MAD FOREST
On the plain where Bucharest now stands there used to be ‘a large forest crossed by small muddy streams … It could only be crossed on foot and was impenetrable for the foreigner who did not know the paths … The horsemen of the steppe were compelled to go round it, and this difficulty, which irked them so, is shown by the name … Teleorman – Mad Forest.’
A Concise History of Romania
Otetea and MacKenzie
Production Note
Since the play goes from the difficulty of saying anything to everyone talking, don’t be afraid of long silences. For instance, in Scene One, the silence before Bogdan turns up the music was a good fifteen seconds in our production. Short scenes like 13 and 15 need to be given their weight. Don’t add additional dialogue (for instance in queues, party or arrival in country) except in III 6 where ‘etc’ means there can be other things shouted by the spectators.
The queue scenes and execution scene should have as many people as are available. In the execution scene it is the violence of the spectators which is the main focus rather than the execution itself.
We didn’t use a prop rat. The Vampire was not dressed as a vampire.
In Part II (December) the language of the different characters varies with how well they speak English, and this should be reflected in their accents.
In the hospital and party scenes it is particularly important that the short scenes within them are not run together and that time has clearly passed.
Music. As in the text, the music after the opening poem becomes the music on the Vladu radio. It’s not essential to do what we did with the music, but it may be helpful to know that at the end of the wedding we used a hymn to the Ceauşescus and continued the music till everyone was in place for the beginning of December; at the end of December the whole company sang a verse from ‘Wake up Romania’ in Romanian, which then merged with a recording of it; we had music at the beginning of Part III. The party music in III.8 should be western euro-pop. The dance music should be the lambada – this is not an arbitrary choice, it was the popular dance at the time. The nightmare scene and the very end of the play probably need sound.
Words for the poem at the beginning and words and music for ‘Wake up Romania’ can be got from Casarotto Ramsay.
Caryl Churchill and Mark Wing-Davey, ...
