Actor Boyd Gaines, the four-time Tony winner ("The Heidi Chronicles," "She Loves Me," "Contact" and "Gypsy"), credits former Guthrie Theater artistic director Liviu Ciulei with "jump-starting" his career. Gaines, then unknown, was cast in Ciulei's legendary production of "The Tempest," which has Prospero's island surrounded by a moat of blood.
Ciulei, who made his Guthrie debut with that 1980 production, died Monday night in Munich, Germany, at age 88. (You can read our obituary here.)
Gaines, who is in London, sent the following testimonial:
Ciulei "was a brilliant director...and very patient with me when we worked together. He is a hero of mine. The theatre has lost one of its most original artists."
"I worked with Liviu twice. The first time was at Juilliard where he directed the third and fourth year students in a production of Wedekind's 'Spring Awakening.' It was so praised by the New York Times that Joe Papp brought it to the Public Theatre the following summer. Liviu jump started my career in New York, and when he offered me a place in the company for his first season at the Guthrie, I jumped at the chance to work with him again.
"As a director, he was like no other I have worked with. His work as an architect and designer influenced greatly his work as a director. His extraordinary visual composition played a large part in his work, and no detail was too small. I remember him saying that art was in the distillation of the what we decide to show. It wasn't documentary. But Liviu's work was very passionate -- he was very much a humanist, even if his methodology sometimes suggested otherwise.
"As a young actor, I initially felt somewhat restricted by his direction, but I eventually found great freedom within his structure, and performing in his productions was joyful.
"He was a lovely man, very European -- the sportcoat elegantly draped over his shoulders, cigarette in hand. wonderfully cultured and erudite.
