Under various titles, the play "The Blacksmiths" by Milos Nikolic has been part of the repertoire of several theaters in the country and abroad. The director of the show, Horațiu Mălăele, seems to be "in love" with this play in which he naturally also plays the lead role.
The original text by playwright Milos Nikolic, born in Kosovo in 1939, tells the story of a German blacksmith who, after a long time, discovers that his son is the child of a Romanian. Horațiu Mălăele adapts the story, and the blacksmith Grigorie is a Romanian who finds out that his son is the child of the Hungarian Peter, who learns that his son also has the Russian Ivan as a father, and Ivan realizes that his son belongs to ... Grigorie! This genetic mess is a consequence of the war because all the men, blacksmiths by trade, were also soldiers on the front. The underlying theme of the play is generously thematic with suggestions regarding the consequences of war and the false trumpeting of nationalism that has become a "doctrine" for some current European parties. The comedy is well-written by Milos Nikolic and provides the audience with a laugh at the trouble of the three men of different nationalities who find out that their sons actually belong to another nationality genetically.
However, the adaptation by changing the nationalities of some characters is flimsy. The wives are represented in the text only by Matilda, the wife of the Romanian Grigorie, who argues that women did not cheat on their husbands; they only wanted the guild of blacksmiths to have descendants. Matilda's argument is conceived by the playwright on a historical basis, stating that after farmers and shepherds, blacksmiths serve as one of the oldest professions recorded even in the Bible. These remain the basic professions of simple people. In today's world, however, Matilda's desire to perpetuate the guild fails, as the sons, their fathers say, are no longer blacksmiths; they have chosen other professions. Horațiu Mălăele's adaptation uses the translation signed by Veronica Lăzăreanu, rich in trivial accents.
Scenographer Maria Miu, who has also illustrated this play at another theater, builds on stage a detailed blacksmith shop with specific objects of the trade, complemented by items from the households of simple people. The decor is charming and designed functionally to diversify the scenic movement. Director Horațiu Mălăele humorously develops the story of the three men, being in the field of comedy. The show lasts one hour and ten minutes, of which five minutes are consumed in the opening of the performance by Grigorie's searches through the blacksmith shop with a lantern, naturally in the dark, for "something"; these absurd searches, however, do not find a consolidated purpose in the following action.
The four actors remarkably fulfill their roles. Maia Morgenstern in Matilda, Grigorie's wife, delivers an excellent performance. The actress develops with inner conviction Matilda's struggle to clarify to her husband that she did not cheat on him during the four years he was on the front in Russia, complemented by the emotion of reuniting with Peter. Again, Maia Morgenstern demonstrates that she is an actress of rare complexity and can credibly approach both the comic and the dramatic genre.
Horațiu Mălăele nuancedly constructs the character of Grigorie, a simple man trying to untangle the threads caused by Peter's arrival in his family. The actor treats the situation dramatically, and obviously, the result is comedic. With a timid Hungarian accent in his speech, George Mihăiță presents Peter as he intensely lives the emotion of reuniting with Matilda, but also the complicated situation of the revelations. The final intervention of Ivan is admirably carried out by Valentin Teodosiu, through his demeanor and the maintenance of relationships with those encountered. The four actors successfully convey the story of the capable blacksmiths, simple people upon whom the war has left ... traces, just like many other simple people, living today in a different world, confused in its manifestations.
“The Blacksmiths” offers a comedic opportunity for the audience, who should then also reflect when they take pride in their roots in ... the Dacians and Romans. The show remains merely a successful exercise in amusement ...
Cast: Horațiu Mălăele , Maia Morgenstern, George Mihăiță
