Protect yourself …

Bucharest in Your Pocket - the English informative guide for cool places & things to do in Bucharest


Claudia Darian

You get locked sometimes…..in a relationship that becomes claustrophobic, in a country who is under a big brother spell that you have to watch over your shoulder every minute; in your mind when you build ghettos against the outside world; you experience an acute sense of alienation, suffocation and despair in the locked world projected by David Schwartz and Ioana Paun, both theatre directors. Their performance is excellent and the concept of their locked universe intriguing, starting with their locked slippers, then you are taken forward by Ioana’s obsession and feverish gestures picking up from a little box all types of keys for anything imagined. It is a brilliant performance and I won’t go into spoiling many surprises you will have along; however you will not be left indifferent and their construction of an alienated, sad universe will make you think of an Orwellian world or of a locked hysterical mind.

Wondering around into the theatre, as the location is designed for five alternative performances taken place at the same time in different rooms, allowing you to pick up the one you would fancy seeing, you may choose the Bikini Kill and witness the struggle between Paul Dunca, choreographer and the coordinator of the project and Iuliana Stoianescu opposing each other as potential adversaries, transgressing through the power shift of daily relationships, perpetrating the intimate space and throwing the centre on the body, as the emotions seem to concentrate in this very intense inter-connection of the bodies.

The whole Protect project comprises the visions of the artists involved, choreographers, theatre directors or photographers on the theme of ‘protection’, the fear and anguish each individual encounters and the ways one will choose to face these emotions. It has been completed on very limited resources and great dedication. Yet you cannot feel it; the performances I have seen are all great and impressive, all the more that your interaction with the performer is very close. Imagine one room, the actors/performers on one side, you on the other: the visual message is very strong and nonetheless there are no words, nobody is speaking, is all in the body language, facial expression, concentration, focus, the way objects are displayed or gestures are made. It is a passionate project and an intense experience for the viewer; I have known of similar projects in unconventional locations like this in London or Berlin but none yet in Bucharest, other than Protect. Therefore, if you wonder around Bucharest not knowing where to go and what to see I strongly recommend you to go and see a Boogie Bang with Ana Maria Costea coming out the bathroom, with heavy make-up wearing down her face and dancing chaotically, just before she contemplates throwing herself out in a crack, in a suicidal attempt …will she do it or not?!