Performing Archives: Documentary Theatre, Transition and Adaptation to a New Lifestyle in Romanian Society

Abstract

The change of political regimes and the long period of transition that followed afterwards brought dramatic, even tragic shifts in common people’s lives, who were born and raised in the Eastern Bloc. These experiences, which were strikingly common in Eastern European countries, have left significant marks in nowadays society, which historians and artists alike are trying to analyze and explain to their audiences, in a personal and accessible form. This article aims to analyze the manners in which recent history themes, like the period of transition, economy and the essential lifestyle changes which came as a consequence, are researched and handled in Romanian documentary theatre. As follows, two theatre productions of this kind will be presented. They were considered to be a real success in the independent theatre scene in the past five years and their specificity is the shared socio-political context between stage and audience.