Alex Gorghe - all about a vibrant, high-energy theatre!

The 9th edition of Drama 5 brings us in November the exciting premiere of the show "Armageddon Rebranded", based on the wonderful play written by playwright Alex Gorghe. This text was lovingly developed during our residency and selected to be brought to life by the brilliant director Irisz Kovacs. In anticipation of the big premiere, we asked Alex to share a bit about his journey writing this play!

I'm not quite sure how my role as a playwright is shifting, or what my exact relationship with theater texts is just yet. My main goal is simply to make sure the audience is fully entertained and never bored! I think that's becoming quite a challenge these days, with our attention spans being whisked away by the internet. I experience that extra-boredom myself. I feel the need to be constantly stimulated, otherwise I'd fall asleep in my seat! That's why I try to make my theater texts sound like lively cartoon episodes. Am I succeeding? Not quite yet, I think, but the fun is in the trying!

My dream was to create a show that I would have absolutely loved to see back when I was a teenager! When I was in high school and first read Marius von Mayenburg’s Fire Face, it filled me with this wild, rebellious energy—I wanted to run around, kick up a storm, and push some boundaries! I wanted to capture a similar spark here. I found myself wanting to write about a group of depressed characters who form an extremist group to accelerate the end of the world, simply because they reject the society they live in. This idea was born from the things I love to consume—moody post-punk music, edgy plays, and intense video games.

I began working on the script for Armageddon Rebranded in a writing workshop with Bogdan Georgescu, organized by the Political Theatre Platform, and the first drafts were hilariously messy! :))) You couldn't make heads or tails of it. Bogdan was so helpful, offering great advice and turning it into something far more delightful and engaging! :D

I continued refining it at Drama 5, where I had the wonderful guidance of Maria Manolescu. Maria was an absolute champion for both this text and for me personally, giving me an incredible boost of confidence. She cheered me on to step away from predictable dramatic structures, encouraged me to find my own unique voice to tell the story, and gave me the green light to put all the wild, crazy ideas in my head onto the page. She also helped me shape them and translate them into a form that is, I hope, wonderfully digestible for you, our lovely audience!

Did I achieve exactly what I set out to do? Probably not quite yet, but I'll keep experimenting in my next plays! What emerged is something much calmer and more pacifist than what was originally in my head, but nonetheless, I am absolutely thrilled with what I managed to create alongside the wonderful mentors who guided me.

Unfortunately, aside from the first week when we polished and added some finishing touches to the text, I wasn't able to attend the rehearsals. I'm a little sad about that, as I really believe being there is a key part of my job as a playwright. But c'est la vie—I'll confess my sins and move forward with a smile!

I find this play to be... well, it's funny, but it still leaves a touch of sweet sadness at the end. I do sometimes feel that our future might look a bit challenging and that we might face some somber times ahead... but I believe the ultimate invitation of this play is to find a reason to giggle together, even as our world feels like it's sinking. Let's share a laugh at the theater!