Zhao, the Orphan

Teatrul Tineretului, Piatra Neamţ, Romania, 1996
Author: Ji Junxiang
Directed by Alexandru Dabija

about the production

Adaptation of the text (Zhao, the Orphan), written by a Chinese playwright of the Juan Dynasty (13th century). A story of a posthumous child, 'zhao, the orphan, who has been all of his family slaughtered, amounting to 300 people, and who, being grown-up, revenges the torture and the massacre. It emphasizes the extermination of entire clans and dynasties by the Mongols while they were conquering China, and it also points out the respect and honour towards a family and a clan, and the inevitability of reproduction continuity as an ethic necessity.  Voltaire, rather unabashedly followed the text in his Chinese Little Orphan, presented in Commédie Française in 1755.
The stage-play was highly evaluated by the Best Performance Award and the Prize for Seting (UNITER), and at the I. L. Caragiale National Festival 1996 it was awarded the Jury's Special Award and the Prize for Lighting.

creators

directed by Alexandru Dabija
stage set: Dmgos Buhagiar
costume design: Irina Solomon
music: Mircea Octavian
lighting: Vasile Popovici
masks: Eugenia Popovici
cast: Afrodita Androne, Letia Ciobotariu, Gina Gulai, Gheorghiţa  lftimi, Lucreţia Mandric, Carmen Moruz, Cătălina Rusu, Doru Aftanasiu, Paul Chirilă, Iurie Luncaşu, Florin Mircea jr.,  Pompiliu Ştefan, Dan Covrig, Líviu  Timuş, Tudor Tăbăcaru, Corneliu Dan Borcia, Radu Băiţan, Daniel Beşleagă, Mihai Danu, Loredana Botezatu, Tmian Grigoriu, Oana Albu, Lucian Pavel, lonuţ Cucoară, Ioan Mumriu, Mihaela Ciolan

director

Alexandru Dabija (1955) – significant directing includes: As You Like It and Two Noblemen of Verona (Shakespeare), Savage Night (Caragiale), Lord of Leonid and Reaction (Caragiale), The Burgher Being a Nobleman and Scapin's Roguish Tricks (Molière). Awards: The Best Director (1989), The Best Performance (Zhao, the Orphan, 1995), Special Award (1994), The Tofan Foundation Award (1996).

Materials available

Video of the production: no

Script of the production: SK, EN, PL
If you are interested in these materials, write to archivy@nitrafest.sk