“It is difficult to memorize texts for two new plays that are so different from each other at once,” says the actress Gilat Ankouri, who is juggling these days between rehearsals for the new play “Daniel Baali”, which is being staged in the Triangle Theater production, and between rehearsals for the new play by the Chamber Theater , “I am your grandmother”. “Learning one play by heart while you are already performing in a second play is not a problem, on the contrary, you improve because you are no longer doing it too technically. But when these are new plays at the same time, it is not easy.”
The play “Daniel Baali” by Michael McIver, which was originally staged on Off-Broadway and was translated into Hebrew by Yaron Fried and directed by Rom Reznik, tells the story of Roy and Daniel, a gay couple from New York, whose relationship is in danger following a tragic event that happened unexpectedly. In the show, Ankuri plays Betty, Daniel’s loud mother. Alongside her, Tal Kalai, Gil Weiss, Lior Zohar and Iti Uri are participating in the show. A few months ago, at the staged premiere of the play as part of the “Drama Queen” LGBT festival, Ankuri received applause from the audience. “It was one of the most powerful experiences I had in my career,” she says.
“I don’t remember when I’ve been in a project whose cast and director are so mobilized. After all, it’s the fringe of the fringe, it’s not something we do for a living, and we didn’t know it would come up later as an official show. We met and worked on the characters and there was a connection between us. I was so excited at this event that people were talking about it for days afterwards. The play raises quite a few complex moral questions. At first people think it’s a comedy, and suddenly it takes a big turn and turns into a tragedy. The director Rom Resnick told me that when he offered my role to a certain actress, she turned him down because she didn’t want to play the bad guy. I didn’t see this character as evil, but as a loving mother.”
What issues arise in the play?
“When a man is in a relationship with a woman for seven years, then she is known in his public and has rights. But in the play it turns out that Roy and Daniel, who have lived together for seven years, do not have the same rights. The show also teaches us that we should always take care of a signed will. My daughter now had a baby as a single parent, and even when she was pregnant, she made sure it was written who she appointed to be his guardian if something happened to her. It’s not easy, but it’s smart. My husband Michael and I also made a will before the corona virus. We went to a lawyer, and suddenly we realized that so many things can happen in life, so you have to make sure that everything is written in black and white and be prepared for any scenario.”
Since portraying the diva character of Eidit Linovich in the daily drama “Ramat Aviv Gimel” in the 90s, Ankuri has become an icon of the LGBT community in Israel. “I am very connected to the LGBT community, and the community loves me very much,” she says. “I once moderated the pride parade, and I moderate events for Iggy (proud youth organization). I am close to the community and respect it. That’s why I was happy to participate in this show, because I really like to support the community.”
Your main advertising seems to come from television and cinema. What is the importance of theater for you?
“The theater is my job, it’s my bread and butter. If a TV show suddenly comes on or something like that, that’s good, but it always comes in addition. I thought during Corona that it pains me that if my career ends, then they will remember what is being filmed, and this is clearly, in my opinion, not the best things I have done. The best roles I did were in the theater. For example, in the play ‘The Indian Patient’, directed by Alon Ofir.
It was the first time I was without makeup and they didn’t recognize me, because I played a battered and poor woman, which is exactly the opposite of how they were used to seeing me on TV. In ‘Luggage Packers’ I played a role in the fat suit and I would draw wrinkles on my face. I really like to embarrass myself on stage. I think that those who saw these shows – saw, and those who didn’t – that’s it, it’s dead, it’s gone. There is no record of this. And even if there is documentation, it is not the same as being present in the theater and experiencing this special moment. If I’m not on TV, people ask: ‘Where have you gone?’, and it hurts me. But this is the fate of theater actors, what to do? Those who don’t see you on stage – don’t know you exist.”
What do you think about the younger generation of actors?
“In the last few months I filmed two youth series, ‘Ziggy’ and ‘Sky’, and I really like working with young people. There are great talents.”
A place in the heart
Ankouri (66) has been in the world of theater, television and cinema since the mid-1970s. “The acting and the stage have been burning in me since childhood, and it also made me a very unhappy girl,” she says. “It made me feel like every day I’m not on stage is a wasted day. Every day I waited for the moment to stand on stage. In 2001 I played in the musical ‘Shelgia’, and at the end of one of the performances at the Cultural Hall in Tel Aviv, the entire cast was on stage. Suddenly I see a little boy leave his parents and start walking towards the stage. I said to myself: ‘This child will remember this moment for the rest of his life. He decided he wanted to be on stage.’ I remember as a child I was in the play ‘Peter Pan’, and when we returned home, all the children wanted to know how to fly, and only I said: ‘I want to play.'”
After her release from the Air Force Band, she began studying theater at the Department of Theater Arts at Tel Aviv University. She began her acting career in the film “The Band” (1978), in which she played Sherry Lichtenstein. According to the film’s director Avi Nesher, he wrote the character after her audition. “This is my first film, and it will always have an important place in my heart,” she says. “Recently the film is being worked on for the show and I met the actors. I asked the director Tsadi Sarfati how he chose the actress Yordan Merhavi, who plays my role. It was not such a big or prominent role in the film, and Tsadi did so many auditions for it. He told me: ‘I’m looking for someone who has ambition, who you see will succeed, and it doesn’t matter that she’s not the best singer, but she has something in her personality.'”
Are you in touch with the friends from the movie?
“Obviously. I am in touch with almost everyone. I have a scratch for birthdays, so even to people I’m not in touch with I write a greeting once a year.”
Did you like filmmaking in those years?
“I really liked the cinema. There was a time when I did a lot of movies, movie after movie. After ‘The Band’ we shot the film ‘Dizengoff 99’. During the filming, I started shooting ‘My General Mother’, and after that ‘Tel Aviv Style Marriage’. The day after filming ended, I started shooting ‘Five Five’. It was an intense and very enjoyable time. I thought you could make a living from cinema, but that’s where it ends.”
Enjoying the success?
“Yes, but in general I enjoy my work very much because I decide to enjoy myself. I don’t complain, I connect with people straight away and keep in touch. I love my profession very much. My late father had a dream that I would do a solo show on stage, and I told him: ‘I don’t want to. All my fun is being with partners. with Colgoth. I like to be with people, and that’s why most of my friends are very young. Not treated differently because of age. That’s what’s beautiful about this profession.”
Over the years, Ankori played many roles in the theater (“Square Husband”, “Stepchildren to God”, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, “Comedy of Errors”), in cinema and on television, but the big break into the consensus came, as mentioned, following the portrayal of Idit Linovich in “Ramat Aviv Gimel”, which was broadcast between 1995-2000. “I’m still reminded of Idit Linovich, whether it’s in the theater or on the street,” she says. “At first I had a hard time with it because I felt that it affected my career and me and took up too much space, but today, 25 years later, and after I did the comic version of Idit Linovich in the excellent series ‘Tanuhi’, I understand that somewhere it is a gift. Rafi Rashef told me: ‘When I saw Eidit at ‘Ramat Aviv Gimel’ I felt like I had won the lottery.’ So it’s true, I won the lottery, but even those who win the lottery pay a price.”
Ramat Aviv C (photo: screenshot)Did you imagine she would become this iconic?
“No, I had no idea. No one had a clue. Joel Zilberg wrote it for me. He named the husband ‘Mike’ after my husband Michael. Yoel Zilberg made my career. He was a very important figure in my career.”
Do you miss the hustle and bustle that was around you in the age of telenovelas?
“Probably. It was an amazing time. I liked it very much. Admittedly, I suddenly didn’t dare to go to the grocery store without makeup because I constantly felt like I was being scrutinized, but of course I liked it. I was a working actress for 18 years, and suddenly I was a star. I came to it maturely. I was already a mother and I already understood how the industry works. I knew it wouldn’t always stay like this, I knew there would also be lean times.”
Among other things, Ankouri also starred on the small screen in “Asfor”, “Kan Grim Bakhif”, “Tanuhi”, “Oboy”, and recently, as mentioned, also in the youth series “Ziggy”, in which she played the prime minister. “In one of the episodes, someone tries to assassinate me,” she says. “I had speeches there that the creative team was afraid the channel wouldn’t allow, and it did. It’s much more than a youth series. It was a powerful and chilling experience.”
Love from the movies
Throughout the interview, Anchory often mentions her daughters, her grandchildren – one of whom, as mentioned, was born only recently – and her husband, the director and producer Michael Greenspan. “I met Michael when we did a recording for Eric Smith’s puppet theater for the show ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ directed by Yossi Gerber, in 1977,” she says. “I was the good queen of the north and Michael was the tin man, and that’s how we met. Love from the movies.”
Did your daughters follow in your footsteps?
“not really no. It didn’t interest them. The eldest daughter Jordan lives in New York. She is an acclaimed and award-winning translator of books and plays from Hebrew to English. Beti Oren is an architect.”
Are you happy with where your career is now?
“I am very happy about my career because I am a happy person by nature. To tell you that I feel that my full potential has been used? Really, really not. Twice I felt that my potential was being exploited – in the plays ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ and the ‘Indian patient’. These are the only two times when I felt that something was really being taken out of me that is more than what people usually see, and I’m waiting for the role and the director to reveal me beyond what people see.”
Have you ever thought of participating in a reality show?
“No, no, no, no. There is no reality show that was not offered to me. I always tell them: ‘I wish I didn’t have to do this.'”
How was the corona period for you?
“I loved the Corona period. First of all, I was secretly in rehearsals with Tovia Tzafir for the show ‘Love’ at the Hebrew Theater. We worked at Tovia’s house, and it was something to hold on to when the corona is over – if we don’t die from it. I thought the profession was good for me, and it was very scary. When they closed Broadway, I thought the world had ended. But I enjoyed being together at home. It was me, Michael, my daughter Oren and three dogs. I started cooking, which was something I hadn’t done before, and we would go for walks in the park. I missed my mom a lot. There was something about this mess that I liked. Anyway, I like being at home. We have a big house, so we don’t get on each other’s nerves too much.”
Do you like being a grandma?
“This is my vocation in life. Now I have a two-month-old grandson who lives with me at home. After all, my two eldest grandsons are in New York. Oren lives with me, so I see my grandson every day. He is crazy about me. If he is nervous, I start singing and he calms down. I tell him stories. it’s wonderful”.
You have previously spoken in interviews about the prosopagnosia disorder (difficulty recognizing faces) that accompanies you. How do you deal with it?
“I don’t recognize the stage workers, and it’s not easy. They used to think I was a snob because I couldn’t remember faces, which is an unpleasant feeling, but today people already know about my prosopagnosia, and everyone who meets me tells me who they are, and if I recognize someone, they are so happy because they feel special.”