de Maria Sârbu
În spectacolul Teatrului Maly Drama din Sankt Petersburg, „Livada de vișini” de Cehov, regia Lev Dodin, care va fi prezentat în FNT la 29 și 30 octombrie, ora 19.00, pe scena Sălii Mari a Teatrului Național din București, personajul Liubov Andreevna Ranevskaia este interpretat de una dintre cele mai talentate actrițe din Rusia - Ksenia Rappoport. Cu acest prilej, artista ne-a răspuns la câteva întrebări.
25 October 2016, Articles
«Cherry Orchard» is first of all the two worlds, the world of Renevskaya and the world of Lopahin. Who is she, your Ranevskaya in Lev Dodin’s performance?
Ksenia Rappoport: I think Ranevskaya is first of all 100 percent feminine, her gift is the gift of love. This is something she knows how to do well. But she does not at all know how to survive. So she just goes on loving and perishes, not knowing how to save either herself or the things and people she loves so much. She undoubtedly has great human dignity and inner freedom which is a rare thing nowadays. Her kind of people were born and bred in a different epoch, their values were irrefutable and unchangeable for them in spite of all the economic changes going on in the world. So, when Lopahin suggests to her his very adequate plan of saving herself / not the estate, but herself / she immediately refuses. She understands viscerally that this cherry orchard is not just her property, it’s the country’s heritage, it is the heritage of the generations to come. And though she can not save the cherry orchard, she does not want to take part in destroying it. So, in spite of being quite capricious and illogical and fragile and sometimes even ridiculous, Ranevskaya also has great inner strength. Well, that’s how I see her.
Did your visit to the old cherry orchard in Altes Land in Germany influence your work?
Yes, by all means, that journey has influenced us greatly. Of course firstly and most immediately because that was the location where we’ve filmed the precious film moments that we use in the performance / the black and white film of the orchard itself, the life that used to be, with its bountiful joy, with Ranevskaya’s son still alive, happiness that is lost now. These fragments move us every time we perform Cherry Orchard / not only the audience, but also us actors. But moreover, seeing in / unfortunately / another country this magnificent orchard, you realize that that all those orchards of Checkov’s time / factual and metaphoric / could have been saved and preserved and those trees even now, 100 years later, would have been still towering around us, blooming and delighting our eyes. And though this old German cherry orchard does not bear fruit anymore, there is a fruit-bearing orchard next to it and its wonderful owner Kirstin with her family keep a small café there, bake amazingly tasty apple pies, and sell the apples… This is how this bit of heritage, this bit of warmth and joy and land is preserved. And looking at this piece of preserved heritage, you can’t help thinking how many of cherry orchards could have existed today in Russia, how many of them were destroyed.
You perform on stage, you film in Russia and abroad. But you also support charity projects; you are the chair of the board of trustees of the charity foundation “Children Bela”. How does art help you in your charitable pursuits?
For six years already our foundation helps children diagnosed with epidermolysis bullosa. All over the world these children are called “butterfly children”, they almost lack skin. This is one of the most horrible illnesses I’ve ever seen in my life. Today epidermolysis bullosa is considered incurable. We can only help these children to manage their pain. And since this illness is considered incurable, raising money for the sufferers is very hard. That’s why we use all opportunities we have to raise money. We organize concerts, devise performances, and hold auctions. My theatre’s team / Maly Drama Theatre’s team / has wholeheartedly supported my initiative for charity performances / when all the proceeds from the box-office go to the Foundation. In my theatre we’ve done charity performances twice already / including “The Cherry Orchard” / holding charity auctions after the performances. Both times it was highly successful: we’ve raised considerable sums both times. This is, in my opinion, an ideal way of collaboration between art and charity. Please have a look at our Foundation’s web pages, we’d be most grateful for any sum you can afford to donate:
https://www.debra-international.org/debra/national-eb-groups/russia.html
You’ve visited Romania with other performances. What can you say about Romanian audiences?
I remember the first time I performed in Romania the wonderful way the audience would listen and respond to the performance was a great and joyful revelation for me. I think that Romanian audiences are very diligent, open, and attentive, you can immediately see that by the reactions / those are intelligent reactions, you can sense it even in the way they laugh. Being onstage you always feel the energy of the audience / and in Romania I always feel that the energy of the audience is similar in vector to what we are trying to do onstage.