Studii si Cercetari de Istoria Artei : Teatru, Muzică, Cinematografie (Dec 2010)
Aurel Ion Maican (III). Declinul unei cariere strălucite
Abstract
This paper is the last part of a monographic study on stage director Aurel Ion Maican, who contributed decisively to the making of Romanian modern theatre in the interwar period. After having traced back the beginnings of Maican’s career and his outstanding activity at the National Theatre of Jassy, the author brings to light little known facts regarding the artist’s work from late 1934 till his death in 1952. For the Romanian theatre it was a period of decay. Because of the insecure political climate in the late 1930s and the vicissitudes of the Second World War, theatre practitioners turned quite often to light, escapist entertainment. Under these circumstances, Maican moved from one city to another, staging mainly boulevard comedies, operettas and variety shows. In 1943, during the Romanian occupation of Transnistria, he was appointed director of Odessa National Theatre, where he worked for a season. When Romania changed sides and joined the Allies, Maican was imprisoned under false accusations, but he was eventually released without trial. After the war, the newly established Communist regime brought dramatic changes: theatres were nationalised in 1948, and an increasing number of propaganda plays were included in the repertoire. Maican worked mainly as a theatre director and as a professor at the Institute of Theatre, trying to fit in this new world. In the last part of his career, few were the productions in which the stage director succeeded to materialize his reformist vision. The troubled history of those years, as well as personal circumstances prevented Maican, once a brilliant innovative artist, from achieving his full potential.
