In Real Life, Actors Do Die, Too
Recently, when the curtain rose, just one actress stepped onto the stage of the National Theatre in Craiova, South-Western Romania.Tears in her eyes, she announced that the performance would not take place.One of the protagonists of the show had suffered a heart attack, while preparing to enter the stage.The actress said, quote " unfortunately we die in real life too, not only on the stage."end of quote.Beyond the natural pang you feel when hearing such news, you can’t help wondering what happens with the actors when they can no longer play.What is left to them when nobody asks for their autograph any more, when they no longer give interviews, when no director gives them any more roles?
There are over 4,000 theatre people in Romania.Only half of them are actors, the rest being technicians, usherettes, ticket collectors or people sticking posters in the streets.The actors’pensions range from 2.5 to 4 million lei.Those who can still play have contracts, thus completing their monthly incomes.But what happens with the borderline cases?From time to time, theatres in Romania put up special tickets for sale.The money obtained from such sales go into a fund for pensioners, for those servants of Thalia who no longer enjoy the acclaim of the audiences. Last year, a sum of 350 million lei was thus raised, 49 retired artists being each given 8-10 million lei.The mastermind of the campaign is Ion Caramitru, president of the Theatre Union in Romania, UNITER, former minister of culture.The programme called "Artists for Artists " is aimed at helping artists in difficulty. Ion Caramitru says:"Our colleagues play for their older colleagues, there are theatres where collaborators who were supposed to be paid per show played for free so that the money raised might go into the fund.Certain actors and actresses have donated their own incomes.We’ve got a partnership with the Evenimentul zilei paper that has accepted our proposal and carries ads for sponsors who provide funds for our programme.Under a contract we have signed, the paper pledges to raise one and a half billion lei for our programme.So, we could ultimately have over two billion lei, which would be a real success."
Over 40 doctors have offered their services to retired actors for free.A few private pharmacies are willing to give free medicines to those sent by UNITER. An optics shop has cut its prices for the actors’glasses by 50%. Even two miracles have occurred:two actors have recovered their sight after being subject to sponsored surgery under this programme. Here is one of the beneficiaries of the programme: Zoe Stefan-Caraman has been a pensioner since 1975. She was an actress at the National Theatre in Iasi, North-Eastern Romania and then at the theatre in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast. .She made her debut playing Joan of Arc, then she played Desdemona in "Othello" by Shakespeare and many other roles in a nearly 40 year long career. Now she lives alone with the wonderful memories of a life in the limelight. (banda )Since I fell seriously ill two years ago, I’ve been looked after by a great doctor at the Military Hospital in Bucharest, thanks to UNITER.Mircea Filip is a wonderful doctor, a distinguished man who has offered to help the artists for free.A cornea transplant costs 5,000 dollars and of course I could never have this money. UNITER sent me quite a large amount of money that helped me live in peace and quiet these past few months and cope with the high cost of living.The UNITER board is the great salvation of artists in Romania, it is our hope, our comfort.It is good to know there is somebody you can apply to and you are not alone in this world."
12 years ago, Gheorghe Tudorica, an actor at the National Theatre in Cluj Napoca, central Romania had a stroke and consequently he had to retire. A man who had always found it easy to utter a line on the stage, Gheorghe Tudorica is still trying to express his thoughts.Although he is at a loss for words, he still has a lot to say:
"In 1991 when I had a stroke, I retired because I could no longer do my profession.This handicap has got worse and I have developed speech disorders. I can’t speak very clearly. The aid I’ve received from UNITER has made me understand that artists have a great deal of kindness, which has not happened so far. The money I had received helped me a lot at a time when I had a nervous and moral breakdown. We don’t have to judge things only rationally but emotionally too. I remember a line in a play saying:"Man, how proud this word sounds…You have to respect man and not humiliate him, you have to honour man and love him" just as UNITER did , which made me very happy. May God help us to apply these humane principles throughout the country"
Dr.Sandu Mihail Cociasu is president of the commission studying the files of applicants to UNITER.He believes that apart from the ailments specific to the elderly, actors find it more difficult to bear their isolation, their inability to remember or express their thoughts and feelings: "People believe it’s something easy, but the effort the artist makes every day, every time he gets onto the stage, whatever his state of mind is huge.His emotions are intense.Owing to their sensitiveness, artists are very vulnerable.A lot of research is conducted about the athletes’ diseases, why isn’t any research work carried out about the artists’ disorders too?If there is a special network for athletes, I wonder why there is no special network for artists.And when I say artists, I’m also referring to the members of creation unions, composers, fine artists and writers.They form a world in its own right, given the sensitiveness which their work involves, a work people don’t know…"
Under a government resolution, a site on the bank of lake Floreasca in Bucharest has been made available to artists, where a home for actors will be raised before long.The Seniors’Club will be a meeting place for healthy artists and a refuge for artists with no family of their own.This way, artists show they can take care of one another and can keep their dignity and imposing appearance.
At the recent UNITER awards Gala, actress Irina Petrescu and set designer Dragos Buhagiar said they donated their prizes to the "Artists for Artists" programme. After the festivity, actress Daniela Nane donated a fairly large sum of money to UNITER. Last year, actors Ion Caramitru and Victor Rebengiuc did the same upon receiving prizes for the films they had played in. And I can’t conclude without repeating actor Gheorghe Tudorica’s line "Man, how proud this word sounds…you have to respect man, not humiliate him, you have to honour man and love him."
The actors deserve our applause even if they are no longer in the limelight.
There are over 4,000 theatre people in Romania.Only half of them are actors, the rest being technicians, usherettes, ticket collectors or people sticking posters in the streets.The actors’pensions range from 2.5 to 4 million lei.Those who can still play have contracts, thus completing their monthly incomes.But what happens with the borderline cases?From time to time, theatres in Romania put up special tickets for sale.The money obtained from such sales go into a fund for pensioners, for those servants of Thalia who no longer enjoy the acclaim of the audiences. Last year, a sum of 350 million lei was thus raised, 49 retired artists being each given 8-10 million lei.The mastermind of the campaign is Ion Caramitru, president of the Theatre Union in Romania, UNITER, former minister of culture.The programme called "Artists for Artists " is aimed at helping artists in difficulty. Ion Caramitru says:"Our colleagues play for their older colleagues, there are theatres where collaborators who were supposed to be paid per show played for free so that the money raised might go into the fund.Certain actors and actresses have donated their own incomes.We’ve got a partnership with the Evenimentul zilei paper that has accepted our proposal and carries ads for sponsors who provide funds for our programme.Under a contract we have signed, the paper pledges to raise one and a half billion lei for our programme.So, we could ultimately have over two billion lei, which would be a real success."
Over 40 doctors have offered their services to retired actors for free.A few private pharmacies are willing to give free medicines to those sent by UNITER. An optics shop has cut its prices for the actors’glasses by 50%. Even two miracles have occurred:two actors have recovered their sight after being subject to sponsored surgery under this programme. Here is one of the beneficiaries of the programme: Zoe Stefan-Caraman has been a pensioner since 1975. She was an actress at the National Theatre in Iasi, North-Eastern Romania and then at the theatre in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast. .She made her debut playing Joan of Arc, then she played Desdemona in "Othello" by Shakespeare and many other roles in a nearly 40 year long career. Now she lives alone with the wonderful memories of a life in the limelight. (banda )Since I fell seriously ill two years ago, I’ve been looked after by a great doctor at the Military Hospital in Bucharest, thanks to UNITER.Mircea Filip is a wonderful doctor, a distinguished man who has offered to help the artists for free.A cornea transplant costs 5,000 dollars and of course I could never have this money. UNITER sent me quite a large amount of money that helped me live in peace and quiet these past few months and cope with the high cost of living.The UNITER board is the great salvation of artists in Romania, it is our hope, our comfort.It is good to know there is somebody you can apply to and you are not alone in this world."
12 years ago, Gheorghe Tudorica, an actor at the National Theatre in Cluj Napoca, central Romania had a stroke and consequently he had to retire. A man who had always found it easy to utter a line on the stage, Gheorghe Tudorica is still trying to express his thoughts.Although he is at a loss for words, he still has a lot to say:
"In 1991 when I had a stroke, I retired because I could no longer do my profession.This handicap has got worse and I have developed speech disorders. I can’t speak very clearly. The aid I’ve received from UNITER has made me understand that artists have a great deal of kindness, which has not happened so far. The money I had received helped me a lot at a time when I had a nervous and moral breakdown. We don’t have to judge things only rationally but emotionally too. I remember a line in a play saying:"Man, how proud this word sounds…You have to respect man and not humiliate him, you have to honour man and love him" just as UNITER did , which made me very happy. May God help us to apply these humane principles throughout the country"
Dr.Sandu Mihail Cociasu is president of the commission studying the files of applicants to UNITER.He believes that apart from the ailments specific to the elderly, actors find it more difficult to bear their isolation, their inability to remember or express their thoughts and feelings: "People believe it’s something easy, but the effort the artist makes every day, every time he gets onto the stage, whatever his state of mind is huge.His emotions are intense.Owing to their sensitiveness, artists are very vulnerable.A lot of research is conducted about the athletes’ diseases, why isn’t any research work carried out about the artists’ disorders too?If there is a special network for athletes, I wonder why there is no special network for artists.And when I say artists, I’m also referring to the members of creation unions, composers, fine artists and writers.They form a world in its own right, given the sensitiveness which their work involves, a work people don’t know…"
Under a government resolution, a site on the bank of lake Floreasca in Bucharest has been made available to artists, where a home for actors will be raised before long.The Seniors’Club will be a meeting place for healthy artists and a refuge for artists with no family of their own.This way, artists show they can take care of one another and can keep their dignity and imposing appearance.
At the recent UNITER awards Gala, actress Irina Petrescu and set designer Dragos Buhagiar said they donated their prizes to the "Artists for Artists" programme. After the festivity, actress Daniela Nane donated a fairly large sum of money to UNITER. Last year, actors Ion Caramitru and Victor Rebengiuc did the same upon receiving prizes for the films they had played in. And I can’t conclude without repeating actor Gheorghe Tudorica’s line "Man, how proud this word sounds…you have to respect man, not humiliate him, you have to honour man and love him."
The actors deserve our applause even if they are no longer in the limelight.
posted by Andreea Demirgian at
3:09 AM
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