class="">Ion Caramitru. UNITER. FNT. 25 Years Later

October 16^th 2015

Ion Caramitru,  manager of the „I. L. Caragiale“ National Theatre Bucharest and president of the Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER), speaks about the 25 years elapsed from the first edition of the National Theatre Festival.

An interview by Florina Tecuceanu

Florina Tecuceanu: It’s been 25 years since UNITER started the NTF. Do you recall how the festival looked like, at its beginnings?

Ion Caramitru:  The first editions were quite inconspicuous, maybe also due to the fact that shortly after 1989, what happened on the street, was more spectacular than what happened on stage.  Very soon we had raised interest at the Ministry of culture and the City Hall of Bucharest, in order to create a triumvirate when organizing this event. Things went smoothly, but at some point the City Hall and the Ministry had an argument. There were moments of suspense, with Traian Băsescu as mayor of Bucharest and a left- oriented government.  So when the City Hall withdrew their support, the Ministry thought to use the situation and to change the direction of the festival. They wanted to relocate it and the result was disgraceful…So there were tense moments for the UNITER Gala and the National Theatre Festival. It took a while and things naturally shaped up; both City Hall and Ministry cannot organize this strictly professional event.

What hardships did you experience over the years in the process of organizing the NTF?

The same as we experience now. The funding is being diminished and provided in the last preparation days.  This is an uncomfortable situation and it translates into the inability of having performances from abroad- since we want to build up on the international component of the festival. Foreign theatres can’t participate without having a firm contract signed long time in advance. And we can’t do that, since we do not have a guarantee of our funding. It’s always the same: the money- in fact, I mean the paperwork- arrive just a few days before the beginning of the festival. These situations drive us close to a mental collapse.

An important problem of the NTF is that the decision was made to give up the idea of giving awards. We came to this idea because of some of the participants who were angry not to have won. So we are now able to offer nothing else than participation fees.  When we had enough money, we could pay these fees as well. These were the financial and moral syncopes, There were mistakes too, some choices of festival directors. This is the subjective side of things. Mistakes have their subjective sides.

„25 years of National Theatre Festival mean the same number of years of hope and disillusion, joy and sadness, friends and separations, 25 years of life. We are all 25 years older, but does it matter? We know now, more than ever, that solidarity in the respect of the profession is the hope to the salvation of theatre, of the theatre that we all love with devouring passion!“

Did you manage to give the festival an international dimension?

When we first managed- I can’t remember now what year it was- was more generous year and we could afford inviting prestigious names. It’s good to have foreign names in a national festival. From this point of view, this year is not a bad one.

In this quarter of a century of NTF, is there a « golden » time, one of great performances ?

Sure, there have been major performances along the years, be they works by Dabija or Tompa Gábor or, lately, Afrim’s presence…There were ridiculous moments too, when performances were brought that had nothing to do. It happens…and when there’s one mistake, there are several people in the firing line.

Ion Caramitru.  Questions to the  actor

You’ve been part of the festival as an actor as well, since many of your performances were included in the selections.  A question to the actor you are now. Do you still hear your heart pounding the very second you are about to step onto stage?

Of course yes! From his debut and till the moment of stepping back, an actor is continuously haunted by fright of the experience he has to reveal on stage and the demonstration he has to go through. Because we do not work with certainties, with fixed elements, but with emotions, immaterial elements, the misty profile of the characters. You don’t build these with a chisel and a hammer, but with looks and words, with tones of the voice, with imitations of nature. All these suppose a fragile balance, that creates emotions.

And in the end, when you come out for the curtain call?

At the end, there is this mental and physical fatigue, you can feel it in all your muscles, it’s a pleasant feeling of having accomplished your mission. And when you leave the stage, your thoughts also direct themselves away, to the next day. The sensation of satisfaction should not last long- at least from my point of view- the biggest danger is success. If you play Cesar- you are not Cesar. If you play Stalin, it doesn’t mean you are Stalin. You are the illusion of an emperor or a dictator. If you do not take this into account, success  will drive you mad.

Photo credit: Lucian Muntean

16 octombrie 2015