Workshops

Performer: Radu PenciulescuParticipants: Radu-Alexandru Nica, Radu Apostol, Alexandru Maftei, Vlad Vasiliu, Gelu Badea, Marcel Ţop (directors), Vitalie Bichir, Relu Poalelungi, Liviu Lucaci, Ionuţ Caraş, Vlad Zamfirescu, Gabriel Velicu, Florin Lazarescu, Natalia Călin, Rodica Ionescu, Dana Voicu, Amalia Ciolan, Oana Ioachim, Lia Bugnar, Brânduşa Mircea (actors). Time: between the 22nd of February and the 3rd of March 2007 Workshop logLocation: National Theatre of Bucharest    Radu Penciulescu's road is toward excellence and it was followed by 20 actors, actress and well known Romanian directors, for 10 days. It may seem like a normal road, but with every step you take, you stumble upon broken shells and strings of pearls, from which the best pearl is chosen.Since the first day, they have all understood that the meeting has started: a life lesson, an art lesson, a wisdom lesson and a naturalness one. They were informed that although the workshop was called 'Does the power legitimize ?' its main subjects were: attitude towards the classical plays and the relation between the director and the actor, forgetting about the title that seemed politically related and having 'respectfully', ideas about Shakespeare's works.The girls were willing to play masculine parts: Amalia Ciolan played Richard the II and Lia Bugnar played Aumerle beside her partner Liviu Lucaci. For the beginning there were played only parts seemingly insignificant, like that of the clerk, played by Dana Voicu, which later on proved to be keys to the understanding of some major parts 'the major purpose was divided into some minor purposes'.Each day brought with itself a new discovery, a new approach, a new interpretation or a new game. Richard the III was seen as a sort of entertainer for a stand-up comedy, the Renaissance man that challenges God and his own limits like a coward and a genius at the same time.Everybody present there understood how important it is to make mistakes in order to learn. They abandoned their pride in how good actors they were and became the students of a great master, which only wanted to leave his life philosophies as 'an inheritance for the posterity' and among those there was also his definition of a person as 'all the answers to life's questions'. "You cannot say: That's the way Shakespeare is". Penciulescu tells to Brânduşei Mircea that an actor has to make us see not only hear, he says that: "Shakespeare's theatre is like a rebuilt machine after having ruined it and this is the only way we can call a play as being ours", thinking that the European theatre is brought to life the moment you interpret it. He revealed Romanian's way of dealing with the unknown regions on the map, and that was by writing 'hic' or 'leones' (lions) on each one of those regions. The directors invites Relu Poalelungi, Ionuţ Caras, Florin Lăzărescu and the other ones present there to make an effort and 'discover the lions' of every stage instead of saying 'Let me show you how it really is' and 'we have started living in pieces' failing to observe play or life details, being only aware of the fact that we have to get from A to B. Radu Penciulescu's life lessons: never feel older than five when exploring a stage and get rid of prejudices as they become 'method'.