ABSTRACT
Silviu Purca˘rete (b. 1950) is a Romanian director-auteur who has, since the mid-1990s, forged an international reputation for working in European theatre through theatrically exciting adaptations of classical texts. He uses the dramatic text as a starting point for a theatricality that is founded on the combination of expressive acting, visually powerful images, physical movement, strong colours and rhythmical sounds and music to communicate human experiences. Purca˘rete’s theatricality exemplifies what Roland Barthes describes as ‘theatre-minus-text, it is a density of signs and sensations built up on stage starting from the written argument’ (1972: 26). In 1996 he toured Europe and the USA with his reconstruction of Les Danaïdes (The Suppliants) – a part of Aeschylus’ trilogy that survives only in fragments. This devised production presented the violence and savagery of humanity, founded on powerful visualisation and with a cast of over 100 performers.
