by Bogdan Munteanu; photo by Ioana Moldovan
How was a day in the life of child Marius Manole back in the days when he started to get the feeling that what he wanted to do was to perform in shows?
Well, it was just like that, every day was… a show. I wasn`t standing still for a minute, this is what I was doing – giving spectacles. Both in school, and in front of my house, and the theater club and everywhere I would go, my desire to stand out was clear and embarrassing. There wasn’t any place where I would go by unnoticed: sometimes it was for good reasons, other times for bad reasons... For example, I would set people’s door on fire, I would throw pickles from the balcony or I would play hooky from school. And I was just a second grader, this wasn’t happening back then.
Does this mean that you would get physically scolded quite often?
Obviously, not a day would pass by without me getting it. From my parents, from the children in my neighborhood, I would get it from everywhere. So, as an adult, my desire for revenge is very high… (he says laughing)
There is a saying about the young people who don’t succeed in life because „they didn’t get a sound thrashing at the right time“. So you are the inverse example: you were scolded, therefore you got to know success?
I got sound thrashings at my time, indeed. My dad knew it right…this is how it was back then. But no kid would think he was being traumatized because of this. Whenever we didn’t get scolded, we were amazed and we were thinking: “I did’t get it for some time now, I need to do something!”
We weren’t so easy to hurt. The times when I grew up were quite traumatizing, so these things were the least important of our lives. It was more difficult to bear other things which we didn’t really have much contact with. But, we had the feeling that we were living tough times. My parents were not intellectuals, my father was a foreman and my mother was a weaver, but we would listen to Free Europe Radio at home.
Back in those days, workers were also reading a lot. The library in our home was full of books before I sold them at the antique bookstore, because I realized it is possible to make decent money out of this. Our insurgence, when we were 10-12 years old, was going out on the street saying: “Ceaușel and Ceaunica did this and that…” Then our parents would make us get inside the house telling us that we shouldn’t be doing this.
Another time when we had contact with the system was when we attended the parades on the Iași stadium. I, as a noble pupil of the city, would tell poems to Ceaușescu. But back then, we were not ashamed of doing this. We were proud of what we were doing.
Now, after three decades, how does a day in the life of the actor – and we could even say the „brand“ – Marius Manole look like?
Let’s speak about yesterday! I woke up at 5.30 a.m., I left for Smart FM Radio – where I do the morning show together with Marius Tucă. Once I got back home, I went to the park and I ran for five kilometers, I came back home to take a shower and then go to the massage, I came back home to walk the dog and in the evening – I had aperformance. This is…a vacation day.
Today, Saturday, there is no morning show – again another vacation day! I woke up at 8:00 a.m., I went to Carol Park to run eight kilometers, I walked the dog, I took a shower, I came to give this interview, after that I’ve got break – once more I do some activity in the park – and in the evening performance again.
So, I gather that this position of the actor who hurries from one play to another is not incompatible with being happy, since you have named two full days „vacation“?
Fortunately, as long as you do what you love, it doesn’t seem like work. Of course, there is routine, fatigue, boredom, but it’s not like I plow the land for a living.
What is the most difficult part in the life of an actor?
The most difficult thing is that you must be in shape always. If an ordinary person can afford not to be in shape, actors need to be in a good physical and mental shape all day long. If I get up at 5:00 a.m., this means that at 7:00 a.m. I have to be in shape for three hours during the morning show; likewise for rehearsals and performances. There are days when I am not in the mood and I have to act nice, but I don’t do this them anymore. I don’t act nice when I am not in the mood to do so.
Are there days when Marius Manole, a beloved actor, is… obnoxious?
Yes, but there aren’t so many days and I am not that obnoxious. I like the actors that are very arrogant and rude, but I am not able to act like them. I mean, I am rude where I shouldn’t be and I mess things up, but I am not rude with the people who would deserve my rudeness.
This is how it is with me. The seven years of education have a saying in this. I fight, I scream at people whom I love, people who are my best friends. But I am all humble with those who aren’t worth two pennies!
How does the actor feel he is being successful, beyond the public’ reactions?
Unless you lose your mind, it is not that difficult to remain with the feet on the ground. Even if people stand up, you know that you played badly or that there is no reason for being proud that night, and that night in your perception is a failed one. Despite all the applauses you get, the fully booked theater halls and the autographs, you know when you deserve or and when you don’t deserve the appreciation.
Back in the days, people would come to my cabin to congratulate me and I would ask them: “Why did you enjoy this crap?” I was performing and getting paid for it, yet I was taking it on the public the fact that I was discontent. Afterwards, I learnt from great actors that the public has no fault. People have different tastes and we shouldn’t judge them. If I were to change the tastes of the public, then I shouldn’t accept performing in some plays that I don’t like either.
But how does an actor feel failure?
I am actor who enjoys making mistakes. I had failures in my life and maybe this is how the brand that you mentioned was built, because I knew very well to take responsibility for failures in particular. I don’t know taking responsibility for success that well, but I am aware that the individual has the right to make mistakes, regardless of the job he has. Of course, not in surgery, but for us actors, making mistakes is not a bad thing. A mistake is made when you try something that you are not yet capable of, when you experiment something, when you set out a very high standard. If you know how to use it, a failure may be an extraordinary springboard for a big step forward. I have learnt more from a bad performance than from a good one. It is difficult to spend three hours during a performance and to play badly…You need as much resistance as a soldier on the battlefield. You know how the performance should be, but you see that you are not doing it right and that no Romanian word comes out correctly. There are performances when I am not able to say the words right, I pronounce them all wrong. Maybe the audience doesn’t notice, but I feel very bad.
Is the audience able to perceive the inner states of the actor?
There are situations when the audience notices and doesn’t send out the same energy as if the acting was good. During a drama play there is a sort of silence, a quality silence that has more value than 15 minutes of applauses.
If you are an actor who works with the audience`s energy – it`s not that I want it to be this way or I have trained for this, it’s simply the way I am – I feel, in that entire theater hall, I fell the point where people are not focusing. I can feel it in their breath, posture and the way they smile. This is the reason why it is difficult for me when my performance is bad, because I see in the eyes of the audience the fact that I have lost them…You can feel there is a sort of emptiness – on the scene and in the audience.
Do you remember any failure, any blunder that was visible for the audience as well?
I was playing in “Forbidden love stories” and I was supposed to, within an hour time, to get to the point where I killed my sister. I would leave from point zero and I had to get to a very high level of emotional turmoil and involvement in the role. It was a difficult performance and most of the time we were not able to do it right. The public would laugh at us, it was embarrassing. No one would believe that in the end there would be a murder. And when the murder happened, people would laugh in tears. But it wasn’t supposed to be a comedy play.
Since May 2016, at the age of 37 years old, you became Knight of the Order „Cultural Merit“. How do you feel in this position – as the representative of a generation?
This is a point where you can lose control, when you start believing you are someone important. You are nothing. This title was given to me by some biased individuals. They had to choose from other people who are as good as you are. But so it happened that you had a lucky day when the title was awarded. And another thing, there are a lot of people who were given this title in Romania. We are about 200 individuals, or maybe 300, since Mr. Ion Iliescu and up to the present time…
The title doesn’t make you more or less than what you already are. It is a title in which you and also your parents delight in. Besides the fact that you shall be saluted with guns at your funeral, there aren’t any other advantages… Of course, your ego feels good about it, but you have to forget receiving a title the following day. You must start over again. You cannot rely on awards or recognitions. Tomorrow is another day.
Imagine you are a spectator, and the scene is life in Romania! How do you see the Romanian society where many of us complain about the malfunctions that exist in all areas of activity?
As any other human being, I have days when I am full of optimism and I tell to myself: “We can still do it”, there are days when I say “There is nothing we can fix anymore in this country”…When I see a car parked in the middle of the road, I think we don’t stand a chance anymore. Everything that is happening at political level is a mockery. Sometimes I start laughing, at times I want to do something, but I don’t know where to begin… After that, I realize that only culture can save us. And at this point I tell myself that this is my purpose in Romania – to help people live more beautifully, regardless of how things are in the times we are going through. Shakespeare said that the actor is the mirror of the times he lives in.
For us, the artists, it means there is an area where we can get inspiration from. We have were to get our fuel from. Unfortunately, we don’t have a good infrastructure – no theaters, no open spaces or places where to perform. Then I say again “I would leave tomorrow, why I was born here?” And then I think that if I were to be born elsewhere, I would have been nothing. I don’t want to criticize because we all do it and there are many things to criticize. It is impossible to believe the point where we got at and that a bunch of people mocked us for 25 years. My mind refuses to believe this fact, otherwise I feel like screaming.
In the world we live in there is an abundance of images and play stagings. What social relevance does the theater still have?
Theater will never die and it will keep its relevance because people need stories and they need all forms of theater. The world needs vaude villes, because it needs to have fun, also the world needs social theater – so people may ask themselves questions. If it is played responsibly, theater helps a society.
If my goal is to entertain people with good humor, I am also doing good to society. If you play social theater, it is possible you solve more problems than politicians do. For example, at the Replika Theater, Mihaela Michailov is helping a category of disadvantaged people to overcome their shortcomings and to aim higher and to achieve a good character.
There is no secret that there are more and more young people out there who graduate from the theater schools, but just a few of them are able to perform and actually do the job. What is your advice for them?
I know what is being said: “Forget it, there are no places where you could perform, it is difficult…” I believe that, if you really really want it, if you work hard and you sacrifice the first 3-4-5 years committing to this profession and above all, you got talent, then you will succeed!
It is a choice. You can hear everywhere people saying that actors are starving, and you know all these, you know there are too many actors and that theaters are not hiring. You either move forward being aware that you love this job that much that you are willing to fight until the end to succeed, either you stop.
Did you win the fight against smoking? Are there any other fights with yourself that you plan to have?
Yes. In fact, I am not sure smoking can be defeated. It is like a monster who is asleep and when you are least expecting, it can suddenly attack you. So far, there are 11 months since I haven’t put any cigarette in my mouth, not even an unlit one.
The last year was for me a time to destroy the phrase “I cannot.” For a long time it was comfortable for me to say “This is who I am, I cannot do it”. Besides theater, I would say “no” everywhere: I can’t attend driving school, I can’t quit smoking, I can’t run…Now, I have started to do all these. I drive, I don’t smoke anymore and I had my first 10,5 kilometers race.
I don’t blame those who say “this is how I feel good”. However, I am upset with those who say “I would like to do it, but I can’t, I would like to lose weight, but I can’t, I would like to quit smoking, but I can’t.”
During your career, you had many deaths on the scene… How do you see the impermanence of theater, how do you see death and eternity?
To be honest, I am very afraid of death. I love life very much, and, if I could, I would love to be immortal. It is not possible and the only thing that gives me some comfort is the fact that we all are going to die. I would love to live long enough to have time to do things, to see how it is to be 70 years old. If it were up to me, people should never die, but it is not up to me…
In the play „Oscar and the Lady in Pink“ you have the role of a sick child who writes letters to God. Besides the scene, do you ever speak with Him?
I do it most of the time. He is one of the thoughts that give me strength during a hard day, or whenever I find myself in a difficult situation or I am on a long journey… I always think that Someone, up there, must be protecting me. At night when I go to bed I have Whom to thank for having a good day or a not so good day. In the morning when I open my eyes I need to thank Someone for the fact that I am awake.
For me, this is something I cling on. You don’t need a person. Quite often, people don’t have time to listen or to give advice. I won’t say church or icon, but the thought of God is the easiest thought to have, the relationship that is easiest to develop. He is always there for us. It is entirely up to me whether I want to search for Him.
Favorite book?
“The joy of life”, a book on the life of Van Gogh.
Favorite play?
“Heart of a Dog”, just to name one that is not played anymore because I don’t want to upset anyone. In this job, there are some big egos. It is enough to say a name and immediately five directors call to ask you: “Why did’t you name my play?”
A movie you would have loved to play in?
The first version of “Trainspotting” (1996) or „Billy Elliot” (2000).
Favorite actor?
Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and of course Robert De Niro.
Do you have any fears?
I have several. I am afraid each day that something might happen to me, some accident, or that some- thing bad could happen to my dog, or that I would set the house on fire, or that my performance will be bad, that I will lose my inspiration or that my talent will end.
Did you receive any praise that has impressed you?
There were many; I received letters and people told me that they were going through a major depression but after seeing one of my plays they understood why they should to enjoy life. This was one of the most beautiful compliments I have ever received in my life.
How about some painful critique?
I didn’t get much criticism. Or maybe I have a very good instinct of self-preservation, so that I erase it from my mind. Anyhow, criticism amuses me. I kind of know where I am no good and I can’t be upset when someone tells me something I know for sure.
Is there rivalry and envy in the world of theater?
There is some beautiful envy. When you go to a good to see a good play, you wish you’d perform in it yourself. It is wrong not to wish this. When you see a good actor, you want to be just like him. I don’t think there is anyone who delights in watching a bad performance. It is impossible to be an artist if you think this way. Where would you end up? At the mental hospital maybe… Or your liver would burst because of all that envy…
Do you have any particular dream?
I still want to perform in good plays, I wish for some roles but I don’t know them. Likewise, I would like to get more involved in certain causes, or to take care of my life more, to read more and to travel because I have travelled very little. I would love to live for a month in London, a month in Paris, and not to be always on the run, I want to feel the city, to know the people so I could be less afraid of them. I may seem a good communicator, but I am not. I would love to join different communities, even here in Romania. Now I go for runs and I meet people that are different from those in the theater world, I meet corporate people from whom I learn a great deal.
How could someone win the heart of Marius Manole?
I know that insisting upon is not a good thing. I don’t like surprises, such as finding flowers in front of my house, with candles and my framed photo – something that has happened, but it is not a good idea. I don`t like people who call me every day to ask me what am I doing. I am doing the same things I did yesterday.
Do you miss anything?
I miss my parents, because they live in Iași. Honestly, that`s about it. So I could say I am a happy man.
