December. Romanian prose writer Maria-Gabriela Constantin will be working in residence on her upcoming volume of prose, Chekhov is to blame. Writers’ evening on Thursday December 11th at 6 p.m. She will give an overview of the development of Romanian theater to the present day.
Theatre in Romanian language has never been a court theatre, in the sense the Western countries had. One can sense some similarities between the formation of Romanian and Finnish theatre: under different linguistic pressure, both nations had emphasised the need of cultivating the language first as a means of awakening national identity; also, prior to that the existence of mainly student or amateur travelling theatre, playing in other languages that the national one (coming from Sweden in Finland, in Principalites, as they were called, from France, and German language troops from Transylvania, as well as Italian opera ensembles) before national theatres were constructed in 19th century (1823 in Turku and 1852 in Bucharest). There are also differences, such as the era of cosmopolitanism, which, prior to the construction of the Romanian National Theater, was opposed to Romanian-language culture, and the theater was perceived as threatening.
Maria-Gabriela Constantin is a graduate of University Eötvös Lóránd (ELTE), from Budapest (Hungary) and holds a MA in South Eastern European Studies from Athens Faculty of Political Studies. Her first volume of prose, Laura of a Hundred Words was published in 2010, followed by Ferdinand’s Loves in 2015 and Kingdom of a Day in 2021. She translated mainly from Hungarian novels, poetry, plays and essays. Since 2007 Constantin contributes with essays, theatre chronicles, translations, and prose at the most important Romanian literary journals: România literară, Viața Românească, Familia, Timpul, Ramuri, Infinitezimal, Matca, Vatra, Filtralit (on-line), Amfiteatru (on-line), Yorick (on-line), Teatrul Azi, Liternet (on-line). She works as a Literary Consultant at Nottara Theatre in Bucharest, Romania.
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