Actor Mihai Bendeac reacted vehemently to a post of TV producer Dan Negru, who condemned the show “Prophet Ilie” staged at the Bucharest National Theater (TNB).
Actor Mihai Bendeac Photo: Archive
In a message published on Facebook, Bendeac claims that Negru promotes a vision “manipulator-foriluse“And that he is trying to feed an extremist nationalist speech.
“Mr. Dănuț, for some time, with the “innocent” of “cultural-educational-historical”, devoured his new passion: Russian mother. But a cultivated man as he should know at least vaguely the history of arts. Thus would understand that freedom is the essence of all values“, Bendeac wrote.
In continuation of his message, the actor ironizes the position of Dan Negru and compares him with known figures from the communist period, such as Suzana Gâdea or Dumitru Popescu “God with straps“:”In addition to approaching the subject in the manipulator key – Filoruse, Mr. Dănuț, (…), he probably did not see the show. Or, if he saw it, he does not have the intellectual ability to understand that his actors/filmmakers are, in turn, Christians”.
Bendeac emphasizes that the show does not attack religion, but the hypocrisy of those who use it for political purposes: “It is not an attack on faith. It is an attack on those who use it, who understand by it to sow hatred, lack of understanding, destruction. Mr. Dănuț, what to say … Glory!”.
On the other hand, Dan Negru criticized the authorities’ decision to finance the show “In which religion is mocked” and that such initiatives feed social division.
“The state should not grind people! But it does it! I did not see the play from TNB, the one in which religion is mocked. But I saw the scandal after! I saw pictures of actors dancing lasciviously, on the cross. Their job … the job of the state, however, is not to finance the spell! And yet, this did, paying for this play, because most of the national theater budget comes from public money. Those who approved the financing of the show knew that the song would divide, that it would cause smile. And yet they allocated the moneywrote black.
He added that politicians who make such decisions are “Just fools! They are not bastards, they are stupid ” and that “Ten cleverly unable to unravel what a stupid tie”.
The song “Prophet Ilie”, directed by Botond Nagy, caused strong reactions from the public and the Romanian Orthodox Church. BOR has condemned “The use of religious symbols inappropriately ”while TNB defended the show, describing it as “An artistic approach that encourages tolerance, dialogue and a deeper understanding of the complexity of the human spirit”.
Actor Richard Bovnoczki, who plays the lead role, said that the play does not offend religious values: “The show does not defame, offends and does not mock anything that is sacred. First of all, because neither the director nor the manager of the theater nor the distribution have proposed something like this and secondly because the text itself, through the poetic structure, in verses and the deep content give the show a sensitivity that allows no place for mockery.”.
The director Andrei Șerban intervened in the scandal outlined by the show “Prophet Ilie”, drawing attention to the danger that the artistic censorship represents, warning that such actions can lead to “a new form of dictatorship”.
Meanwhile, director Botond Nagy has announced that he will file criminal complaints and a petition to the National Council for Combating Discrimination, claiming that it was the target of serious threats.
The show is inspired by a real case in Poland and explores topics such as religious fanaticism, extremism and functional illiteracy.
