SYNOPSIS:

The Other Half is a monodrama focusing on a universally acknowledged theme: the artist going through a midlife crisis and confronting his demons, self sacrifice triggered by inner need to create and fear of failure. Life metaphorically viewed as a swimming race in a pool is a perfect opportunity to face the voices ofhis cosciousness. Literature comes outas the only realm where one can be redeemed from death, while the urge to create can counterbalance remorses brought forth by the irreparable loss of our loved ones.The inner voices multiply as the character is facing his own destiny – hence his contradictory moods, which are all impersonated by a „collective” character – who is ultimately the playwright’s alter ego. Allusions to the myth of Faust and Mephistopheles alternate with discreet interventions of the Maternal Guardian Angel, the restoring of fatherly lovecompansates for bottled up feelings of guilt, while dialogue with selfcleverly orchestrates everything usingcreation as a perfect justification.

The apple stemand its miraculous fruit clearly point to the Heavenly Mother’s divine message, which is merged into the tissue of Petre Barbu’s creation. The monodrama revisits most of his recurrent themes – love lost, life resembling a journey/race, facing the ghost of one’s own past, forces of creativity confronting death – self irony adding unexpected and deeply resounding effects to the literary mix. The character’s polyphonic universe is cleverly recomposed by stage director Attila Vizauer, while actor Dan Tudor personifies the voices ”summoned‘‘ to the inner judgement. Sound design by Mădălin Cristescu completes and gives depth to the fictional space.

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