All The Silence In The World — Impressions from a non-theatergoer

This is not a play review! Just some thoughts. :)

Around Cluj-Napoca
Nov 4 · 6 min read

So,

I went to see a play. It was the first one I’ve been to in the last, hmm…8 years? Don’t get me wrong, I love all art forms but I just never clicked with theater plays. It probably is because when I was in elementary and middle school, I (forcefully) went to see some plays and I don’t know if it was because of my uncultured brain or just because those plays sucked, pardon my language, I came to the conclusion that theater isn’t for me.

The time finally came for me and my probably-more-cultured brain to give it another shot. A friend of mine invited me to this play so I thought, why not, what can go wrong? The stakes were high, it was not just about me enjoying this play, oh no, this play had to change my whole perception of theater as a whole so there was quite some pressure. Well, not really, it’s not like the actors or the director knew anything about this.

Source: Toată Liniștea Din Lume @Cluj-Napoca Facebook Event

“All The Silence In The World” is the play’s name and, as the flyer says, “It is a show about Mother. For all those moments when you felt that you are unbearably alone. For all those years, when you wanted to hear “Mother”. For all those nights that you hoped will end in other types of mornings. 12 hours in the life of a single mom, with two children, aged 14 and 16. 12 hours as an emotional roller coaster between typical and atypical. 12 hours spent in two parallel worlds.”The play is directed by Mihaela Michailov and Radu Apostol, and starring Katia Pascariu.

Is this play for single moms? Where are the children? Is Katia Pascariu going to play everyone? So many questions. Am I going to cry? I want to cry, that would mean that the play is good.

So, here I am, me and my friend, in front of Tranzit House, on Barițiu street, me telling her an inoffensive joke about Jews that I heard the night before. That is because the Tranzit House is an old synagogue on one of the banks of Someș, built around 1875, then turned into an artistic space in 1997.

WikiHow (I know…) says that when reviewing a play, I “should let readers know if spending their hard-earned money on a ticket to the production will be money well spent.” Well, the entry was free so you should definitely go see it while spending your hard-earned money on a ticket for one of those Russian plays that I’ve seen at least three times during my middle-school years. I still hear the name Ivan-Ivanovich…

Source: Tranzit House Facebook Page

Before getting inside the building, the organizers insisted that we sit in the 1st and 3rd rows. “Oh My God” we were thinking, is this one of those interactive plays? Are we part of the show?! Do we have to do anything? Anxiety was kicking in and of course, we went and sit in the furthest seats possible.

So here we were, in a completely dark synagogue-turned-art-center, looking at the beautiful ceiling. All of a sudden, something moves. A woman! So this was the mother, played by Katia Pascariu, dressed in a bra and skirt. All of a sudden, she’s talking to someone. “Where are the children?” I was thinking again. “Oh, no, please don’t tell me it’s one of those plots where everything’s in her head…” I might not be a theater aficionado but I consider myself a cinephile so I knew (Or at least I thought I knew) where this is going. “Fight Club” “The Machinist” “Shutter Island” “Barton Fink” “Eyes Wide Shut”, you name it.

The actress is good. I can tell that from the start. She’s got these crazy eyes almost popping out of her head, looking lost, almost like she belongs in an asylum. But she isn’t there. Instead, she’s in her house, with her two boys, recalling some stories from when they were younger, which lead us to the fact that they are sick. One of them bites himself while the other screams on the street and can’t interact with people. I later found out that children can bite themselves while being perfectly normal and sane. Is he lacking his mother’s attention while the other one gets all of it because, well, he’s sick? I’ll never know for sure.

Apparently, she has to catch a plane, with only one of her boys, while the other stays home. There’s a whole journey on the way to the airport, the child is on a leash, he can’t focus, random stops, the mom is trying to keep her cool but she almost loses it. A lot of bottled up emotions, I can tell from the look in her face.

Source: Tranzit House Facebook Page

As I said, the whole play was basically a small stage with one actress and a few things such as a suitcase, a leash, a few clothes and that was it. I’m slowly changing my mind thinking that this might not be just in her head, that everything is actually happening and, believe it or not, I’m starting to see it too! What would be the reason then, for the lack of actors? Scarcity? Is this a different concept? Anyway, I’m into it. If it’s scarcity, then good for them. If they had more money to pay more actors and a different stage, then the play wouldn’t be the same. These restrictions are actually making us focus on the skills of the actor! Believe it or not, I really did start to see the same things that she was seeing — the child, the streets, the people interacting with them, the incidents that took place at the airport, the arrival. EVERYTHING! These guys are good, I was thinking.

Another thinking that helped my imagination were the sounds. There were live mixed sounds, and lights. Top-notch!

While on the plane, she goes to the bathroom and lights up a spliff! Yup, the bad ones, filled with cannabis. While here, we find out that not only her children are sick but she is doing chemo too! Poor her, I was thinking. I might not be a single mother but I was starting to feel her pain. While getting high in the bathroom she blurts out a BEAUTIFUL monologue about god and his wrong-doings, related to sick children who really do have no fault! She had me there.

So they finally land in the Netherlands, of course, with a lot of hassle. The people are simply not getting the struggles she’s going to and they just make it harder for her. At some point she sees someone talking to her child, dressed up as Humpty-Dumpty. Is she going nuts again? Is this really in her head? I started to have doubts. Again.

Source: Tranzit House Facebook Page

But no. She’s actually sane ( as sane as someone in her situation can be) and she’s taking her child to the Netherlands for one particular reason. Oh, and what a reason! My friend was really touched by it while I just stood there with a dumb facial expression not knowing how to react.

Of course, I’m not going to tell you everything but there’s a hint somewhere over here and Google is your friend. Trust me, H-E-A-R-T-B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G!

What shocked me the most? At the end of the play, the actress started smiling, started talking normally, thanking us for being there. Wait a minute! After everything that has happened?!?! Oh, right, this was just a play, I told myself. A good play nonetheless. A play that lived up to its expectations and changed my perception of theater plays. Now I’m actually waiting for my next play.

Should you spend your hard-earned money on the ticket? Definitely. It’s free. Will you cry? Probably. Is this considered a good theater play? I hope so. If not, well, I definitely want to see what good theater’s like!

by Călin Alungulesă

    Around Cluj-Napoca

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    A collective blog of the second year MA Media Communication students from FSPAC. Our stories will help you discover Cluj-Napoca from a new perspective.

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