The article deals with the relationship drama text - context - subtext in the theatrical performance, based on the play The Tree of Life by Dumitru Matcovschi. The work highlights the specific artistic vision of the playwright, the literary and social context of writing the play (the 70s) and the reception of the performance in the 80s and 2010-2011. The subtext is changing as well, depending on the actor, director and the time of the artistic realization of the performance. New social and artistic realities imposed by the context of the theatrical culture oblige attention, modifying the „horizon of expectation” of the receiver.