Theatres of revolution: The performativity of public and private memories in Romania after 1989

Focusing on issues of memory, representation and performativity, this paper will discuss three facets of representing and remembering the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. Firstly, it will tackle the televisual representations of the event, the story of the “live revolution” and the depiction of the revolutionary narrative through filmic devices. Secondly, this paper will look at theatrical representations of the Revolution and its aftermath, both in Romania (through playwrights such as Saviana Stanescu) and in the UK (Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest). Last but not least, it will look at the varied ways in which the Romanian Revolution is remembered today, discussing the issue of revolutionary heroes and the process of “forgetting”, which has determined the 21st century relationship between Romania and its revolution.