VIRAL
a queer periphery
active art project by Bogdan Georgescu
About the show
you want me more masculine
Less feminine
more easily decided
More forcefully submissive
and you admit a vast spectrum
both deep and wide and twisted
like an entire awakened forest.
Here the Sisters Sisters take shelter, until the storm passes, in the heart of the forest.
And they’re throwing a grand banquet and you are invited.
Dress Code (mandatory): gender fluidization, reconfiguration, queerification, maximization, alliance, celebration. A periphery.
“VIRAL is the protected space in which we explore and nuance the performativity of gender identity, its conventionality and possibilities for fluidization. We play with multiple binaries and contrasts. It is a queer & allies theater show that observes, questions and analyzes multiple perspectives that gender non-conforming people face daily, at every moment, with themselves, with loved ones, with the world, in order to simply be . (Bogdan Georgescu)
16+
Creators
Script and direction: Bogdan Georgescu
Set and costume design: Irina Gâdiuță
Movement: JC Luque
Sound Design: Borusiade
Cast
Voicu Aaniței
Yurii A.D.
Mara Bugarin
Mara Căruțașu
David Drugaru
Vladimir Purdel
Dragoș Stoica
Configured as an urban fairy tale, the show panoramas fluid identities in conjunction with the ignorance and conservatism of normative gender identity in an attempt to create a framework for empathy and understanding.(…) Bogdan Georgescu offers in the show at Masca Theatre concrete information regarding fluid gender identities, the queer universe and inventories cisgender reactions and positions in relation to them. Viral is a cross-section of the generally retrograde or ignorant mentality, refractory not only to interactions with non-normative identities, but also to being informed about them. But what Georgescu explicitly brings to the stage is the need to find allies—people from the dominant social group who support non-dominant groups through active involvement. Presented performatively, these allies become in Viral social prototypes of cisgender typologies who encounter nonbinary people and feel vulnerable when showing their fears, the awkwardness amplified by lack of information, even the discomfort of integrating into an inclusive, common space in which fluid identities exist alongside standardized ones. (…) (Oana Stoica, The Forest in Militari)
“VIRAL” is a safe space, a symbol in which freedom of expression truly manifests. The play brings to the forefront a debate about how mentalities have developed throughout history and highlights the evolution that society should demonstrate. Unfortunately, ignorance and lack of information often remain the main actors in everyday life.(…)
The show is constructed as a story and ends with a banquet that transcends social rules, embracing gender freedom.
“VIRAL” deserves to be seen not only for its artistic message, but also for the courage to provoke necessary discussions in a society still searching for empathy. (Radu Denisa-Mihaela, “VIRAL” at Masca Theatre – the courage to be yourself)