Theatre
Răzvan și Vidra
Not translated into English
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu · 1867
Synopsis
Răzvan, a freed Gypsy who learned to read at the monastery, posts a pamphlet against the prince in Iași and, so that no one but himself be punished, denounces himself: he becomes a slave again, of the boyar Sbierea. Three years later, as leader of the haiduks in the forest of Orhei, he spares his former master; Vidra, of the line of the boyar Moțoc, falls in love with him. Having become a captain in the Polish army, he sees Vidra push him ever higher, until he covets the throne of Moldavia.
Context
The play was first staged at the National Theatre in Bucharest in February 1867, with Mihail Pascaly in the title role and Matilda Pascaly as Vidra, according to Jurnalul. It is composed in verse and in five titled cantos, and draws on real history: Ștefan Răzvan, son of a Roma man who had come from the Ottoman Empire and of a Moldavian woman, ruled Moldavia from April to December 1595. It has been read as an exaltation of a glorious past and a criticism of a fallen present.
Who it is for
A drama in Romanian verse, in five cantos; it assumes knowledge of Prince Răzvan, who reigned for only a few months.
Prizes and reception
A production at the National Theatre as early as 1867, then reissues in the twentieth century, including that of Minerva in 1971.