REQUIEM

  

from poster for 'Requiem'

the Irish premiere of a play by

Leonid Andreyev

directed by

Horatiu Mihaiu

choreographer  Libby Seward

stage manager  Sile Penkert

set designer  Adam Wallace

lighting designer  Jim Daly

music director  Laurienne Fiorentino

costume designer  Deirdre Dwyer

production manager  Marcus Quinlan

This was a new challenge for WYD. It brought together the symbolist theatre of Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919) with today's Image Theatre of central Europe. The original short play by Andreyev was written during the darkest days of the First World War, as Russia's Tsarist empire was about to crumble. It reflects the uncertainty and despair of those changing times. Romanian director Horatiu Mihaiu and his WYD team clothed the bare and gloomy bones of the written play with music, dance, humour and even sleight-of-hand magic tricks, without diluting the seriousness of the theme.
 
Critic Declan Hassett of the Irish Examiner wrote: 'A play about the making of a play by a relatively obscure Russian writer with a Romanian director would not immediately suggest success, but I was simply blown away by the sheer intelligence, ingenuity, dynamism and level of collective performance demonstrated by WYD... The miracle worker is Horatiu Mihaiu, a proponent of imaginative and symbolist theatre in his native Romania, and he brought all his directorial skills to bear on this production... Unreserved praise then for all concerned...'

SOME OF THE CAST
'Requiem': some of the cast

SOME OF THE CREW
'Requiem': some of the adult crew

Left to right: Libby Seward (choreographer), Adam Wallace (set designer), Sile Pinkert (stage manager), Marcus Quinlan (production manager), Horatiu Mihaiu (Director)

THE ORCHESTRA
'Requiem': the orchestra

THE RECEPTION
Requiem': the reception at Garter Lane

Left to right: George Maior (First Secretary to the Romanian Embassy), Caroline Senior (Artistic Director of Garter Lane Arts Centre), Horatiu Mihaiu (Director), Cathy Hanrahan (WYD), Deputy Mayor Cllr. Ollie Cleary
Horatiu Mihaiu

Horatiu Mihaiu had been an architect for more than ten years when he turned to stage design shortly before the Romanian revolution of December 1989. He rose quickly to the top of his field through his work in the new Image Theatre techniques in productions such as 17 Acts with Piet Mondrian and Picasso: Outlandos d'Amour. Recently he has worked as designer and director with the Underground Theatre of Targu Mures, Romania.

This was his first visit to Ireland.