Constantin Tănase House is located near Cișmigiu Park, on a street lined with buildings that remind you of the atmosphere and architecture of Bucharest’s interwar period. Although it is a historical monument, the house on Puțul cu Plopi street, no. 10, looks abandoned, just like many other old houses left in disrepair in Bucharest.
A marble plaque reminds the passer-by that the actor Constantin Tănase lived here in Bucharest between 1922-1945, one of the most valuable and talented artists of Romania.
Constantin Tănase was a famous Romanian stage and vaudeville actor, a famous coupletist and a key figure in the Romanian revue theater. He was born in a modest family, in a peasant house in Vaslui.
He was a mediocre student, the highest marks being in music and sports, and his first contact with the theater was by attending performances at the “Pîrjoala” Garden, where popular theater was played, with actors such as Zaharia Burienescu and ID Ionescu.
This inspired him to create an amateur theater group together with his friends, with whom he played scenes from the plays “Meșterul Manole”, “Căpitanul Valter Mărăcineanu” or “Constantin Brâncoveanu”, their first scene being the cellar of the house. Over time, the performances moved to the barn and even to the paddock.
In 1919, he founded the “Cărăbuș” theater troupe in Bucharest, together with which he was to create a tradition of cabaret, revue theater over the next 20 years, a tradition still present today, especially at the “Constantin Tănase” Revue Theater “, which still operates at the address of the former “Cărăbuș”, on Calea Victoriei, 33-35, in the heart of Bucharest.
Constantin Tănase created a type of character, that of the simple, humble and troubled citizen, always at odds with the bureaucracy of the state apparatus.
His character, unique in his classic costume with plaid, chrysanthemum buttonhole and cane, became the spokesman of an entire social class, which will often bring him into the spotlight.
He loved his homestead and would never move. His house was filled with paintings and caricatures that embody him in different contexts. There were also dozens of photos.