BUCHAREST: On a hot summer afternoon, two delicately framed women are pulling off a theatrical tour de force, playing out a real-life drama in a village courtyard close to Bucharest.

They are at the vanguard of a Roma revolution, a fightback — through art and activism — after centuries of oppression.

Their play, Who killed Szomna Grancsa?, is based on the true story of a Roma girl who committed suicide after her parents stopped sending her to school, and explores the many complex reasons behind the tragedy.

The actors — Mihaela Dragan and Zita Moldovan — each play several characters in her young life: the 17-year-old who killed herself, her parents, teacher, village priest, neighbours and the journalists who covered her burial.

Their theatrical approach is a direct challenge to the more simple version of events told on Romanian television that a young woman died because her parents, from one of Romania’s traditional Roma communities, denied her an education.

The play instead explores the other daily pressures she had faced: anti-Roma racism in Romanian schools, rural poverty, women’s oppression in Romanian society at large.

“Don’t all women cry? one female character asks rhetorically in a summation of the greater female lot.

The play is staged by Giuvlipen, a Roma feminist theatre company — a first for Romania — that was founded in 2014 by Dragan, Moldovan and director Mihai Lukacs.

The company members spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of their latest play, which is a tough watch for any audience, Roma and non-Roma alike.

Challenge prejudice

Hot topics are the company’s forte.

In “Gadjo Dildo, Giuvlipen addresses Roma women’s sexuality. In one scene, three actors stand before a screen projecting the most common male stereotypes about Roma women — ‘passionate’, ‘exotic’, ‘submissive’ — poking fun at the labels and telling stories of Roma women who contradict them.

A gay character trying to court a female colleague is told, “I did not expect a cute Roma woman like you to be gay”.

During a performance at Macaz theatre cafe in Bucharest, attended mostly by Bucharests young intelligentsia, the actors engaged directly with the audience. They singled out a politician, a policeman and an anthropologist, highlighting power relations between them and Roma women.

A raw nerve was hit.

Members of the elite audience grew decidedly uncomfortable.

“The topics we address are causing debate and I feel that we are contributing to this change, said Moldovan. “We usually play with a full house, so people do really want to see what we are showing them. This is what gives me strength to go on.

Giuvlipen — a word created to mean feminism in the Romani language — addresses topics largely new to mainstream Romanian audiences, such as mental health, Roma or housing.

Non-Roma must confront their own racism; Roma must concede that patriarchy can govern their traditional communities.

Dragan and Moldovan have faced personal attacks and are under constant scrutiny for what they wear, say and do. If disarmingly sincere on stage, they are slow in an interview to reveal the emotions that fuel their provocative art.

“My work starts from discomfort, from things that hurt me, but then again, theatre is always born from conflict, said Dragan. “I am powerful when I act: for that hour, the audience is mine and listens to my story. They even pay money to listen. When I am on stage, my identity is revolutionary.—Reuters

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2017