Sidy Thal
By Thomas Perle & Clemens Bechtel –– Direction: Clemens Bechtel (a. G.)
Co-production with Jewish State Theater Bucharest
Duration of the performance: 1h50'
Surtitles: RO/GE/EN
Age limit: 12+
On 26 November 1938, two hand grenades exploded in the auditorium during a performance by the Jewish-Bucovina singer Sidy Thal and her ensemble at the Timisoara Theatre. An anti-Semitic attack by the Iron Guard, a far-right nationalist group, in which four people were killed and seventy injured.
A little-known event in the city of Timișoara/Timișoara, European Capital of Culture 2023, that playwright Thomas Perle and director Clemens Bechtel researched with the help of Maria Mădălina Irimia from the Centre for the Study of Jewish History in Romania "Wilhelm Filderman" in Romania and created a documentary based on it.
What is true? What really happened? It is an attempt to reconstruct the attack and the moment when antisemitism and fascism became part of everyday life in a multicultural society, leading to the horror of World War II and the Shoah.
SIDY THAL is the first cooperation between the German State Theatre Timișoara and the Jewish State Theatre Bucharest.
A multilingual work in Yiddish, German and Romanian.
Surtitles: RO/GE/EN
Age limit: 12+
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The project is part of the national cultural program Timișoara - European Capital of Culture in 2023 and is financed by the OverBorder Culture+ program, implemented by the Center for Culture and Art of Timiș County, with funds allocated from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Culture.
The project is organized in partnership with the Department of Interethnic Relations of the Government of Romania.
Duration: 01:50
Cast
Enikő Blénessy
Maia Morgenstern (a.G.)
Viorica Predica (a.G.)
F. Ghedeon
Silvia Török
Katia Pascariu (a.G.)
Usher / Voice
Daniela Török
Zelma B.
Olga Török
Elisabeth B.
Oana Vidoni
Voice
Radu Brănici (a.G.)
I. Popa
Mircea Dragoman (a.G.)
Rareș Hontzu
P. Fleschin
Mihai Prejban (a.G.)
Richard Hladik
Ensemble of 'Motl the Cantor's Son' by Scholem Alejchem and the voices on the audio-walk
Enikő Blénessy
Viorica Predica (a.G.)
Maia Morgenstern (a.G.)
Silvia Török
Katia Pascariu (a.G.)
Daniela Török
Olga Török
Oana Vidoni
Radu Brănici
Rareș Hontzu
Mircea Dragoman (a.G.)
Richard Hladik
Mihai Prejban (a.G.)
Isolde Cobeț
Instrumentalists:
Serena Voaideș (a.G.)
Alina Talianu (a.G.)
Mihai Pintenaru (a.G.)
Clemens Bechtel (a.G.)
Sets and Costumes
Șteff Chelaru (a.G)
Ioana Groza (a.G.)
Music
Dan Simion (a.G.)
Research
Maria Irimia (a.G.)
Dramatic collaboration
Dan Druță (a.G.)
Direction assistance
Isolde Cobeţ
Make-up
Bojita Ilici
Aurora Spasinovici (a.G.)
Technical direction
Aurel Cristea (a.G.)
Ovidiu Radu
Recordings for the audio-walk & Video Design
Alex Halka (a.G.)
Musical training
Roxana Ardeleanu (a. G.)
Press excerpts
Clemens Bechtel's direction offers elegance and avoids over-emphasis, without, however, avoiding the evocation of responsibilities and the delineation of good from evil. There's no need for ultra-pathetic approaches, nor for the relativisations that were fashionable in later years. The Holocaust was one of the greatest tragedies in human history. Period. Its emergence was made possible by a series of causes that do not exclude individual responsibilities / cowardice whose ignorance / minimization can lead to a repetition of the sinister events. This is why Codreanu is so much like Sidy Thal. Because recognizing the seeds of evil is never easy. That's why Codreanu ascends and descends among/of us and gobbles with gusto while declaring he's on hunger strike and posing with the aura of a crowd-blessing saint. Because his nature has nothing to do with divinity and everything to do with humanity.
Mihai Brezeanu
https://agenda.liternet.ro/articol/28195/Mihai-Brezeanu/Trecutul-e-azi-Sidy-Thal.html?fbclid=IwAR3BRQvF5y9lpQywNkMmo2BP2qElA5JMAU-9562cdBJ51IWhAbsKiUnDHLM
Trailer
Photos
