Centenary Nina Cassian at the National Radiophonic Theatre

Cast: Ana Bianca Popescu, Rodica Mandache, Artur Vișan, Marius Manole, Marian Râlea, Catinca Radu, Ioan Batinaș, Paul Chiribuță, Mihai Gruia Sandu, Cezar Antal, Ana Maria Bălescu, Cristina Constantinescu, Eric Deliu, Alin Aronovici, Sabrina Iașchevici , Violeta Berbiuc, Radu Dumitrache. Editing direction: Florin Bădic. Studio direction: Milica Creiniceanu. Musical direction: Andrei Miricescu. Technical direction: engineer Mirela Georgescu. Editor and project coordinator: Irina Soare.

The show includes an anthological recording from Radio Romania’s Aur Fonoteca of the poem “From childhood. A part of a bird” – in the reading of the author Nina Cassian.

Entry is free, subject to availability.

The show will premiere on Radio Romania Cultural on Saturday, December 7 and Sunday, December 8, from 9:00 a.m.

The National Radiophonic Theater pays tribute to the memory of the incomparable writer Nina Cassian, on the anniversary of her birth, by performing a radio show inspired by her fairy tale in verse „Even without fear”which has kept its status as a cult book of Romanian literature, although it was published almost seven and a half decades ago, in a dramatic period of our history. “Prodigious writer, multi-talented artist, with a strong personality, Nina Cassian (November 27, 1924 – April 14, 2014) could only be a controversial character whose story is, however, more complex than it might seem at first glance.(…) If, despite her books in the ’50s, she did not definitively compromise her literary career, this was due to the consistency of her later work: Nina Cassian published 20 volumes of aesthetically legitimate poetry and just as many books for children”, says the writer, translator and literary critic Marius Chivu.

Director Diana Mihailopol offers the listeners of the National Radiophonic Theater a new, modern and at the same time classic version of the fascinating adventures of Nică, the one without fear, made more than six decades after the anthological mounting in Fonoteca de Aur. The extremely suggestive soundtrack of the show, signed by the technical director engineer Mirela Georgescu and the musical scenery, built with sophistication and sensitivity by the musical director Andrei Miricescu, build the atmosphere of this collection show, dedicated to the listeners, of all ages, of the National Radiophonic Theater for Children .

Here is what Diana Mihailopol, the show’s director, who also signed the radio adaptation, testifies: “I wasn’t asked in school to write an essay on ‘No Fear.’ I wasn’t asked to learn it by heart or make illustrations for this story. I just remember that at one point I had a book the size of an art album with some lustrations in which there were eyes similar to those of the saints in the icons. After finishing, two years ago, a children’s radio show (which became very popular with adults), I proposed “Nica without fear” by Nina Cassian, for the year in which the poet’s centenary was approaching. The main character in the fairy tale is forced to prove his courage and wisdom in landscapes painted with the help of primordial elements. In 1958 “Nică spă frică” was translated by C. Borănesco – “Nic L’ heroique”, and the edition contained illustrations by Jules Perahim. That year it was translated into many languages ​​of circulation, until 1976, when an edition appeared that would end up in the hands of a poor child and a lover of complicated poetry. The edition contained Emilia Baboia’s illustrations and the images followed me for a long time, until 2 years ago when I told Irina Soare that I wanted to make Nica without fear a show, a new one, not a good one, but as it didn’t existed before. That’s right, at the Casa Radio Publishing House there is an edition of the story accompanied by the version of the radio show from 1964 – “No fear”, adapted and directed by Constantin Teodori, with illustrations by Cristiana Radu. The cast at that time included actors who passed the baton to the bow overtime. Thus, where the child Vasile Manta was, now he is Artur Vișanwhere Valentin Platăreanu was, is Marius Manolewhere Ștefan Mihăilescu Brăila was Marian Râleawhere Brândușa Zaita-Silvestru was Sabrina Iaschevici. “No fear” represented an act of courage for Nina Cassian, and the identity of the main character did not mean a name inspired by folklore, or later from the suite of proper names found in patriotic poems, but the beginning of the syllables of the poet’s name and surname, united , like two pieces of hearts numb and then joined. In 1945, Nina Cassian debuted with her first poem, “I was a decadent poet” in the “România liberă” newspaper, and in 1947 she published the first volume of surrealist poems, “La scala 1/1”. A year later, this volume was criticized in the newspaper “Scânteia”, declaring that her style was decadent and bourgeois. That’s why he started writing children’s books because they allowed him to use metaphors. There are also in “Nica no fear” a series of references to different representative typologies from history and from the social landscapes of the times. In the version I built, I turned to sound metaphors, to music that meant the change of some mentalities in different periods. A hippie fairy tale came out, not so much for big kids, but especially for big kids 50 and up. Today’s children and teenagers will discover an evolution of time through the filter of symbol and word weight in poetry. I have mastered and been mastered by a number of extraordinary actors.

Thus, when it will be 100 years since the birth of the poetess, on November 27, at 11:00 a.m., at the elegant UNITER headquarters, the audition of the radio theater show “Nica spă frică” by Nina Cassian will take place.”