The Soldier Girl
CHRONICLES
by mihaela michailov
“There is in Mihaela Michailov’s writing, well identified by Silvia Roman and interpreted by Cristina Juncu, a defense mechanism against the pain that the child instinctively develops: the creation of stories and games in which the heroes always win the battle. In the toy universe (set designers Bianca Veșteman and Sabina Veșteman create a fabulous domestic interior in which realistic elements – television, jars, ladder, etc. – have magical functions, becoming play tools and characters), Ami imagines illusory strategies for repairing a painful reality. (…) Mihaela Michailov’s plays, with the delicacy of approaching the children’s universe and poetic writing, are unique in contemporary dramaturgy. Silvia Roman’s show delicately portrays a suffering innocence that, among toys and games, learns to mature.”
Oana Stoica, Dilema Veche – Children and grandparents
“Dramatist Mihaela Michailov, director Silvia Roman, set designers Bianca and Sabina Veșteman, and actresses Cristina Juncu, Silvana Mihai with off-partner through voice Mariana Mihuț, have united their creative and inventive spirit for a project with a sensitive theme – love for loved ones. (…) ‘The Soldier Girl’ once again demonstrates that the young generation of creators possesses values capable of reading theatrically in depth a dramaturgical proposal. It is a successful show that introduces new names and confirms the writing abilities of the author, as a personality in the field.”
Ileana Lucaciu, Spectator – A sensitive poem, with many meanings
“Ami devises an admirable, full of humanity battle plan whose sole purpose is to save the slightly sick Grandma. This rescue does not fail, as we might hastily believe, but it turns into a wonderful life lesson about the meaning of life and the path of each being, about how no one can or should ever be turned back from their path. (…) Naturally, The Soldier Girl is a show for all ages and for all times. At the performance I attended, there were many children in the audience who listened in superb silence to what Silvana Mihai was saying from the stage. Their attentive silence, which in theater is a sign of involvement, certifies better than any critic that Silvia and Silvana have triumphed.”
Mircea Morariu, Adevărul – Romanian dramaturgy at TNB
“The show ‘The Soldier Girl’ by Michaela Michailov, the latest premiere in the 9G program proposed by the Ion Sava Research and Creation Center within the National Theater Bucharest ‘I.L. Caragiale’, is a great success: on the one hand due to the dynamic text, written with a bitter humor proposed by the author; on the other hand, due to the skill with which the young team thinks of the world of joys through the eyes of the protagonist.”
Mirela Nicolae, Revista Teatrală Radio – A show about unconditional love between grandchildren and grandparents
“The merit of the show ‘The Soldier Girl’ is that it is like a short psychoanalytic therapy, with the benefit that you sit sheltered in the darkness and feel relieved of the effort to dig into the endless sack of memories on your own. A show for children and adults alike, as it ventures with full zeal into a sensitive theme, especially for those whose childhood is told in anecdotes with grandparents as the main characters, and not with babysitters, ‘step by step’ schools, or video games meant to supplement a universe that only the love of grandparents could decipher.”
Oana Bogzaru, Yorick – The Soldier Girl and her army against death
“The Soldier Girl is a story for all ages. Children will surely enjoy it, and adults will feel touched because it is an exercise in reconnecting with the child within them and an opportunity to return to the years of innocence.”
Ileana Andrei – “The Soldier Girl” – about love, life, and death through a child’s eyes
“The great merit of The Soldier Girl is that it offers a necessary lesson in empathy and is a madeleine of childhood (for adult spectators), while also having a strong educational aspect (for young spectators).”
Cătălina Miciu – Scena 9, Brava Soldier Ami
“The entire production has a profoundly emotional character. The entire ensemble created by Silvia Roman constitutes a show recommended to all intelligent children, regardless of whether some of them have already become adults.”
Mădălina Dumitrache – WebCultura, A page from the culture of affections
“‘The Soldier Girl’ is a show where playfulness and poetry beautifully play the game of youth and death, where hope stubbornly stands in the way of nature, and where love has magical powers.”
Alina Epingeac – Yorick, “The Soldier Girl” in battle with emotion
“A very good show. And it is among the few one-woman shows with a double role (alternately played by Cristina Juncu and Silvana Mihai).”
Emil Călinescu, LaTeatru.EU – Soldier Girl – FITO 2017 – D-BUTAN-T 2017
“‘The Soldier Girl’, by Mihaela Michailov, staged at the 9G Hall of the National Theater ‘I.L. Caragiale’ (directed by Silvia Roman), creates, in a nutshell, a universe of childhood, as current in experiences, as visually distant, through textual and decorative references, to a post-war communist culture.”
Adina Lateș, B-critic – Lessons from the child within you. ‘The Soldier Girl’, by Mihaela Michailov
“It is a show for every person, because it speaks about childhood, that part of us that will never die. And although it premiered in 2016, it is a show that speaks in the present tense.”
Diana Parpalea, Amfiteatru Magazine, The Soldier Girl. The mission to save their grandmother(s)
“‘The Soldier Girl’ is a show about the loneliness that grows within us a new world, which becomes such a concrete and sharp reality of our own thoughts.”
Irina Cerchia, Amfiteatru Magazine, ‘The Soldier Girl’ or who jumps into attack when grandma says: Ouch!