'Identity, Migration, Cultural Capital' with Constantin Chiriac, in performance – and in conversation with Dr Mike Phillips (Tate), and Jonathan Banatvala (Artistic Director - Moving Theatre)

Posted
22nd November 2006


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Reception - Performance - Panel Discussion - Q&A Wednesday 22 November 2006 Events Theatre, Keyworth Centre, South Bank University Keyworth Street , London SE1 0AA Click here to see a photo gallery and feedback from the event. Programme:
  • Reception – 18.30-19.30. All welcome.
  • Performance / Panel Discussion – 19.30-21.00
The Romanian Cultural Centre in London (RCC) and London South Bank University invite you to meet Constantin Chiriac, Romanian director and internationally renowned actor of stage and screen. The evening will begin with a reception in the Keyworth Centre, followed by an opening address by Professor Andrew Dewdney, Head of the Faculty of Arts and Humanity at LSBU. Professor Dewdney will introduce a performance of Credeti ca stiti cine sunt, dar de fapt (You Think You Know Me But You Don’t) by Mike Phillips, a one man drama in English and Romanian, directed by Jonathan Banatvala, artistic director of Moving Theatre, and Head of Theatre Studies at LSBU. Afterwards there will be a brief panel discussion on the themes of the play (migration, identity and cultural capital), followed by a Q&A session with the audience, chaired by writer Mike Phillips. Credeti ca stiti cine sunt, dar de fapt had its premiere in 2005, during the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania, when it was given a studio reading by Constantin Chiriac, who is also director of the Festival. Subsequently the play was published in Romanian in the cultural magazine ‘Timpul’ based in Iasi (nr.7-8, July-August 2005). The entrance is FREE. Limited Seats. Please book your seat by sending an e-mail to bookings@romanianculturalcentre.org.uk. How to get there: Tube: Elephant & Castle (Bakerloo Line) See map here CONSTANTIN CHIRIAC. Born in 1957 in Romania. He was educated at the Theatre and Cinematography University, Bucharest. After graduating, he started a very successful career as a stage and film actor, having, up to this day, a repertory of more than 45 theatre characters and acting in 17 films. Constantin has also acted in 23 one-man shows, presented in more than 56 countries. Was awarded a Master Degree in Cultural Management from Hull University (1999) and a PhD in Theatre Arts from ‘Lucian Blaga’ University, Sibiu, Romania. Since 2000 he is the director of the ‘Radu Stanca’ Sibiu National Theatre. Constantin is also the director of the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, a festival which presents shows by Romanian and foreign theatre companies and also organizes lectures and workshops for artists, managers, and young people. Constantin is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes for his capabilities as an actor, director, and cultural manager, including one of the highest distinctions of the Romanian Theatre Union (Uniter). Constantin is also a member of the International Biographical Centre Board, the initiator of the Theatre Department within the Humanities College of ‘Lucian Blaga’ University. Has also published articles in ‘Teatru’ (Theatre) magazine (1981-1999), and is Vice-president of the ‘Sibiu - European Capital of Culture 2007’ Association, as well as Director of ‘Puck’ Theatre Company, which stages children’s shows. DR MIKE PHILLIPS, FRSL, FRSA. Writer Mike Phillips is best known for his fiction, including four novels featuring black journalist Sam Dean: Blood Rights (1989), which was adapted for BBC television, The Late Candidate (1990), winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger Award, Point of Darkness (1994) and An Image to Die For (1995). The Dancing Face (1998) is a thriller centred on a priceless Benin mask. His most recent novel, A Shadow of Myself (2000), is a thriller about a black documentary filmmaker working in Prague. Mike also co-wrote Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain (1998) to accompany a BBC television series telling the story of the Caribbean migrant workers who settled in post-war Britain. His latest book, London Crossings: A Biography of Black Britain (2001), is a series of interlinked essays and stories, a portrait of the city seen from locations as diverse as New York and Nairobi, London and Lodz, Washington and Warsaw. Mike writes for the Guardian, is a trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, Research Fellow at LSBU and Cross Cultural Consultant at Tate, the gallery and museum which houses the United Kingdom’s national collections of modern and contemporary art. You Think You Know Me But You Don’t is his most recent play. JONATHAN BANATVALA. Jonathan graduated from Caius College, Cambridge and has worked extensively in theatre and more recently in film production. He is Course Director in Theatre Production at London South Bank University. He is also Artistic Director of the award winning Production Company Moving Theatre (www.movingtheatre.com); currently the lead partner on a pan-European Arts Council England and EU Culture 2000 funded radio drama project. He is additionally a director of Stirfried Films (www.stirfriedfilms.com) and their Executive Producer on the film Deep Water – winner of the Rome Festival 2006 Best Documentary award - which goes on general release from December 2007. He has produced and directed for Bristol Express Theatre Company and formerly sat on the board of Dual Control International, the Independent Theatre Council National Executive and the Small Scale Touring Council. He has also worked as a tour manager for the Royal National Theatre, Breaking Boundaries European Festival. He teaches arts management to MA level at Birkbeck College, University of London and was formerly Visiting Lecturer in Theatre Studies for London Metropolitan University. DIANA IONESCU. Born in Campina, Romania, in 1981, she began studying the piano with Sanda Bobescu, in Bucharest. From 1992 she was a pupil of Olga Szell, then entered Maestro Dan Grigore’s class at Bucharest’s National Music University, from which she graduated in 2003 with the highest grades possible. She has attended master classes headed by Alexis Weissenberg, Viktor Merzhanov and Dmitri Bashkirov, and she is currently a pupil of Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London). Ms. Ionescu won first prize in the Brasov international piano competition (1996) and in the Georges Enescu international piano competition (Bucharest, 2001). She has given concerts in Romania, various other European countries (Austria, Belgium, Great Britain and Switzerland), Russia, Japan and the United States. She has recorded for Radio Bucharest, Radio France, Radio de la Suisse Romande, Russian National Radio and Romanian television. Organised by the Romanian Cultural Centre in London (RCC) and London South Bank University Sponsored by the Ratiu Foundation UK and Cotnari Wines




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