A STORMY NIGHT
Bucharest National Theater - "Ion Caramitru" Hall
August 30, 2025, 8:00 PM
A masterpiece of the Caragialean genius, "A Stormy Night" is the supreme, effervescent, bittersweet, colorful, and flavorful radiography of the Romanian spirit, in all its aspects, with its good and... less (un)good ones.
In the new directorial key proposed by VLAD ZAMFIRESCU, we rediscover Caragiale's characters for today's world, with the perfume and emotion of a bygone neighborhood, in which the music of Jean Moscopol resounds, and which invites us to enter, in the aromas of spices and steaming food, among scaffolding, repairs, and cats that meow their "stormy" longing.
In this picturesque space, where the outside turmoil boils into an uncontrollable inner turmoil, the kitchen becomes the much-tried heart of the intimate universe. Jupân Dumitrache, played by NICULAE URS, is like a (master) chef of the house and the table, the one who carefully and ambitiously prepares the food, while still letting the fiery Ipingescu, in the powerful interpretation of MIRCEA RUSU, try his culinary-political talents, even to "eat the holy Constitution".
In the scenic proposal of the formidable CARMEN TĂNASE, Veta is the keeper of cleanliness and order, in this story with a touch of fashion, embellishment and neighborhood betrayal, which the cunning and charming Chiriac, played by VLAD ZAMFIRESCU, leads with much charm. This while Spiridon (GABRIEL VATAVU/ȘTEFAN RADU) receives with a (too wide) smile on his lips all the meetings with St. Niculae, taken down from the hook in a jiffy.
In an absolutely surprising score, MAIA MORGENSTERN is an explosive and crazily delicious Zița, while MARIUS MANOLE builds a Rică Venturiano rich in anxieties, which threatens to pulverize the honor of a family man, while negotiating, ridiculously and sensitively alike, his role in the small homeland, but especially in the big homeland.
"The people sit at the table" in this staging in which it is painted, plastered, built, eaten and fought, and in which everything mixes, from ideas to feelings, to ingredients and relationships, giving flavor to a "Stormy Night" like never before.
A lively and surprising show, with an explosive comic, that makes you think, with an exceptional cast - it is "A Stormy Night" about national and personal values, about laughing at misfortune, about patriots and family men, ciocoi and journalists who fight, but especially about love, in its more or less... traditional forms.
The spectacular scenography is signed by Imelda Manu-Jipa, the character costumes belong to Maria Ștefănescu, and Mădălina Ciupitu is the assistant director.
Cast:
MAIA MORGENSTERN – Zița
MARIUS MANOLE – Rică Venturiano
CARMEN TĂNASE – Veta
VLAD ZAMFIRESCU – Chiriac
MIRCEA RUSU – Nae Ipingescu
NICULAE URS – Jupân Dumitrache Titircă
GABRIEL VATAVU – Spiridon
Directed by: VLAD ZAMFIRESCU
Scenography: IMELDA MANU-JIPA
Assistant director: MĂDĂLINA CIUPITU
