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The actor Radu Beligan returned, on Saturday evening (March 2008), on the stage of the Bucharest National, to an encounter with friends and the audience, talking about his 70-year career on the theatre stage, being applauded for minutes in a row by those over 1,000 colleagues, acquaintances and admirers gathered in the Grand Hall.

"I am antiquated, ladies and gentlemen," Beligan stated at the beginning of the meeting with the audience, adding that for 70 years, that is, half of the history of Romanian theatre, he has been on stage without interruption.

"The art of the actor cannot be learned at school (...) you can discover the mystery of creation on your own after many years," said Radu Beligan. He told viewers about his exam at the Academy of Dramatic Art and Music, where he was not admitted. After sending a letter to Lucia Sturdza Bulandra, he was accepted to attend classes as an auditor. Beligan also evoked Victor Ioan Popa. He learned from him that "the only kind of theatre that will never go out of style is the one that puts its finger on the living flesh of life" and that "the food of an actor's life is culture."

Then, Beligan spoke about his other mentors, such as Aura Buzescu, Alex Giugariu, Ion Iancovescu, Sică Alexandrescu and George Vraca.

Among Radu Beligan's professors was Eugen Ionesco. The actor recalled both the difficult moments of the Romanian theatre, during the war, and the happy ones, such as the year he was on tour in Moscow with the show "The Government Inspector" by Gogol. About the show, Beligan said God put "a finger on his forehead."

"We learn, we always learn from anything," the actor added. He also mentioned the period when he was the director of the Comedy Theatre, which he founded, featuring shows "played to the joy of the audience and the astonishment of the censors". His last "professor", said Radu Beligan, is the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer.

"The secret of longevity is love. As long as you are on earth, love what you want, but love! I love you too, the spectators who have made me what I am and who are my true teachers", concluded Radu Beligan.

In the second part of the evening, he was joined on stage by the actor Ion Lucian, who described himself as, in turn, a proof of longevity, after 68 years of theatre with a man he loved and envied all his life. The two actors watched together with the audience the recording of the play "The Supper", by Jean Claude Brisville, in which Beligan and Lucian played in 1997.

At the National Theatre, the literary critic Eugen Simion, Mădălin Voicu , actors Gheorghe Dinică, Marin Moraru, Victor Rebengiuc and many other theatre colleagues came to see Radu Beligan.

Actor Radu Beligan ceased his activity in November, last year, after suffering a minor craniocerebral trauma and a cervical spine fracture.

Among the roles performed by Radu Beligan on the NTB stage, we mention: Leon Saint Pe - "The Navel" by Jean Anouilh, Ianke - "Take, Ianke and Cadar" by Victor Ion Popa, Guglielmo - "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco, The Actor - "The Night Asylum" by Maxim Gorky, Old Man - "The Chops" by Bertrand Blier, Kondilas - "The Legacy" by Titus Popovici, "The Double Bass" (one man show) by Patrick Suskind, Herb Tucker - "I Ought to Be in Pictures" by Neil Simon, Spirache - "Titanic Waltz" by Teodor Muşatescu, Domenico - "Filumena Marturano" by Eduardo De Fillippo, Chereea - "Caligula" by Albert Camus, Romulus - "Romulus the Great" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Richard III - "Richard III" by William Shakespeare, drama author - "The Life of a Woman" author and director Aurel Baranga, Robespierre - "Danton" by Camil Petrescu, Ştefan Valeriu - "Holiday Games" by Mihail Sebastian, George - "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee, Iacob Bardin - "Enemies" by Maxim Gorky, Horace, Frederic - "Invitation to the Castle" by Jean Anouilh, Trinculo - "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare, Filipetto - "The Boors" by Carlo Goldoni etc.

Translated by Simona Nichiteanu