In Nathan the wise, Lessing pleads for the respect and the acknowledgement of religions that fight each other – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The performance directed by Armin Petras is the result of one of the biggest co-production projects carried on by Radu Stanca National Theatre of Sibiu along with the Stuttgart National Theatre. The project is not limited to a simple staging of the theatre play, as it also pursues actual goals, the social dimension of terrorism and racism in particular, in these two countries, each with its singularities. Lessing’s text is “translated” by considering the insight of the debates on violence in nowadays Europe.
Nathan the wise is a monumental production, not only through the scenery of Dragoş Buhagiar – a temple destroyed by fire, where the ghosts of a supposedly united Europe are roaming –, but also through the resurrection of Lessing’s play in the contemporary European context and through the association of two groups of actors, one from Sibiu (Ofelia Popii and Ciprian Scurtea in the main roles) and one from Stuttgart, each speaking in their own language and sometimes even in English, thus building a pseudo-communication. Multiculturalism – ethnic, religious, sexual – is a relatively recent concept, but the reality it standardizes has always existed. What Armin Petras does with Lessing’s play is to place it, with all the problems it raises – differences in ethnicity, religion, sexuality – in the European Union and at its border, in Israel and Palestine, and to ask himself if this ideal of “unity in diversity” is not actually a utopia, maybe even intentionally a utopia, concealing intolerances perpetuated for centuries, under a thick layer of demagogy.” Oana Stoica – Dilema Veche, August 2015.
RADU STANCA NATIONAL THEATRE OF SIBIU IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH SCHAUSPIEL STUTTGART
