The Romanian National Theatre was officially opened on 18 September 1919, simultaneously with the
Romanian Opera and the
Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy. The inaugural performance,
Poemul Unirei () by Zaharia Bârsan, took place on 1 December 1919. The founder and first director of the National Theatre of Cluj was
Zaharia Bârsan, actor, stage director, playwright and animator. Some of the first members of the National Theatre include Olimpia Bârsan, Stănescu-Papa, Dem Mihăilescu-Brăila, , Jeana Popovici, Stanca Alexandrescu, Ion Tâlvan, and . Between 1936 and 1940 director moved towards modernity. In that period, a studio was created, in order to connect the public with modern dramatic productions. Some famous actors of the time include Magda Tâlvan, Maria Cupcea, Titus Croitoru, Violeta Boitoș, Viorica Iuga, Nicolae Sasu, and Gheorghe Aurelian. In 1940, as a result of the
Second Vienna Award, the theatre, like other Romanian institutions, had to move to the Romanian part of the artificially divided
Transylvania. While the
local university moved to
Sibiu, the national theatre moved to
Timișoara. In December 1945, at the end of
World War II, as Cluj became part of Romania once again, the theatrical institution returned to Cluj and restarted its activity, under the directorship of Aurel Buteanu. Between 1948 and 1964, although under the initial stages of the
Communist regime, the theatre managed to keep true to its artistic values. Famous names of the time include , Ștefan Braborescu, Radu Stanca, Viorica Cernucan, Maia Țipan-Kaufmann, Ligia Moga, Gheorghe M. Nuțescu, Emilia Hodiș, Gheorghe Radu, , Alexandru Munte, and . After 1965, with
Vlad Mugur as director, the theatre focused on aesthetic values, refusing the ideological and moralising line imposed by the increasingly strict Communist authorities. The performances became based on a balanced type of
Modernism. In this period the National Theatre established itself as an important European theatrical institution, due to the prestigious artistic tours in
Italy with performances such as
Iphigeneia in Tauris by
Euripides,
Caligula by
Albert Camus, ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'' by
William Shakespeare. Among the young famous artists of the time there were , Valentino Dain,
Melania Ursu, Valeria Seciu,
George Motoi,
Dorel Vișan, and Anton Tauf. The directors that followed, , Maia Țipan-Kaufmann, Petre Bucșa, , and , continued to try, often successfully, to avoid
Communist censorship by maintaining a balance between national and universal dramatic texts and between classical and modern elements. Famous artists of the time include
Mihai Măniuțiu, Gelu Bogdan Ivașcu, Maria Munteanu, Ileana Negru, Miriam Cuibus, Marius Bodochi, Petre Băcioiu, and Dorin Andone. In this period, performances such as
Săptămîna luminată by
Mihail Săulescu,
The Lesson by
Eugène Ionesco, and
Murder in the Cathedral by
T. S. Eliot were staged during several tours in England, France, Yugoslavia, Finland, the United States, and Egypt. After the
Romanian Revolution of 1989, the performances became more diverse and modern. Names of this period include , Mihai Măniuțiu, Mona Chirilă, Anca Bradu, Theodor-Cristian Popescu,
Liviu Ciulei, Crin Teodorescu, Lucian Giurchescu, Mircea Marosin, , Horea Popescu, Gheorghe Harag, and Dinu Cernescu. The directors of the theatre until 2000 were, successively, Victor Ioan Frunză, , and
Dorel Vișan. In 2011 Mihai Măniuțiu became the director of the Cluj-Napoca National Theatre, which performed original classic and modern, Romanian and universal plays. Stage directors include
Vlad Mugur, Mihai Măniuțiu, , and
Alexandru Dabija. ==References==