I read La vie en rose with Clody Bertolabook by Lyudmila Patlanzoglu, 1997. After the appearance of the first edition of Humanitas. At that time, the Romanian theater was going through a huge period. The post-revolutionary convulsions were overcome, the public found their way to places where they could see great performances, most of them thanks to the generation of Purcarete-Menuciu-Dabija-Frunza-Tomp. Directors who, as a child or teenager, still saw the main character of the book on stage and who directly or indirectly studied at the school of Ciule, Pintilier, Crin Teodorescu or Harag. All this is sumptuously detailed by Claudie Bertola in her long, interesting, lively, intelligent conversation with Lyudmila Patlanjoglu. Here, not only a great actress was discovered, but also an intelligent viewer who, until a certain moment in his life, perfectly knew everything that was important in the Romanian theater and on the big stages of the world,

Then, in 1997, substantial respect for the models returned. For the nobility and dignity of the theater. He believed in the strength and power of the artistic theater. They competed for the title of the best performance operetta from the Hungarian State Theater in Cluj-Napoca, Danaids from Kraiova and Caligula from Bulandra, Artists, after a painful, albeit understandable break, regained the public’s respect, and the audience, in turn, felt that their creators were welcome and appreciated. UNITER gala they were still events, legally considered holidays, occasions for recognition and consecration of value.

No, no, everyday life was not quite in a rose. And the life of the theater was also far from the same. Not to mention the transfer of Baudelaire into everyday life luxe, calme et voluptThis is. Nevertheless, as I said, the theater rediscovered, enjoyed and appreciated its exemplarity. Often evokes Claudie Bertol in his memories. Exemplary meaning, among other things, the search, rejection of convenient and first-hand solutions, rehearsals understood as participation and daring test flights, performances that signified events. And being events, they still required the actors to be at the booth an hour, even two, before the curtain would rise. Although we may be talking about a submission with the number 154, say. Things, actually values, about which Claudie Bertola talks about in the book.

If I remember correctly La vie en rose with Clody Bertola, was in 1997, after many years, the first, if not the first among the first books published by a major publishing house, dedicated to the great actress. I hailed it as such in a review that appeared in the Family from Oradea, where at that time there was a consecutive section devoted to performing arts. fine. Enough with the nostalgia!

The other day I reread Lyudmila Patlanzoglu’s book. Published in 2023 in a new edition, revised and supplemented, supplemented with additional evidence, printed in excellent graphic conditions at the Bucharest publishing house do not worry. I reread it and experienced it differently. So I experienced on myself what I knew from my student days, from my courses Theory of literature great teachers John Em. Petrescu and Ion Vlad, or from Critical consciousness Georges Poulet. I experienced what I was telling the next generation of students about. Namely, that rereading means rediscovery, an event. Because a reread book can open up to you in a completely different way.

Of course, after this is over otherwise age mattered, the experience of both the reader and the viewer, and my increasingly sharp and numerous images were also important. Insults, not whims. And how can they not have their say even now, when I bring these thoughts to the computer screen, when a critic who is considered important and inexplicably kept in office by the president of UNITER, who is increasingly detached from reality, launches on facebook in favor of the presence of shawarma in the theater?

Of course, this person can draw as many abysses as he wants and as much as his mind wants, but it seems serious to me that the madness in question accumulates dozens, hundreds i love– hatred Some are even stage professionals.

What would Mr. Chuley, Harag or Pintilier say to that? What would Claudie Bertola think or how would she react, about whom we learn from Viktor Rebengiuk’s testimony, inserted in Ludmila Patlanzoglu’s book, that she imposed discipline on her colleagues on the stage and sought the respect of the audience. How would Claudie Bertola’s “Arcadina” feel if her systematic escapes from and from reality were interrupted by the sound of a mobile phone (which, according to the critic’s theory, would become an extension of the hand) and accompanied by the smells of meat and fried onions?

Therefore, among other things, it seems important to me to republish Lyudmila Patlanjoglu’s book in 2023. The book acquires, it seems to me, the significance of a manifesto. She reminds us of the importance of respect for the profession, for colleagues, for directors and, of course, for the audience. The book once again confirms the importance of role models. He does it especially in the title interview Thanks to Duchess Chitorani. An interview in which, as Lena Constante well writes in her testimony, Claudie dreams about the past. The past, which was not always in a rose. He was also referring to the holidays in Chitorana, as well as the shock of his father’s unexpected suicide. Both gratitude and praise from students, but also difficulties, in fact obstacles to the beginning. And love stories with Stefan Constantinescu, Liviu Chulei, Lucian Pintilier. But it’s also difficult, it’s right, it’s beautiful to be with them. It was difficult for Chiuli to regain the right to direct, and this also affected Claude Bertola. The actress got the role of Rosalind only on the second attempt As you like it, but both she and the director then had to face the opacity, short-sightedness, perhaps even orderliness, of some critics. That is why it seems important to me that Ludmila Patlanzoglu documents in her book both the history of this important show for the re-theatrization of Romanian theater and Cherry orchards Pintilier Radu Sigiryan and such a complex, deep Emil Botta dedicated the poems of Claudie Bertoli. The actress was enthusiastically appreciated by such well-known intellectuals as Arshavir Akterian, Alexander Paleologou. Praises from the greats of the European theater such as Orson Welles and Paul Scofield. But also from a terrible disease and long years of terrible suffering.

I know that the hero of the book was far from a comfortable person. – Read the rest of the article and comment on contributors.ro