http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1 <http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue =342&NrSection=3&NrArticle=20885> &IdPublication=4&NrIssue=342&NrSection=3&NrArticle=20885
An End to 'Doubleness' by <http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article_single.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&; NrIssue=342&NrSection=3&NrArticle=20885&ST1=ad&ST_T1=job&ST_PS1=1&ST_AS1=1&S T2=body&ST_T2=letter&ST_PS2=1&ST_AS2=1&ST3=text&ST_T3=aatol&ST_PS3=2&ST_AS3= 1&ST_max=3#author> Boyko Vassilev, Lucie Kavanova, Anita Komuves, Wojciech Kosc, Sinziana Demian, and Pavol Szalai 9 October 2009 What does an artist, accustomed to using metaphor and subterfuge under communism, do when the lid comes off? See more special coverage of the anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain at our 20 Years After <http://20years.tol.org/> website. [As we look at how life has changed - or stayed the same - over the past 20 years, TOL correspondents in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia asked people in various professions to describe their working life today compared with conditions before 1989. This collection of interviews with artists is the first in the series that resulted.] [...] RADU BELIGAN, 90, ROMANIA Iconic actor known for tragic and comic roles, former general director of the Bucharest National Theater. These comments were made at a recent press conference. For young people today past times are unimaginable. We, today, 20 years after the revolution, still work in the old Soviet style, in terms of theater management. My foreign friends whom I often visit abroad are astounded that we still don't have a private theater in Bucharest. This means death. Because these institutions, subsidized from the state, can hardly innovate and deviate from a certain line. Bucharest used to have [before communism] the National Theater and 17 private theaters - which all prompted a great competition. A talented young actor would receive three or four offers from various theater directors. This is what happened to me as well. Then an actor's career would grow from one year to the next, because he could choose interesting roles in different theaters. How can we do that today? How can we select young talented actors? People ask me who comes after me. I can name [director, writer, and actor Horatiu] Malaele and three or four more, and that's it. I have no idea. I never see them, as they have to act in godforsaken places. So it's great that we are in a different regime today, but in our field - and I can only speak about our field - there's no real gain. NOTHING has been done. Radu Beligan and Marcela Rusu in a 1963 production of Alexandru Mirodan's Head of the Souls Department. I staged Beckett when I was director of the National Theater - to everyone's astonishment, as he was considered decadent. But I had very good relations with Ceausescu. He was sort of timid in my presence, which was rather odd. He did protect me a great deal, although we never exchanged more than a few words. When the National Theater caught fire, [Constantin] Dascalescu, the prime minister, rushed over to the terrace, where there was a big commotion. What had happened was, that very evening, the Chinese president had been on an official visit to Romania, and I was also invited to the grand banquet. Afterward, I took the car and left for the countryside, where I received the call that the theater was on fire. You can only imagine - I rushed back, and Dascalescu was shouting on the terrace, "Where's the director?" Then I came in and he started interrogating me - "Where were you?" he said. "Where you were as well?" I demanded. . He threatened me with an investigation and next morning, at 8 a.m., they were all in Ceausescu's office presenting the situation. "All right," Ceausescu said. "Do what you need to do but don't ask Beligan any questions, because I didn't put him at the theater to be a firefighter." Copyright C 2009 Transitions Online ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Aboneaza-te la <mailto:ngo_list-subscr...@yahoogroups.com> ngo_list: o alternativa moderata (un pic) la [ngolist] Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
<<attff96e.jpg>>
<<attff96f.jpg>>
