The actor Florin Piersic was about to die in Sibiu, he testified on World Theater Day, on the stage of the “Radu Stanca” National Theater (TNRS). In a marathon of 2 hours of discussions, on Wednesday evening, together with the director of TNRS, Constantin Chiriac, and the priest Constantin Necula, he provoked the spectators who listened to him to laugh out loud and cry, but he also offered them many banks, revelations and behind-the-scenes and on-set stories he’s been on since he was 22 years old.
Constantin Chiriac, director of TNRS, hosted the meeting
“I was surprised that you called me so many times, as if you didn’t know that I was coming anyway, because I rarely came to Sibiu. I love playing in front of you, but I came to Sibiu a little less often. Why? Because these shows in which I act are not scheduled as I would like. I like to come here, I like the mayor who is here, first of all, Mrs. Fodor, right? I’d eat your mouth. Exceptional. I understand that you inherit Iohannis here. Very good, because Iohannis gave me the biggest prize. He gave me the order of the Star of Romania in the rank of officer. Poor Stela Popescu was after me and received (the order) in the rank of knight, but I had received that “with the knight” from Iliescu. So, I’m full of prizes, but no one gives money”; he gives you paper, he gives you a painting, so that you have a memory, you look at it, that it remains on the wall, that even my grandchildren’s grandchildren will not know who is the one who won so many awards” – he made his entrance on the stage Romanian actor Florin Piersic, thus starting an evening that promises to be full of fun.
But it was also one full of emotion and… of poetry, because at least two poems were recited in each of the two hours, but also of love messages between the actor and mayor Astrid Fodor.
“But I have to tell you something else, we are not interested in money, we are interested in the public”, continued Florin Piersic, wanting to imply, if necessary, that he was joking.
The representatives of TNRS announced about this event 2 weeks ago, and the tickets sold out like hot cakes, so they had to sell tickets for the Digital Stage as well, as those who want to watch “the show” the special conference “Constantin Chiriac and Constantin Necula in dialogue with Florin Piersic” can also be done online.
Florin Piersic is known for his roles in theater and film, but also because he can endlessly narrate situations from his life, without giving you the impression that he gets tired. And so it was this time. Since he took the microphone in his hand, he did not stop talking except when C. Chiriac or Fr. Necula asked him questions, during which he talked about TNRS (“The stage and the hall are a gem. How can I not live here to play a play?“); about Radu Stanca (“Radu Stanca is the Romanian theater“); about female beauty (“I’ve had sex with many women, in the best sense of the word. The truth is that without loving, you live in vain. I am a man who lives every moment, because every moment I think of someone“); about poetry, childhood, studies and parents (“The first poem I said was Nebuna by George Coșbuc“); as well as reported about dozens of events in his life, related to theater, film and the actors he played with.
Whether they were familiar situations or some were hearing for the first time, they amused the whole room.
“I like to tell stories, I have many incidents. I made no effort to come here, I enjoyed living, especially since your driver, whose name is Aurel Stroe, came after me. I liked that I could tell him, he listened to me the best out of the whole audience. I told him everything as we passed by: this is where we filmed with Prigunov (Lev Prigunov – nn), here we filmed with Loktev (Aleksei Loktev – nn), here we filmed Maliavina (Valentina Maliavina – nn); I told him about the actress with whom I played in the first Romanian-Soviet co-production The Tunnel, which I did here in Sibiu. But how many films haven’t we made here? (…)”.
Florin Piersic made his debut on the stage of the National Theater in Bucharest with the title role in the play “Disciple of the Devil”. He was 22 years old, two years after graduating from the Theater and Cinematography Institute in Bucharest.
It was the moment when the director of TNRS dedicated the poem to him The giant with blue eyes by Nazim Hikmet, after which the time of memories followed.
“I was going to die in Sibiu”
“Here in Sibiu I stayed with my father, who was a veterinarian, I was about to die. I lived on the street next to Astra Park, in a block of flats. My mother prayed for a whole night in front of an icon of St. Paraschiva. In the morning I did like Blaga – I said Mom, I’m hungry. And then the mother was happy that the boy, who could follow his sister, was alive (Florin Piersic’s sister drowned in the Prut river, at 15 years old – nn)”.
“The most emotional day in my life was when my mother told me that she received a postcard from my father, who was in Popești-Leordeni prison. I was there, I won’t forget how I got there with her in an extraordinary cold… I saw my father after years, coming, approaching the wire fence that separated us, sat down on bank and said: Florin, I congratulate you. Why?, I asked. Because someone from here was released, passed through Cluj, talked to Veruța, arrived in Oradea, where he was mistaken for someone and ended up in prison again and told me that you are a student at the Theater Institute and Cinematography. From there I know you are a student.
At that moment, the guarding soldier said to the mother: Madam, hug each other. I will never forget. Then mom and dad, through the wire, hugged each other. Then I left – he went to his room, and I stayed next to her… I have never seen such a scene either in the film or in the theater: the moment when he stood on the ditch in front of the prison gate and began to to cry, to roar. This is why I am today and until I die I will be connected not only to my parents, but to everyone, because I feel that you all have a problem, two, three, ten (…)
From then on, I belong to everyone.”
Then followed perhaps the most emotional moment of the evening, in which Florin Piersic recited a poem about parents and children, written by Adrian Păunescu – “Repetabila povăra”:
“Who has parents, on earth not in thought
He still hears the eyes of the world crying in his sleep
That I was, that I wasn’t, or that we are good,
Today, as we grow older, we miss our parents.
What parents? Some people who no longer have a place
So many children and so much misfortune
Some crosses, still alive, breathing harder and harder,
It is these parents who are always sighing.
(…)
We still have a short time to go
On conscience the burden of this sunset
And then we will be very free under the sky,
Those who do not have and ask us will decrease.
And when we will start to feel it too
That we are a burden to our children
And only in a sad and far away evening,
When we will hear desperate news, which is not known today,
We will understand why sons forget soon,
And I don’t see an eye in the world crying,
And why isn’t there a flood yet,
Although it always rains, although it always snows,
Although the world in which we have arrived as parents
She is forever shaken by crying.”
What were the two most beautiful days of his life, the most tense day of his life, what is the moral of his life, but also what he would ask God were some of the questions that priest Constantin Necula asked him .
To the question “what is your deepest regret?” he replied wryly, “That you don’t elect me president.”
Favorite movie is “Paratroopers”, because the main character, Colonel Luncan, “resembles my life”, and favorite theater play – “Men and Mice”.
His favorite book is “The Watcher in the Rye” by American author JD Salinger.
At the end, he quoted from his book “Life is a story”, launched in December 2022 at the Gaudeamus Fair, in which he urges readers “in the morning look at the sky for a minute (…) and for a minute in the evening, before sleep, even if there are no stars. Is a minute long? Make this effort and if you want to see the stars, you will see them. It’s time to take care of your souls, because later it will be too late.”
Love messages with mayor Astrid Fodor
The meeting ended with the mayor Astrid Fodor on stage, invited by the director of TNRS, to present a diploma to the well-known actor. The moment was full of fun and laughter, caused by the dialogue between Piersic and Fodor, but there were also electoral accents.
“I want to tell you one thing – you are in the city that has never been conquered. And since we’ve been doing FITS, the city has been conquered by the world’s greatest artists (…), said Constantin Chiriac before shaking Astrid Fodor’s hand to go on stage.
“After you said about the diplomas and trophies, I almost feel stupid for having to give you this diploma, because really, you deserve a statue in this town, not a diploma. But it is symbolic,” the mayor told the actor.
Astrid Fodor admitted that she wanted to send him a message, but that “I forgot what words I wanted to tell you, just like you forgot the words when you were with Calboreanu on stage (referring to one of the stories told by Piersic about a line he forgot when he played in a play with George Calboreanu, where the latter played Stefan the Great – nn)
“I’m speaking for you,” the actor retorted, causing the audience to laugh continuously.
“There is a subtle political game here,” said priest Necula.
The dialogue that made the evening delicious followed:
Piersic: “You said that the diploma is symbolic. My symbol is you, and with that I told you everything”.
Fodor: “Rarely have I seen anyone so sincere. I looked at the before picture, you looked just as beautiful”.
Peach: You’re married, right?
Fodor: I was married, but my husband died.
Peach: God rest him. If I wasn’t almost 90 years old… (laughter in the hall), I’m taking you with me.
Fodor: I admit that I loved you from my youth, I had a platonic love for you. I think everyone agrees with me.
Peach: You said you loved me. I want to add something: I congratulate you, madam, you have good taste.
Fodor: It was a wonderful evening. We are waiting for you in Sibiu.
Piersic: Even if you are not in Sibiu, where are you alive according to you?
Florin Piersic was born on January 27, 1936, to parents originally from Bucovina.
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