Chronicle by Elena Jebelean
The reading-performance Sidy Thal – a schtikl from the Stronghold Synagogue took us into a past that we must keep remembering, because memory works as a reflector that warns of the possibility of not recognizing the alarm signs in time. All the cons, as well as pros, need to be rigorously and critically examined. How could the world be blinded by ideologies today? Lack of civilization, lack of culture, and ignorance coexist under the same sky with their opposites. New bombs are absurdly exploding near us, the exodus of migrants amplifies interracial tensions in Europe. The world we live in is far from wisdom. It would be good if, when the muses speak, the clanging of weapons ceased, and the discovery of that saying that we're all people would reconcile the various animosities.
Thomas Perle is the one who brings before us, through this co-production of the German State Theatre in Timișoara with the Jewish State Theatre in Bucharest, a tragic event in the history of interwar Timișoara. This attack is remarkably evoked by Alexandru Potcoavă in Viața și întoarcerea unui Halle (The Life and Return of a Halle) (2019), a novel that already is present in our cultural consciousness. Thomas Perle updates the facts, nuances them from several dramatic voices. The show performed by the Chernivtsi artist Sidy Tahl on November 26, 1938, turned from a reason for delight into an occasion for kaddish and commemoration. Two artisanal grenades exploded in the hall of the Timișoara Communal Theatre, targeting the audience, mainly made up of Jews. The artist lived until 1983, she was not the target. The spectators were targeted, as in an echo of Nazi anti-Semitism, which had already materialized in Germany through the desecration of synagogues and the mistreatment of Jews. The Timișoara attack was planned and carried out by members of the Iron Guard. Four people died, about 70 were injured. For the inhabitants of Timișoara of any ethnicity, the event shattered the confidence in normality, in respecting otherness, in the peaceful and harmonious life that was characteristic of the city.
And now, curtain up! The father shows his eight-year-old son the theatre where this once happened. The son listens attentively, but in front of the white gates in the middle of the city, he does not yet seem to understand the significance of the situations described. Then the jump in time takes us to a couple heading to the theatre where the show in question will take place. They are future victims. The gentleman is a lawyer, but his licence is already suspended for reasons of race. Worried about the course of the world, he would back down, predicts the danger, but the wife insists, being determined to make him enjoy the chance to listen to a singer as appreciated as the wonderful Sidy. A diary sequence is then read, The Israelite Courier – tough times can be glimpsed with increasing concern in world events. The word is taken over by the usher, a conscientious young man who first enjoys the elegance and good mood of the spectators he leads to their places on the balcony, which is the area assigned to him for that evening. Looking at the people, he exclaims: How beautiful the world is! He intuits the barbarity of the man smelling of plum brandy, but he still leads him to his place, as he should. For in this world that still seems beautiful, either in the theatre or outside it, everyone has their rightful place, everyone has a place. The artist is ready to enter the stage, we feel her passion for art that dynamites any potential danger. We will keep singing, we will keep playing! she says. Who would do it instead? Who will decide for us if we fall silent? Everything rushes, the inevitable happens. The amphora in which good wine was getting old breaks, as does the illusion that the city could ever be the same, that people could be safe.
The contrabass and the piano supported the tension of the acting musically. I say acting because that was more than just a scenic reading. The collapse of the artist on the piano keys, with a double reverberant function – that of interrupting music, harmony, art, as well as that of highlighting the fall, the crushing of civilization through aggression, through barbarism. The movement of the actors surrounded us. Their voices resounded from everywhere, around us, within us. I felt, watching their gestures and faces, listening to their voices, perceiving the vibrations of their walking, for tens of minutes, that we, those who watched, and they, who told and sang, are the same consciousness, the same memory, the same hope, the same faith.
“Theatre Chronicle @ Eurothalia” is a programme conceived by Daniela Șilindean together with the team of the German State Theatre Timișoara, within the Eurothalia 2023 European Theatre Festival, held between 20-30 September 2023, financed by the National Cultural Program Timișoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023.
