In the National Theatre of Szeben, with Zoltán Balázs’ staging the Master and Margarita has been performed, and it has made the most of the novel by Bulgakov. The multi-layered nature of the play, which is thought to be one of the most important writings of the twentieth century, becomes more complex in the performances in Szeben. The director, by choosing a less common form, has formed two performances, with two, partly different casts, in which there are different meanings and endings, the texts get used wonderfully, and tremendously the mysteries of Christianity and the always exciting blasphemy.

We must see both version of Master and Margarita by Zoltán Balázs. And not because the changing of Woland and his followers, are necessary or would have been reasonable, but because the two version together can offer that worthy overall picture for those, who are interested in this hardly understandable and adaptable text. Because the two endings together, are not just simple average adaptation, but the two possible interpretations of the novel, these are two different theological contemplation about life, death, Christianity, Jesus’ life. The performance in Szeben, does not neglect the soviet layer of Moscow, but it becomes immersed in the theological parts of the text mostly, and that way it deals with Jesus’ existence, the reality of gospels and the occult side of it.

In the wonderful set (it is a little bit severe but rightfully), which is designed by Velica Panduru – for which the director has got the inspiration from the old Armenian church, which he discovered in Polland – the happenings reach each other and are connected and they are searching for their own rhythm. This rhythm I have not felt stable enough yet, maybe because the fact, that the interpretations, which are shown by the staging, many time get lost and end up in a huge sea of symbols. The set serves beautifully the mysticism (there is a half circled place, there are old, middle aged walls of a church, which are floating in pale lights of candles, there are columns, behind which we can suddenly see a beam of light, a character, or even the Satan itself or a member of his followers), but the surrealist magic, which is shown by the director, stays in the background from some point of view, maybe because the common usage of filmed scenes. Some records are made alive, others have been recorded in advance. I feel to be a problem, that the pre-recorded parts make the acceptance harder, and instead of increasing the mythical atmosphere of the performance and leading us into the deeper meanings of the text, they just put these layers next to each other, and after a while they become predictable. Even more, as the transparent screen would have obviously the aim to connect the pictures happening in the set and ones of the film, but its effect is not strong enough, as the aim has not been fulfilled well. It works well only in the scene at the end of the second version (here Woland is performed by Ákos Orosz), when Judas goes down into the catacombs and he got killed there. The lights of candles and the old walls can rise the strange illusion of a Jerusalem, two thousand years ago, in which you can see “dimly because of a mirror”, to stay at the same period. Those few words, with which Judas accepts the mystification of history, according to which Jesus’ whole story is only his fiction, and the whole two thousand years old, Christian religion is built on lies, rightfully these are one of the strongest moments of the performance. The symbols, which the director uses during the second version, are somehow clearer. Woland (the Satan), the great director of the mystification and things of the world, with the later killed Judas, he can create this wonderful story... Jesus and Pontius Pilate go into the world together to tell their story. And they reach until the soviet Moscow, into a variety theatre, where the existence of Jesus is denied wildly. The deny is strengthen by the Satan himself. But why?

The meanings are less understandable during the first version, in which Jesus and Pilate arrive from the outside world, and by getting into the “magic circle” of the Satan they become the part of his programme. The director now had different ideas. The story in this case is mystified by Máté Lévi instead of Judas, who has noted directly wrong on a parchment – in the performance with a camera, which can see everything – Jesus and the philosopher’s acts, and that way he changes it totally.

However, both versions are based on Bulgakov’s novel, both of them are its commentaries. And it seems to be that the love affair between Master and Margarita cannot be opened enough, the director has been more interested in the Christian mysteries, and – as it has already been mentioned – the irresistible temptation of blasphemy, which has caught both the readers and viewers of the 21st century.

The surrealist atmosphere, which covers some scenes as fog, is an interesting element. The music variety show must be between the well-made scenes, and the live music has an interesting effect in a place – in the old church and theatre – where anyway the followers of Satan and the characters of communist Moscow can meet in front of the viewers... This momentum is characterised by some kind of liveliness and mysterious humour, from it there can be more in other scenes too. As well as the ball, which is kept in hell – based on a beautiful idea by the director – where Queen Margarita welcomes the great performers of theatre, from Diderot to Nekrosius, from Peter Brook to Silviu Purcărete. A little bit faster tempo and a time, which is shorter with some minutes could make this scene more dynamic.

The have recorded most of the scenes between the Master and Margarita, which, according to me, gets very important live energy from the performance, as in this love connection all the love stories of the world can meet each other, in them life and death, God and Satan are mixed. From it the novel about Jesus and Pilate has made. Both Marius Turdeanu (Master), and Ofelia Popii (Margarita) are perfect choices, and they perform with the right energy. Turdeanu is a perfect embodiment of that fragile nature, which can move mountains, she performs the author, who has been tempted by his own story. Popii performs the woman, who saves the world, in whom we can find Maria Magdolna and Eve, the sin and the virtue too, she embodies the overwhelming beauty of the rural power, the queen, as she appears in the ball stepping down the stairs in her black dress. And meanwhile, both of them are not on the stage enough...

In the first version of the performance Mariana Mihu’s performance is extraordinary in the role of Woland. Only a few of them have been able to form this role so well during the last years of Romanian theatre. Mariana Mihu shows the strangest Satan. She is sometimes active, then passive director of this performance, but he has not got absolute power. She can find the meaning of that language, in which the word “strange” has a real meaning, her presence on stage does not seem to be a worldly one, all her gestures, pronunciation, voice sign that SOMETHING happens here.

Monica Andronescu, yorick.ro, 2013

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)