Romanian playwright’s work has UK premiere at London festival

Romanian playwright Matei Visniec’s (pictured) work What shall we do with the cello? will have its UK premiere at the VAULT Festival, taking place in London between February 8 and February 12. The performance will take place in English, and the first three representations out of the scheduled six are already sold out. British daily The Guardian listed the play among top ones to see the coming week, while the chief editor of The Stage included it in the ten best performances to see at this edition of the VAULT Festival. The play, presented under the direction of Vasile Nedelcu, is a satire of authoritarianism, attacking intolerance, and a surrealist comedy. The cast of the play is almost entirely made up of Romanian artists currently residing in the UK. They are actors Simona Armstrong, Mihai Arsene and Tudor Smoleanu, cellist Nick Allen and choreographer Malina Andrei. The soundtrack, performed live, belongs to Iancu Dumitrescu. Director Vasile Nedelcu, who graduated from the Theater and Film School in Bucharest, has been living in the UK for almost a decade. He collaborated with numerous theater festivals, including the Glasshouse Festival, Stourbridge, Edinburgh Fringe and Brighton Fringe. The VAULT Festival, on between January 25 and March 3, takes place in the unused vaults of London’s oldest station, Waterloo. Sibiu International Theater Festival becomes world’s biggest editor@romania-insider.com