Up till 1989 I wouldn?t have missed one theatre season for the world. We used to go to the theatre up to three times a week. I remember Irina and I went to the Majestic to see the ?Florentine Hat? . At some point in the play, the leading actor had a scene where he washed his feet, so he stripped to the top and underwear. And we were all trotting on the spot, to keep warm. It was freezing cold in the hall, 5 or six degrees below 0. (I. H., 29)

Cultural programs were an extraordinary thing. We had somebody at the Institute in charge of going around to several theatres in town to see what was on, and function of what you wanted to see he bought tickets. He was taking orders sort of?I need to say that my daughter Irina was barely 3 years old, and I took her, maybe not every week, but at least 2 times a months, to see theatre shows. And that was great. You could also have the tickets deducted from the pay cheque every month, you didn?t have to pay on the spot, like you have to now, and then they cost a nothing. What I?m trying to say is that you could afford to buy theatre tickets, to take your kids to the circus?(I. H., 30)

The theatre halls were just packed out. Sold out shows every night. There were cheaper student tickets. You didn?t have to pay extra to get a ticket, or at least it never happened to me. Maybe the reason why people went to the theatre in shoals was that the mass media were really immaterial. What else were you supposed to do, and the way the actors performed really drew you to that sort of distraction. Even though there was no blacklist of plays, the staging and the actual performance managed to strike at the existing communist regime, and many times the actors? skill and the directors? ingenuity evaded the censorship. They knew what they were acting and were also perfectly aware they were playing with fire.

I recollect that back in high school we used to have regular outings with the class and we went to the theatre. Most of the times we went on Saturdays. We couldn?t actually go on Saturdays, because we had classes on Saturdays as well. It must have been either Sunday mornings or Sunday in the afternoons. I remember this show where Florin Piersic had the leading part. I forgot its title, but the theme was markedly communist, and yet, somehow the acting and all that managed to get across quite a few criticisms against the regime. That?s why it didn?t run for long! It was only performed for two months on the stage of the National Theatre. (V. C., 65)