The Romanian Cultural Institute presents the UK-première of Pockets Full of Bread by Matei Visniec. The play is a realistic drama, a satire about human nature, talking about people like you and me...sometimes cynical, sometimes shallow, witty and ridiculous, generous and coward in the same time. The play creates a sad and ludicrous universe, its two characters "Man with stick" and "Man with hat" resemble Vladimir and Estragon from Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", experiencing an absurd revelation, engaged in a game of power and free will.
Oana Pellea is an award-winning Romanian actress, who has performed a wide range of roles in both theatre and film. She has been awarded numerous prizes for best actress in leading roles and has had an international career, starring in films, such as: I really hate my job (UK, 2007), Children of Men (nominated for three Oscars, 2006), Youth Without Youth (directed by Francis Ford Coppola, 2007), and State of Fact (Romania, 1996). Oana Pellea is acting in and directing Pockets full of bread, fully immersing herself in the production and performing a role that she has fallen in love with. The play won the Romanian Comedy Festival's Great Prize in 2009.
Mihai-Gruia Sandu is a renowned Romanian actor with impressive theatre and film experience. Amongst his most famous theatre roles are in Shakespearean productions, playing The Actor in Hamlet and Flaut and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream, whilst also appearing as Tristan in The Dog in the Manger by Lope de Vega. Mihai has starred in various films, such as: The Rest is Silence (2007), Blood and chocolate (2007), The True Lie (2006), Incubus (2006), The Wind in the Willows (2006) and Modigliani (2004). From 2008, Mihai teaches at the National University of Theatre and Cinematography in Bucharest. Why Pockets? Because "the play brings joy to the spectator, a joy that comes from the wisdom we accumulate during our life. Acting in this play was a spontaneous happening. Enjoy!"
Matei Visniec is a playwright, poet and journalist, born in Romania, and now settled in Paris. His international career started in 1992 with the play Horses at the Windows, performed in France, and Old Clown Wanted at the Bonner Biennale. Since then, Visniec has had more than 20 plays performed in France, Germany, USA, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Finland, Italy, Turkey, and Brazil. Following the fall of the Communist regime in Romania, Matei Visniec has become one of the nation's most frequently performed authors. The work of Matei Visniec has been presented in London: the play "The body of a Woman as a battlefield in the Bosnian War" staged at the Young Vic Theatre in 2000. "Humor, for me, is double-faced: one side makes you laugh and another makes you cry. Within my plays I intend to offer a flight upon the sad part of humor."
In Romanian, with English surtitles.
When: 11 and 12 December 2009, 7pm;
Where: Riverside Studios, Studio 3, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RL
Admission is free, but seats are limited. Early booking is required at office@icr-london.co.uk, 020 7752 0134.
