“Herbarium” after “The Book of Plants and Animals” by Simona Popescu

Authors’ Comment

The performance "Herbarium" after "The Book of Plants and Animals" by Simona Popescu, directed by Radu Afrim for "Liviu Rebreanu" Company of the National Theater in Târgu Mureş, is a poetic meditation on life, with poetry itself and nature as a source of inspiration. It presents a unique perspective on the passage of time, in a setting where couples of different ages coexist. They are in different existential phases, but fragility, the desire for love and communion, as well as the awareness that everything is ephemeral permeates their every gesture and action. In the endless bustle of nature we can distinguish, on a micro scale, the infinite character of the macro universe that greets us with sunrises, sunsets and stars, a universe that is both familiar and mysterious-fascinating, from which we are, in essence, inseparable.
The space creates a multisensory theatrical experience, but also an inner one, a journey in which the magical accompanies the concrete. Nature seems to have invaded the theatre stage and this illusion completely transposes us into the story.
A greenhouse placed in the public garden of a provincial town becomes a "wonderland", a space where characters disappear and return completely transformed, a space where magical beings appear and where everything seems possible. The mystery is never fully revealed to us, but we are always enticed to imagine a fantastic world of multiple possibilities.