About the projects of a theatre without a stage

Ion Cocora is the manager of the strangest theatre in Bucharest: Theatrum Mundi. According to any dictionary, “theatre” means “a building or place especially designed for play, opera and film presentations, and extensively an institution of culture that organises performances.” As to the theatre managed by Ion Cocora, we can talk about an “institution,, about a “place,” about a “building” after all, though an unfit one; all it lacks is the “special design.” That is the space where actors perform, the theatre hall, the stage. Consequently, according to the definition provided by the dictionary, the institution managed by Ion Cocora can be only extensively regarded as a theatre.

However, due to the efforts of some enthusiastic people, it so happens that this theatre without a stage is one of the few theatres in the country that have a coherent programme intended to stimulate original drama. Since Ion Cocora became the manager of Theatrum Mundi, five years ago, stage directors produced here more plays than on all stages of Bucharest theatres together, even more plays than in all the theatres of the country together.

Moreover, these performances were not at all commonplace, as the theatre manager has the cult of accomplished things. Theatrum Mundi benefited from the contribution of great directors and actors, such as Catalina Buzoianu, Alexandru Tocilescu, Valeria Seciu and Mariana Mihut, thus offering exceptional performances. “Poate Eleonora…” (“Maybe Eleonora), by Mircea Cartarescu (directed by Catalina Buzoianu), “Don Juan moare ca toti ceilalti” (“Don Juan dies like everybody else”), by T. Mazilu (staged by young director Alice Barb) and Horatiu Malaele’s mise en scene of Eugen Ionescu’s “Lectia” (“The Lesson”) were among the events of the last seasons.

Actors and directors rehearsed in various places and performed on rented stages. It sometimes happened that plays were attributed to the theatres that hosted the respective performances, as Ion Cocora bitterly remembers.

The Theatrum Mundi team was supported by no one: neither by the Ministry of Culture, on which it depended until last year, nor by the Bucharest City Hall, on which it depends at present. Moreover, its current headquarters located in the Mihai Eminescu street was claimed by the City Hall of district 2 and Ion Cocora found himself involved in a penal suit, which he finally won, after having been inflicted a great deal of bitterness.

However, the Theatrum Mundi manager remains an optimist. He still believes that he might find a space for the theatre’s performances and hopes to get help from the new general mayor of Bucharest. He is not very demanding. As a matter of fact, he tracked down some king of former garage, somewhere near Piata Romana, but this one, too, belonged to the Government. For the time being, in the absence of a stage, Ion Cocora’s team keeps “concocting” new, ambitious projects.