The Excelsior Theater – the only theater in Bucharest dedicated to teenagers and young adults – announces the premiere of the show “Foxfinder” by Dawn King, translated by Bogdan Budeș – a text staged for the first time in a theater in Romania.
The show “Foxfinder” presents a dystopian world
The first performances, previews, will take place on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, from 19:00, in the “Ion Lucian” Hall of the theater, and the official premieres will be on May 7 and 8, 2024, at 19:00: 00.
The show bears the signature of the director Cristi Juncu and the scenographer Cosmin Ardeleanu, outstanding artists of the national theater scene, in their first collaboration with the Excelsior Theatre, and the music is composed by Cristina Juncu.
The cast of the show is made up of the actors of the Excelsior Theater – Dan Pughineanu (William Bloor), Bogdan Nechifor (Samuel Covey), Dana Marineci (Judith Covey), Oana Predescu (Sarah Box), who are joined by Visarion Udatu, Iulian Sfircea and Andrei Ionescu.
“Spoiler: «Foxfinder» invites us to a dystopian world, where a relatively harmless species today, the fox, has become the main enemy of mankind. I am disclosing this because, in the process of documenting the show, something extraordinary happened to me. I don't even know how to tell. Coincidentally (or maybe not!), I found out that in our country, in a rather isolated area of Apuseni, something extremely similar happened in the 19th century. The community there was driven to the woodshed by the coordinated attack of some… well, yes: foxes. How did I find out about the case? Searching on Google «foxfinder», on about the fifth page of results I came across the name of a Romanian village, Foxenii de Sus, located in the region I talked about (no relation to Focșani, at least for now). The name seemed bizarre to me, I accessed the link and… in short: what I discovered radically changed my normal, settled, decent perspective that I had on the world. I'll just give you a few revealing details (unfortunately, the rehearsals ate up a lot of the time I would have liked to devote to more in-depth research). It seems that the name of the village really comes from the incident with the foxes, but – here it is! – it seems that the period of appearance of those mysterious and extremely harmful foxes (by the way, it was assumed that they underwent a mutation, but it is not the only hypothesis) the period of their appearance, I say, coincided with the one when British writer Bram Stoker he made a trip to Transylvania to document himself about the famous novel he was going to publish. It is assumed that he owes the English origin of the name of the village, which, otherwise, would probably have been called Vulpenii de Sus.
Anyway, I'm going to ask the author of the text – and she's British, mind you! – to whom I have not yet spoken of my discoveries, I am going to ask her to investigate whether there is some kind of kinship between her and Stoker, which would explain why she chose this particular animal (why not a snake – he's cunning too, right?)
Also, another possible analogy should be studied: the most famous personality from the region we are talking about is Avram Iancu, nicknamed Crăișorul Munților. «Craisor» is a diminutive for «King». Is it a coincidence that our author's name is Dawn King? Not to mention another incredible coincidence: my wife's name is Andreea Vulpe!
Finally, I still have many tracks to follow, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that an exhaustive research of the subject is a task beyond the powers of a single person – the complexity of information, processing, unzipping sources, deductions, data protection, etc. require a collective effort. So I hereby declare the show «Foxfinder» the founding document of the Foxilian Association, which I will soon be recording, in which I invite willing viewers to sign up. Applications will be addressed to the Excelsior Theatre, at the address [email protected] and will include, apart from the applicants' data, the reasons why they want to join us.
Finally, the motto of the Association: «The absence of the fox is a sign of its presence!»“, said Cristi Juncu, the director of the show.
Responsibility, a main theme
One of the central themes of our show is responsibility; towards the family, towards the country, towards the beginnings we have and the mistakes we make. The lack of accountability is the catalyst for everything in the show and turns every character into a monster, explained Dan Pughineanu, who plays William Bloor.
“A system that doesn't value critical thinking pushes Samuel into a defenseless situation. The excuse is an unseen fox. Thus he must, like many of us, make visible something that cannot be seen. To show this, we put on a show. The pretext is still a fox, but it gives you the chance to join the Foxilian Association”Bogdan Nechifor, the interpreter of the Samuel Covey character, also scored
“Foxfinder” is a dystopia with thriller accents, set in a mythical time, where the fox is man's most feared enemy. The magnifying glass is placed on the drama of a family of farmers, a family that is investigated by a fox hunter. Judith Covey, the character I play, carries with her the light of a man who does not lose his faith despite all the trials he goes through. Her great gift is commitment and it has a lot to do with accepting life. Judith's commitment is to follow the journey to the end, even if it will make her a martyr”, said Dana Marineci, who plays the character Judith Covey.
“The show «Foxfinder» it speaks of a society in freefall, where truth and falsehood merge, and the minds of men are tormented and haunted by the specter of dissolution. In a world of fear, conspiracy and manipulation, Sarah is the voice of reason, a citadel jester, an open-eyed madwoman. Behind her strange and crazy image hides lucidity, courage and truth”claimed Oana Predescu, the interpreter of the Sarah Box character
“Foxfinder” by Dawn King
* translation by Bogdan Budeș
– first in the country –
With: Dan Pughineanu, Bogdan Nechifor, Dana Marineci, Oana Predescu and Visarion Udatu, Iulian Sfircea, Andrei Ionescu.
Directed by: Cristi Juncu
Scenography: Cosmin Ardeleanu
Original music: Cristina Juncu
Lighting design: Traian Marin
Duration of the show: 2h
Age recommendation: 14+
Tickets can be purchased both online, directly from the website www.teatrul-excelsior.ro, and in physical form, from the theater box office.
For organized groups of students, reservations can be made at the e-mail address [email protected].
