Sorana Țopa – the Memory of a Time

Abstract Most of the writings of actress Sorana Ţopa are rather unknown. The abridged editions of some of the plays that announced the two inter-war trilogies, Ciclul vieţii (The Cycle of Life) and Ciclul morţii (The Cycle of Death) prove that Sorana Ţopa was more than a beautiful, expressive, mysterious actress. Her texts are filled with questions on the actor’s state and destiny. The meanings of her plays are less accessible when read alone; the pages of her diary, the transcripts of her conversations bring forth the figure of a restless actress, an analytic spirit; her questions seem to still be searching for answers. In fact, the analysis of the unpublished documents that were generously offered by Mrs. Lucreţia Angheluţă to the Research Centre at the Faculty of Theatre at George Enescu National University of Arts in Iaşi prove that Sorana Ţopa can hugely help us in retrieving the memory of a time that is still insufficiently known, one that was intensely lived by the Romanian theatre, the first half of the 20th century.