Artistic director

Date and place of birth: 25.05.1930, Bucharest; date and place of death: 22.03.2019, Stockholm, Sweden

Studies: Institute of Theatre and Cinematography "ILCaragiale" Bucharest, theatre directing department, 1955 (he was a classmate with Lucian Pintilie, Mihai Dimiu, Valeriu Moisescu, Sanda Manu)

When Radu Penciulescu was awarded the UNITER Excellence Award a few years ago, someone called him, with love and respect, "the master of masters." And this, on the one hand, for his undeniable artistic successes in his artistic career, but also for the simple fact that today, at least some of his former students are, in turn, masters in theatrical art.

When he worked in Oradea, Radu Penciulescu was a young director, of brilliant intelligence, cultured, a genuine intellectual, talented and full of energy and high artistic ideals. His performances, all of them, without exception, regardless of the value of the plays, are full of life and brimming with ideas, built with elegance and refinement, in images that complete and ennoble the ideas and message of the texts.

The first show signed in Oradea, at the newly established Romanian section of the State Theatre (1955), was „The High School Students” by K. Treniov, which highlighted the qualities of the young actors playing the roles of… high school students. They are now grandparents (Eugen Ţugulea, Alla Tăutu, Eugen Nagy, Gheorghe V. Gheorghe, Lulu Popescu, Septimiu Pop, etc.), but at that time, the young people were lucky enough to step on stage guided by a great director. Generous as all great artists, Radu Penciulescu staged, with love and seriousness, the enchantment „The Tale of the Golden Forest”, intended for the little ones, by his colleague, the actor Valentin Avrigeanu. The show was beautiful, full of poetry – it gathered a large number of performances and recommended the author as a future playwright.

The show "The Ciocarlia" by Jean Anouilh definitively consecrated him, bringing him and the institution well-deserved praise. The tour in Bucharest was a triumph. "Eliza Plopeanu - the performer of Ioana, was a revelation" (Vera Călin), but also other actors - Nicolae Toma, Dorel Urlăţeranu, Ricardo Colberti, Radu Reisel - were "excellent", as it was written. Dumitru Chirilă, a young critic at the time, wrote: "It is not easy to excite an audience (the Bucharest one, nn), and so demanding, to wrest applause from such luminaries in the field as Ion Finteşteanu, Radu Beligan or Aura Buzescu. It was one of the greatest successes achieved in recent years."„

At the show "The Aristocracies" by N. Pogodin, he assumed responsibility for the set design. The show - writes C. Paraschivescu - was a "living fresco", subtilizing to the point of abstraction". A show in which "no character was erased", on the contrary, Ion Marinescu, a future star himself, shone among all.

From Oradea, Radu Penciulescu obviously went to the capital, to the Small Theatre, which he also led as an eminent director. In 1972 he left Romania for good, and settled in Sweden. In the years that followed, he staged memorable shows in Sweden, England, France, Belgium, Finland, the USA, and Canada. After 1990, he returned to Romania, to lead directing workshops or to enjoy official recognition: UTF (University of Theatre and Film) awarded him, in 1999, the title of Doctor Honoris Causa, and also printed a superb volume – album dedicated to him.

In 2009, he staged a brilliant show on the stage of the National Theater in Bucharest with the great actor Victor Rebengiuc: "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" after FM Dostoevsky.

(Presentation by Elidabeta Pop)

Artistic sheet – Oradea State Theatre

• Artistic direction at LYCEENII by K. Treniov, 1955
• Artistic direction for INVASION by Leonid Leonov, 1957
• Artistic direction for TALES FROM THE GOLDEN FOREST by Valentin Avrigeanu, 1958
• The set for THE IDOL AND ION ANAPODA by GMZamfirescu, 1958, directed by Dan Alecsandrescu
• Artistic direction at CIOCÂRLIA by Jean Anouilh, 1958
• Set design in THE RUINED LAMB by Aurel Baranga, 1958, directed by Valeriu Grama
• Artistic direction at POETS OF THE WORLD SING PEACE AND FREEDOM, 1958
• Artistic direction for MOMENTS AND SKETCHES IL CARAGIALE (December 31, 1958)
• Artistic Direction and Set Design for ARISTOCRATICS by Nikolai Pogodin, 1959
• Artistic direction at MONTSERRAT by Emmanuel Roblės, 1959