Opera dramatică 1

by Matei Vişniec, Ion Bogdan Lefter (pref.)

Cel mai important dramaturg român de azi, al doilea care a reuşit, după Eugen Ionescu, să se impună în lumea largă, Matei Vişniec îşi „recapitulează” opera teatrală într-o ediţie amplă, proiectată în opt volume. Sumarele vor ordona cronologic piesele, reconstituind traseul parcurs de la primele texte scrise pentru scenă de către tânărul poet de succes care era pe-atunci Matei Vişniec şi până la cele mai recente, compuse de către autorul româno-francez de notorietate internaţională, stabilit din 1987 la Paris, în continuare şi poet, devenit între timp un dramaturg de largă recunoaştere, de asemenea eseist şi jurnalist, afirmat în ultima perioadă şi ca un romancier de mare forţă.

În volumul inaugural al seriei – primele piese ale lui Matei Vişniec, de la Sufleorul fricii la Groapa din tavan. De la început mature în formula lor de teatru simbolic, parabolic, absurd sau „post-absurd”…

Ion Bogdan Lefter

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

From an early age, Matei Vişniec discovered literature as a space dedicated to freedom. He draws his strengths from Kafka, Dostoevsky, Poe, Lautréamont. He loves the Surrealists, the Dadaists, absurd and grotesque theatre, surrealist poetry, fantastic literature, magical realism, even the realist Anglo-Saxon theatre. He loves everything except Socialist Realism.

Vişniec studied philosophy at Bucharest University and became an active member of the so-called Eighties Generation, who left a clear stamp on the Romanian literature. He believes in cultural resistance, and in literature’s capacity to demolish totalitarianism. Above all, Matei Vişniec believes that theatre and poetry can denounce manipulation through "great ideas", as well as brainwashing through ideology.

Before 1987 Matei Vişniec had made a name for himself in Romania by his clear, lucid, bitter poetry. Starting with 1977, he wrote drama; the plays were much circulated in the literary milieus but were barred from staging. In September 1987, Vişniec left Romania for France, where he was granted political asylum. He started writing in French and began working for Radio France Internationale. At the present time, Vişniec has had many of his works staged in France, and some twenty of his plays written in French are published (Actes Sud-Papier, L'Harmattan, Lansman). His plays have been staged in more than 20 countries. In Romania, after the fall of Communism, Matei Vişniec has become one of the most frequently performed authors.

The work of Matei Vişniec has been represented in London by the performance "The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield in the Bosnian War", staged at the Young Vic Theatre, in November 2000. The play received rave reviews in the British newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian. "The Story of the Panda Bears told by a Saxophonist who has a Girlfriend in Frankfurt" has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival (August 2005). The production is by Rouge28 Theatre, London.
In Unites States, the work of Matei Vişniec has been represented in New York, Chicago, New Jersey and Hollywood.