Theatrical adaptation of the Romanian myth Youth Without Old Age and Life Without Death
Mediterranean Theatre Institute, La Valetta, Malta — August 1996

Co-produced by the Toaca Cultural Foundation, Theatre Anon (Malta), Odd&Even Company (Russia)
Directed by Nona Ciobanu
Cast: Iulian Bãltãtescu, Alexander Ponomarev, Paul Portelli, Liliana Portelli, Clare Agius, Raffaella Sciberras
Set Design: Iulian Bãltãtescu, Paul Portelli
Costume Design: Nona Ciobanu, Liliana Portelli
Light design: Iulian Bãltãtescu
Lights: Gordon Dimech
Photo: Bogdan Cristel

In collaboration with Evening on Campus - University of Malta

Sponsors
Ministeru Tal' Gustizzja U Kultura
Soros Centre for Contemporary Art Bucharest

The play is a version of the Romanian myth in wich Dorde searches for the elusive goal of immortality. It is
also a reflection of knowledge, time, the mythical space, dreams, remembrance, yearning and death.
Dorde is assisted by Murgu to find his way of life.
A bare, anonymous playing area becomes a forest, a riverside, an interior with all the irrepressible delight of capturing an imagined world of nothing.
The story begins in an universal but indefinite space. In this performance normal people turn into characters and characters become one another. Everything happens as if in perpetual transition and also like a game.
Through the recreation of this myth, the three theatre groups have started to explore different theatre frontiers by retaining only the essential form and language of making theatre.

“It was an aesthetic relief to watch a piece that was pure theatre, a work in which technique and discipline were fundamental, language only secondary in importance and entertainment incidental. DORDE, (MITP Valletta) is a myth made flesh, a short but impressive work directed by Nona Ciobanu (Romania). The work is fluid, like the rivers and clouds over which Dorde flies over his magic horse, Murgu. The plot is a basic one about human longings, fears and the final reality of death. It is an austere fairy tale that depends for its effectiveness on the skill and expressiveness of the actors and their ability to evoke a variety of space or the remote spaces of a grim forest. As one can well imagine, the acting skills needed were hardly of the naturalistic type and depended very largely on the expressive use of the body, sometimes in a semi-acrobatic style, and the ability to use, deploy and re-deploy what little there was in the way of set, which was basically a platform easily taken to pieces and easily reassembled. As in dance theatre, much also depended on the discipline interaction of the cast and their ability to switch roles from one second to the next. The dialogue was mainly English, with a liberal sprinkling of Romanian, Russian and even Maltese.”
Paul Xuereb - “THE QUEST” - THE SUNDAY TIMES

“As an exercise in pure acting, where the words did not matter all that much, the evening was a huge success. The Romanian Iulian Bãltãtescu blended well with the Russian Alexander Ponomarev and gave a versatile rendering of various stages and areas of life. There were occasions of mystery, of ritual, of kenning, singing and weeping, laughing an gnashing of teeth. A wonderful show of discipline of adventure and technique. It was an extremely enjoyable evening, despite the infernal heat which punished the cast even more than it did the audience.”
Norbert Ellul - Vincenti - Myth and pure acting - THE TIMES

“I had the idea to adapt the myth which is famous in Romanian culture but little Known anywhere else. I have known the story for a very long time and I wanted to see if it could be adapted on stage in other cultures- said Nona Ciobanu. To perform it here with two different cultures was very exciting but it was also a risk. The risk seems to have been well calculated as the actors enjoyed working together on DORDE and the play received a warm reception from the Maltese public.”
Danielle Vella - Romanian myth brings three theatre companies together- THE TIMES

“An empress who has previously given up hope of having children drinks a magic potion and gives birth to Dorde. He cries until he is promised by his father youth without old age and life without death. His childhood and youth are spent preparing himself physically and mentally to look for what was promised to him. Indeed, this quest is an obsession for him (Dorde means “yearning for”- and when he is a man, he sets off on Murgu’s back to look for it. Finally he does find the land he is seeking. What he does not find, however, is happiness. Bãltãtescu’s Dorde was a true Everyman- initially innocent and enthusiastic about the future, then gradually worn down by fear and tribulation. He was somebody one could empathize with as a fellow- traveler along the road to illusion and final disillusionment.”
Paul Xuereb - THE SUNDAY TIMES