MARIANA MIHUŢ / King and Grandmother at NTF 2013

A great theatrical feast will soon occupy the Capital: the 23^rd edition of the National Theater Festival, organized by the Romanian Theaters Union (UNITER) and financed by the Ministry of Culture and by BucharestCity Hall through ArCuB, that will start on Friday 25 October, and end on Sunday 3 November 2013.

Dedicated this year to the Actor’s Art, the Focus section will attempt to cast light from various angles on the remarkable personality of the actress MARIANA MIHUŢ, who will feature in no fewer than four performances, of which three have successfully stood the test of time: Marriage by Nikolai Vassilievich Gogol and Bury Me Behind the Baseboard by Pavel Sanaev, both directed by Yuri Kordonsky, and Lear(a) by William Shakespeare, directed by Andrei Şerban / all of them at Bulandra Theater. The fourth, Master Leonida Faces the Reactionaries by Ion Luca Caragiale, directed by Silviu Purcărete, was premiered last season at the Bucharest National Theater, and thus contributed to the Excellence Award received by this institution at the UNITER Gala last spring.

Mariana Mihuţ made her debut in 1963, on the stage of Casandra Studio, in As You Like It by Shakespeare, a performance that presaged her later success in dozens of theater and film roles, as well as radio and television shows. A blend of force and fragility, of sturdiness and warmth, Mariana Mihuţ won a record five UNITER Best Leading Actress awards: Popova in Comedies, comedies… by A.P. Chekhov (1993), Halie in Buried Child by Sam Shepard (1997), Inna Rasadina in Sorry by Aleksandr Galin (2005), the leading role in Lear by William Shakespere (2009), and the Grandmother in Bury Me Behind the Baseboard by Pavel Sanaev (2012), characters played on the stage of Odeon Theater and Bulandra Theater respectively, where most of her career has been spent. These are complemented by the Excellence Award received together with Ileana Stana Ionescu and the late Leopoldina Bălănuţă for the dynamic trio in A Handkerchief in the Danube (Bucharest National Theater, 1998).

During the National Theater Festival, Mariana Mihuţ will be a King and a Grandmother, a Matchmaker and… Efimiţa-Leonida. One eye will laugh, the other will cry, while in the audience palms will redden from applause. The performances are scheduled in conjunction with exhibitions, meetings with the audience, a conference, and other events that celebrate her proficiency in the Actor’s Art.