{"id":335,"date":"2021-11-24T15:27:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T15:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/?p=335"},"modified":"2021-12-27T18:37:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T18:37:08","slug":"ion-caramitru-an-artistic-guiding-force-1942-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/24\/ion-caramitru-an-artistic-guiding-force-1942-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Ion Caramitru – An Artistic Guiding Force (1942-2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maria Z\u0103rnescu<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. <\/p>Shakespeare, Hamlet<\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

They say a man is not dead as long as another still remembers his voice. Ion Caramitru has not died, nor has he retired to take a rest. He has just gone to declaim his Shakespeare and Eminescu; in other worlds, to act and direct, to supervise unions of artists and ministries, to inspire people at political crossroads. He speaks with the same unmistakable voice as always, while displaying his characteristic charisma, elegance and enviable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ion Caramitru. Photo: Tomoaki Minoda<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Born on March 9, 1942, in Bucharest, Romania, to a family of Macedonian Romanians, Caramitru graduated from the I. L. Caragiale Institute for Theatre and Film Arts in 1964, performing the role of Hamlet in the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name. He then debuted in the National Theatre, Bucharest, in the play Eminescu<\/em>, a work dedicated to the great Romanian poet. These two literary personalities clearly marked his career for years to come. He illuminated and disseminated Eminescu\u2019s work by presenting it as no one else had done before him, both within Romania and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caramitru\/Hamlet, the graduation role at Casandra Studio, 1963. Photo: Caramitru\u2019s personal archives<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

He was also an actor with a Shakespearian calling and played iconic roles in iconic productions at the beginning of his career; for example, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet,<\/em> directed by Vlad Mugur; Octavius in Julius Caesar, <\/em>directed by Andrei \u015eerban; Ferdinand in The Tempest <\/em>directed by Liviu Ciulei; and the anthological Hamlet as visioned by Alexandru Tocilescu, a performance that placed him at the top of the ten best ever interpreters of that famous character worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caramitru\/Ferdinand in The Tempest<\/em>, directed by Liviu Ciulei at Bulandra Theatre, 1978. Photo: Caramitru\u2019s personal archives<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, I watched this production of over five hours countless times at the Bulandra Theatre. In those days, it was very cold inside, so we had to watch performances while wearing our coats, caps and gloves. The setting also projected a feeling of cold as it was limited to black and white, like a chessboard on which kings and queens, pawns and fools\u2014the actors\u2014always prepared for the next move. Caramitru\u2019s performance was self-conscious and cold like the blade of a knife, projecting a self-irony and a kind of manipulation of lines that were to become his trademark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caramitru as Hamlet at Bulandra Theatre, directed by Alexandru Tocilescu, 1985. Photo: Caramitru\u2019s personal archives<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While engaged in his plays, we found ourselves in a familiar environment: Hamlet was an opponent of Claudius, a dictator just like Ceau\u015fescu in a rotten Romania, a republic of absolute evil. In the end, Horatio was killed; a totalitarian society does not allow witnesses to survive, lest they bear testimony against the powers of the state. Intensely supervised by the Romanian Securitate at that time, the production was performed almost 200 times before the Revolution of 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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