This year, the Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER) celebrates its 20th anniversary. Its oldest and most famous project, the UNITER Award Gala, has reached its 18th edition. The Gala was held on April 19th and saw a competition, in the “Best performance” category, between shows such as “The Anniversary”, directed by Vlad Massaci, “Breaking the Waves or the Blessed Life of Bess”, directed by Radu Alexandru Nica, and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, by Victor Ioan Frunza.
The volcanic ash cloud that hovered above Europe also took its toll on the Gala. Many of the guests, especially most of the winners, were unable to attend the event. George Mihaita, winner of Best actor in a leading role, was among the absentees. Mihaita played Alexander Tarasovich Ametisov in Zoika's House, directed by Alexandru Tocilescu at the Comedy Theatre in Bucharest. Virginia Mirea also won a prize for best actress in a leading role, in the same performance.
Alexandru Dabija, Victor Ioan Frunza and Vlad Massaci vied for best director award. Dabija's play, “Pyramus and Thisbe 4 You”, was staged at the Odeon Theater in Bucharest. The play directed by Victor Ioan Frunza, entitled “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”, was staged at the Csiky Gergely Hungarian Theater in Timisoara, while Vlad Massaci's performance, “The Anniversary”, was staged at the Nottara Theater in Bucharest. The winner was Alexandru Dabija, who could not attend the gala, but sent a letter that actor Ion Caramitru, UNITE chairman, read out for the audience:
''We staged a performance about us, our profession and our language. I'd like to thank the actors. We wouldn't have existed without them!''
The award was picked up by the production’s stage designer, Cosmin Ardeleanu:
“Alexandru Dabija received this award for the joy with which he conducts rehearsals. He made an extraordinary show about rehearsals. It is a pleasure known to many of you here, and it is contagious. I have caught it, too and look what happened: I can touch this trophy while I deliver it to our beloved winner.”
“Pyramus&Thisbe 4 You” is a satirical play inspired by the craftsmen scene of the famous Shakespearean play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
Despite failing to win the award for best director, Victor Ioan Frunza won the award for best show, with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”. The production “Herr Paul”, staged at the Youth Theatre in Piatra Neamt by Radu Afrim, a constant winner of previous UNITER galas, won the best stage design award. Iuliana Valsan is the production’s stage designer:
“I’ve always said the little things are important, but it is for the first time that I see someone else noticing it. So, I would like to thank both the jury who made the nominations and the final jury. I was deeply moved because a man I have admired ever since I was a student for his strictness, professionalism and modesty, the stage designer Mihai Madescu, sat in this jury. I would like to thank the invisible people in theatre, who make the things we see on stage visible. I would like to thank the technical staff, who are every time involved in a performance of their own, that I wish the public could see. Last but not least, I would like to thank “Herr Paul”, a production which showed me that even when you no longer have anything, you have in fact a lot, because we have all been endowed with the ability to create, and this is our true life.”
The jury who chose this year’s winners was made up of the theatre critics Marina Constantinescu and Florica Ichim, actress Valeria Seciu, stage designer Mihai Madescu and director Cornel Todea. Each year at the UNITER awards, the UNITER senate also grants a series of life time achievement awards and special distinctions. T
he most important of these awards is the Excellence Award, which this year went to the director and script writer Silviu Purcarete, the stage designer Helmut Sturmer, costume designer Lia Mantoc, composer Vasile Sirli and video effects designer Andu Dumitrescu, for the international impact of the production “Faustus” by Goethe, presented at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in 2009. The production was staged by the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu.
The well-known Romanian critic George Banu, who teaches in Sorbonne, wrote a laudatio for the winners of the Excellence Award. As the critic could not make it to the UNITER Gala, the laudatio was read by the host of the event, actor Ion Caramitru:
“In a place not destined for theatre, “Faustus” was a triumph of theatre, the kind of theatre that speaks about the world of yesterday and today, about old age and the need to correct your life, about losing oneself in the Valpurgian night under the guidance of an outstanding Mephistopheles, and about the final reunion, a peaceful reconciliation. Purcarete’s “Faustus” is a celebration of the theatre that reveals to us man’s destiny, a triumph of theatre that does not doubt itself and fulfils its destiny by helping us, the audience, to find ourselves and reconcile with ourselves. His “Faustus” leads us, through theatre, beyond theatre. All of which makes it unique.”
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2010-09-10
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