Hanna Rovina

Hana Rovina was born in Byerazino, in the Igumensky Uyezd of the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus). She trained as a kindergarten teacher at a course for Hebrew-speaking kindergarten teachers in Warsaw (prior to the First World War).[3]

She had a daughter, Ilana, born in 1937, with the Hebrew poet Alexander Penn.[4] and after they married had another daughter, Sinilga Eisenschreiber Penn.[5]

She began her acting career at the "Hebrew Stage Theatre" of Nahum Tzemach. She joined Habima theatre in 1917 just as it was being launched, and participated in its first production, a play by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. She became famous for her role as Leah'le, the young bride who is possessed by a demon in The Dybbuk by S. Ansky.[6]

In 1928, Rovina and the other actors of Habima immigrated to Mandate Palestine. Habima became the flagship of the new national theatre movement, and Rovina was recognized as the movement's leading actress.[7] The image of Rovina in her role as Leah in the Moscow performance of The Dybbuk, in a white dress, with her long black braid, became an icon of the emergent Hebrew theatre.[8][9]

Rovina's dressing room at Habima Theatre

Rovina took her acting very seriously and tried to live the life of the character, as prescribed by the Stanislavski School.

Nisim Aloni wrote a play, Aunt Liza, especially for her and Rovina played the lead.[10]

Rovina made high demands of her audience. She frequently stopped a play in the middle if she felt that the audience was not attentive enough. In one instance, she stopped the play Hannah Senesh in the middle of a scene and told the teenagers in the hall to stop eating sunflower seeds.

Rovina was awarded the Israel Prize for theatre in 1956.[8][11] She remained active on stage until her death, in 1980.[12] She died in Ra'anana, aged 91.

• Theater of Israel