-romanesti-10-lucruri-pe-care-le-am-pierdut-la-festivalul-mamaia/

Elena Morar and Gabriel Sandu have created a show at the Constanța State Theatre that has every chance of being considered for as many festivals as possible and, why not, awards. It has an extraordinary rhythm and what they have managed to create together with the actors is the proof of the fact that - simple is better. The text, written by Gabriel Sandu, has humour, emotion, melancholy, poetry, drama, but above all, it contains a lot of real things, namely information that will make you, as a spectator who didn't know anything about the Mamaia Festival (let's say there are such people), a guilty pleasure that you will want to look up on YouTube after the show to confirm what was real and what was made up.

Diana Parpalea - KRONIKOOL.ro

https://www.kronikool.ro/10-lucruri-pe-care-le-am-regasit-ca-spectator-la-teatrul-de-stat-constanta

"The latest premiere at the Constanța State Theater, Ten Things We Lost at the Mamaia Festival (directed by Elena Morar and Gabriel Sandu, who also wrote the text), fully embraces the energy and effervescence of the light music contest it references and fictionalizes. Like a time capsule, the performance reconstructs the Mamaia Summer Theater (now in ruins) on the stage of the Constanța theater, built entirely from sequins, smoke, and dreams, and brings back into the spotlight a symbol of national cultural importance. Ramona Niculae’s transitions in the beginning are versatile and subtle. Though making her debut on the Constanța stage, she has a clear presence and uses her authentic emotions excellently for the role: the emotions and readiness of a young woman at a casting. What a musical performer Lucian Iftime is! What a deep, almost dangerously passionate performance Theo Șoptelea gives! However, the performance truly unleashes with Ecaterina Lupu, who masterfully controls the arrogance and mediocrity of a spoiled woman who excels only in impersonation and self-confidence. The moment edges toward a catharsis of absurdity, between a fever dream and a grandeur trip. The level is maintained by Ștefan Mihai, a shy George Nicolescu, driven by the desire to truly deserve his awards. With ears flushed from emotion and a thirst to prove himself, he succeeds in delivering a flawless, powerful musical moment, transitioning from mama's boy to a star-quality performance. The revenge of the wedding soloist (Luiza Martinescu)—an excellent anecdote, delivered with zest, slightly off-topic compared to the other scenes. Cristiana Luca, however, is the surprise of the evening, as she is instantly recognizable by her tics. A vocal impersonator of Andreea Bălan, she gives a strong, brutally honest, and deeply comic defense of the artist’s career. All this diva mimicry relies on remarkable self-control and is carefully measured, with the tension rising strategically as she highlights how she was abandoned by talent, exploited by her own father (and manager), booed at the stage entrance at 15 or 16, overexposed by the media, and ultimately betrayed. The much-anticipated monologue by Mirela Pană strikes with sensitivity and passion, a culmination of the ultimate sacrifice for art, explaining her relentless dedication."

Raluca Cîrciumaru, „Muzică ușoară, vocație grea” - Teatrul azi, nov. - dec. 2023

https://teatrul-azi.ro/produs/teatrul-azi-nr-11-12-2023/

The main quality of this show is the balance between fictional and historical time. The reconfiguration of the "myth" of success and the other side of the medal of a phenomenon with media impact from the recent past: the glory of the prize-winning performers at the Mamaia Festival, transforms the course of the anti-heroes in the show into a life story in which the narrative threads intertwine consistently, coherently, with humour and self-irony. The interpretation of the actors, under the direction of the two directors, contains personal performances and the obvious spirit of a close-knit band. The deep humanity, the emotions that are not only expressed, but also implied, the magnifying effect on the uncomfortable feelings and the elegant mix with slapstick that can trigger a nostalgic openness make this show an artistic product with a wide appeal and a deep message that is universally valid.

Alina Epîngeac - Revista Cultura

https://revistacultura.ro/alina-epingeac-nominalizarile-pentru-tendinte-in-arta-si-gandirea-romaneasca-best-off-2023/