The 2019 UNITER Awards Gala
The most important prizes for the 2018 theatrical season in Romania were awarded at the 27th UNITER Gala
Roxana Vasile, 14.05.2019, 12:52
The most
important prizes for the Romanian theatre are awarded at the Gala of UNITER -
the Theatre Union in Romania – held in a different city every year. After the
western city of Timisoara and the central town of Alba Iulia, on Monday night,
it was the turn of the central city of Cluj to host the 2019 UNITER Awards
Gala. Hundreds of guests from Bucharest and the provinces filled the hall of
the National Theatre in the Transylvanian city of Cluj. The city was chosen to
mark 100 years since the first play in Romanian was performed on that stage.
The UNITER Awards Gala was broadcast live by the Romanian Television and Radio
Romania’s Cultural Channel. More than 24 prizes were awarded stirring emotion
and reverence. The excellence prize went to the UNTEATRU company of Bucharest.
Actors Maia Morgenstern and Florin Piersic received lifetime achievement awards.
Actress Ilinca Tomoroveanu, who died in early May, received a post-mortem prize for her entire
career. The nominees were selected by a jury made up of theatre critics.
The productions
which the jury looked at were premiered between January 1st and
December 31st 2018. The Story of the Bewitched Princess based on
the Legend of Princess Sakura by Sakura Hime Azuma and directed by Silviu
Purcarete at the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu was designated the
best production. Dragos Buhagiar got the award for the best set design he had
made for The Story of the Bewitched Princess. Ofelia Popii starring in the
latter performance received the award for the best actress in a leading role.
The best leading actor award went to Andrei Hutuleac. Tompa Gabor got the best
director award for his production The Merchant of Venice by William
Shakespeare at the Hungarian State Theatre in Cluj. The best radio drama award
was won by Radio Romania’s production The She-Wolf adapted by Domnica Tundrea
and directed by Vasile Manta. As every year, the host of the Gala was the
president of UNITER, actor Ion Caramitru, who spoke about the challenges of
organizing such an event:
If
the people who for years have been involved in organizing the gala and have
fallen in love with it didn’t work with devotion, I don’t know what we would
do. All in all, despite the weak points and the late hour when the Gala
started, the event was a success.
Until next
year’s UNITER Awards Gala, all that is left for theatre people is to produce
high quality shows to be seen by large audiences.
(translated by Ana Maria Palcu)
