Join Oana Mardare and Mădălina Mușat as they share magical insights on theater connections!

In March, Reactor proudly presents the very first premiere of 2023 and our first delightful co-production created alongside the "Andrei Mureșanu" Theatre of Sfântu Gheorghe. To discover more about the wonderful creative process behind the show Gliese 445, we invited two amazing actresses from each team, Oana Mardare (Reactor of Creation and Experiment) and Mădălina Mușat ("Andrei Mureșanu" Theatre), to tell us all about how it went.

What are you working on right now? What captures your interest, and what are you hoping to discover in your work as an actress?
Oana Mardare: Right now, I'm working on Gliese 445, a fantastic performative theatre show written and directed by Raul Coldea, in a space beautifully designed by Mihai Păcurar, and set to the amazing soundscape created by Alexandru Condurat. I share this space with 9 wonderful actors and actresses from Reactor and TAM in Sfântu Gheorghe. We work from shorter or longer distances, with beautifully mapped out plans, clear principles, layer upon layer, but most of all, with wonderful care and a mature, freeing liberty. It is the second project I have worked on after a year-and-a-half break during which I imagined what my life would be like if I weren't an actress, reflecting deeply on how I do my job, how theatre is made at Reactor and how that feels for the actors, how directors work with actors/actresses and vice versa, but especially, on what making theatre, being an actress or performer, or anything in between, actually means to me now. My work on the show started with the first task from Raul, back in June last year, when he asked us to write about "what if this were our very last show." It's a text I only returned to just now, after 9 months, right in the middle of our process, and it surprised me how something from it was truly preserved. An atmosphere of peace, lightness, and pure joy. I think that is what I want to (re)discover in my work as an actress. Plus, a fresh new working technique, less based on emotion, but just as warm. 🙂

Mădălina Mușat: From a professional perspective, I have always believed that if there isn't at least one thing itching at me to explore, then I am not on the right path. Currently, that thing is flexibility—specifically, expanding my ability to adapt to every single requirement, context, and situation. This means letting go of all preconceptions about the type of project I'm working on and approaching it with the absolute delight and curiosity of a child. It's not always easy to break away from my own habits, but I truly believe that is the path that guarantees constant, beautiful learning!

You've had all kinds of experiences on stage so far, in shows with very different creative processes. In the case of Gliese 445, we are talking about a project that aims to be larger, unfolding simultaneously at the theatre in Sfântu Gheorghe and at Reactor. Tell us more about how you worked together. Does anything change compared to other projects you've been involved in? What challenges or wonderful satisfactions arise?

M.M.: Unlike the rest of the projects I've worked on so far at the Andrei Mureșanu Theatre, Gliese 445 was a thrilling challenge from the very start, given that it is my first time working with performative theatre. This had a wonderful impact because I saw this process as a laboratory where I discovered so many essential tools for my craft that I had no idea existed within me! It was an atypical project, in the best possible way. Every rehearsal was a journey of self-discovery where the road always mattered so much more than the destination. This was possible, first and foremost, thanks to Raul Coldea, who fostered a working environment completely free of pressure and the typical constraints of building a play. Raul has all the qualities of a fantastic director: he is talented, knowledgeable, attentive to the actors' needs, extremely brave, and mature. There wasn't a single day we didn't learn something new from him. He also constantly inspired us with freedom and patience—two essential ingredients for creating something truly valuable. Another reason why it was impossible to feel uninspired was the space created by Mihai Păcurar. It is an abundance of simplicity, an expanse so available and open, yet at the same time so rich with well-chosen resources, perfectly capable of bringing any idea to life. Mihai is an artist who dedicates himself fully to the project. Thanks to his extraordinary sense of what works and what doesn't, his advice was always golden, and his contribution was enormous. A beautiful source of inspiration for me is undoubtedly my colleagues—Camelia Paraschiv, Fatma Mohamed, Oana Jipa, and Anca Pitaru. Sometimes it’s enough to just be like water around them, to trustingly let myself be shaped by each of them, because I know I will surely take on a wonderful form. I admire them, above all, for the stunning way they adapted to the performative key, as if it were second nature, and for the sheer charm that floods the stage when I walk in from the outside and find the four of them there. It's contagious! Another great joy this project brought us is the collaboration with the wonderful people at Reactor in Cluj. The first stage of this process was a joint workshop that Raul Coldea organized last summer. It was a week that did us all a world of good! There was plenty of work, lots of fun, creativity, and endless conversations about how we perceive life. It was what I call a truly fruitful encounter, and I don't just mean the workshop...

O.M.: We had a few days of workshops filled with lots of warmth back in August, in Sfântu Gheorghe. That memory has remained as a primary connection between us, carrying the beautiful texture of those summer days spent together. It exists somewhere