Writer Fanus Neagu celebrated his 77th anniversary
An outstanding storyteller and prose writer, inspired especially by peasants’ lives, but also by the Danube-shore lifestyle, in the south-eastern region of the country, especially by the life of his hometown Braila, writer Fanus Neagu turned the impressive age of 77 on Sunday. The entire creation of the writer imposes him as one of the greatest names of Romanian literature, as the picturesque, the lyricism and the lexical savour of his writings granted him a huge and fully deserved success. “I want to live for a few years more if God helps me, to finish another novel and to write some of my dearest childhood memories, in this beautiful language which became more and more familiar to me throughout these 50 years of my career. I was fascinated by this language all my life, as, to quote the great novelist Sadoveanu, “everybody aged from seven to seventy is fascinated by Creanga’s tales.” I am older than 70 now and I am still in love with Creanga, whom I consider the merriest author in the history of Romanian literature. He certainly is the merriest, the most energetic and the most serene,” Fanus Neagu declared during his anniversary, in an interview for Agerpres.
Marga Barbu, buried with military honours
The actress Marga Barbu, who passed away on March 31, at the age of 80, due to a heart disease, was buried with military honours on Friday at the Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest. The ceremony was attended by approximately 200 persons. The actress was buried beside her husband, writer Eugen Barbu, on the Artists’ Alley of the Bellu Cemetery. The funeral was also attended by her former stage and film costar, actor Florin Piersic. The artist brought a bouquet of yellow roses to the chapel and declared during the funeral service that he has always loved her and that he will love her for the rest of his life.
“She was very affectionate and very modest. She was so natural,” Piersic described Marga Barbu, his partner in the “Margelatu” and “Haiducii” series of films. The two actors were one of the most beautiful pairs in the history of Romanian film. “I am disappointed by the fact that she was not cast in anything in the last twenty years,” Piersic declared.
Caracal National Theatre reopens after 22 years
PM Emil Boc attended the theatre performance “Strangers in the Night” at Caracal on Saturday evening, the last of a series of three shows that celebrated the reopening of the National Theatre of the city after 22 years of restoration. The Premier expressed his appreciation for the cultural event and for the organizers and outlined the important role of theatre and culture in the time of crisis. “It was an unforgettable evening, attended by exceptional people, hosted by an impressive theatre, and all of these demonstrate that a cultural act can be performed anywhere in Romania if there are devoted people who are willing to dedicate their work to the art of theatre. In the time of crisis, the role of culture is highly important; and people should struggle against crisis by focusing on culture. The theatre is gorgeous, it is a really beautiful building and I am aware that it would have been impossible to realize these things without a great amount of devotion. I was informed that it was built in six years at the beginning of the twentieth century and restored in twenty years but I think the only thing that matters is the fact that, for these three days, Caracal was the centre of the Romanian theatre,” the Prime-Minister said.
