Mad Forest's first review

18 years ago on this day, a group of young men in Timişoara carried a Romanian flag with a hole cut in it and sang "Deşteaptă-te, române!" (Wake Up, Romanian). Today, young & W!LD gets its first review for Mad Forest as we remember the Romanians who lived, loved and lost in the name of freedom.

The Straits Times
Life! (page 12)
Tuesday 18 December 2007

Rare and arresting time in a Mad Forest

By Hong Xinyi

UPRISING: The revolution is seen from the perspective of various characters. -- PHOTO: WILD RICE

theatre

MAD FOREST

young & Wild

The Republic Cultural Centre, Lab

Last Thursday

THE acting was uneven, the pacing lagged in the seemingly interminable final act and the cast's attempt at Romanian accents was, perhaps expectedly, an acquired taste.

But in the final count, one is inclined to overlook all these things, because there is so much that is rare and arresting about this production of British playwright Caryl Churchill's 1990 piece.

The first act introduces two families living under the rule of Romania's communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, on the brink of a mass uprising that would violently topple his brutal regime. The third act revolves around what happens to the families in the aftermath of the revolution.

The second act, titled December, is based on interviews conducted by Churchill in Romania. It breaks away from this narrative by enacting the revolution from the perspectives of myriad new characters.

What December does is re-create the visceral rhythms of a revolution like the movements of a symphony. The first stirrings of provocation build into the building murmurs of discontent. Then, everything seems to falter, before a wave of fearful fervour crests in a moment of purity - the end of a way of life as monumental figures are demolished.

Before the doubts and division set in among the population once again, there is this: The sense of a whole country waking up together, wounded and intensely alive like ravaged newborns.

Under the direction of Jonathan Lim, what the 13 performers accomplish in this section is nothing short of breathtaking. They move in a circle at first, with individuals stepping out to deliver their lines, the rest murmuring snatches of dialogue under their breaths. As gunshots and confusion set in, they scatter like a burst of fireworks, before coming together again in a moving tableau of song.

The entire thing mesmerises like a taut, fervent dance; the ensemble moves and breathes as one.

And for this spectacle alone, spending nearly three hours in this Mad Forest was completely worth it.

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More reviews:

Youth.sg
http://www.youth.sg/content/view/4036/51/

The Substation Magazine
http://www.substation.org/mag/review/once-upon-a-time-in-romania.html

The Flying Inkpot has also released a tentative first-impression review
http://www.inkpot.com/theatre/