I Am A Repeater - Interview

The interview with Mikhail Gorev took place joyfully and cheerfully, first in the dressing room, and then in the theater buffet. The actor joked a lot, moved actively, gestured and with his whole appearance reminded of a kind of eccentric, charming Batman Joker with Malaya Bronna.

Biography

Mikhail Gorevoy was born on May 19, 1965 in Moscow.

1987 - graduated from the acting department of the Moscow Art Theater School.

1987–1989 - served in the Sovremennik-2 youth theater-studio under the direction of his classmate Mikhail Efremov at the Sovremennik Moscow State Theater.

1989–1991 - Actor at the Vladimir Mayakovsky Moscow Academic Theater.

1990s - together with his wife and young son, he went to the USA, where he worked as a waiter in a fish restaurant, a taxi driver, a pizza delivery man, a translator, and, of course, an actor. Over time, he began teaching in Boston according to the Stanislavsky system.

1996 - founded his own theater "Factory of theatrical events".

Michael, are you interested in psychology?

She is closely related to my profession. I am a universal soldier of Russian theater and cinema: director, actor, producer, teacher - whatever. When you stage a play, the main task is to understand the character's motivations. Make the hero not good or bad, not evil or kind, but just alive.

And ambiguous …

Yes. I am jokingly called “the international villain of the Russian Federation”. It just so happened that I play villains and maniacs. Hero-lovers, bed scenes, kisses, as a rule, are not entrusted to me. But if you need to kill someone with special harshness, "quality" rape - that's me.

I've read Freud, Jung. Curious. But I get such psychological knowledge for work directly from the universe. Every person is destined for something. They launch us here for some tasks and give us tools. The main thing is in time, from childhood, to recognize, to feel why you were thrown into this world.

I didn’t succeed right away. At first, fate was preparing me for the Suvorov School, because my father is a military man. But then she turned around sharply, through pain and suffering she forbade me to join the army. (Mikhail was injured in the boxing ring. - Editor's note.)

Actor with his daughter Anna. Any event seems brighter with my daughter

And so it happened: as soon as I recovered, Providence "on the palms" brought me to the theater (my mother bought a ticket - and the theater burst into my life and stunned!). I remember what kind of performance it was, it literally entered my flesh and blood, I was immediately "infected" by the theater. Then he excitedly began to read, the information poured on me like a life-giving waterfall, I barely had time to assimilate it.

Often we - artists - are better versed in psychology than graduate gentlemen who have read a lot of "Jungs" and other "Freuds".

We use psychology on a massive scale. My performances have been watched by tens of millions of spectators. We - actors, directors - do spiritual work, we provide psychological and spiritual impact here and now.

An artist should not be smart, he should be sensitive, sensual. If you give yourself to the viewer "honestly", you really live through the ups and downs that are happening to the character, this energy, this truth hits the viewer and, in turn, cuts the energy out of him, and it comes back to me on stage.

Works in the theater

Youth theater-studio "Sovremennik-2"

1987 - "Slap in the face" based on the novel "Envy" by Yuri Olesha - German.

1988 - "Shadow" based on the play-tale of the same name by Eugene Schwartz - scientist (Christian Theodore).

State Theater of Nations

2017 - "Audience" based on the play of the same name by Peter Morgan - Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister.

Is there feedback at the biological level?

Yes. Namely: sympathy, co-experience, co-suffering. And then a miracle happens. Catharsis. A spiritual connection between the actor and the viewer is being built. Evgeny Evstigneev called it "Voltaic arc". The main task of the artist is absolutely selfish - to have fun, to get high. Yesterday I had a play "Salem Witches". I still haven't quite come to my senses yet. This is a thrill of incredible power and purity. What I experience on stage and after the performance is an incredible, absolute delight. I do not like anything except my profession: neither sports, nor recreation.

Even if you play psychopathological roles?

As a researcher of the "human spirit", the villains are much more attractive and interesting to me.

Do these roles destroy you?

No, the character enters the stage - not me. Our task is to construct a character out of our feelings, experiences, pleasures, troubles and victories, lust and inspiration. To do this, you need to collect your "sensual flow". There are libraries, video libraries, but we need to collect feelings. I teach students to develop sensuality.

I also have a play specifically about psychology - "A Cruel Lesson" based on the play by Valentin Krasnogorov. There is a story about the Stanford experiment, a psychological experience, the purpose of which is "to find out to what degree of cruelty a person can reach, inflicting pain on an innocent victim at the direction of the leader, and if he stops, then at what stage."

I created my private theater 22 years ago. At different times it was called differently, but I myself jokingly and in defiance of Stanislavsky's "Russian psychological theater" call the "Russian psychiatric theater". The task is to get into the human soul and do spiritual work on it. Now there are a lot of psychologists. As my friend Garik Sukachev says, “there are only guitarists in the country”. They were given diplomas, but they forgot to teach them. And some believe that this is generally pseudoscience.

In my opinion, a cross between art and science

Physics is science, mathematics is science, biology is science. Any apple will fall on top of you. I am doing psychology, as they say, “on the ground”. This is the psychology of direct action, which immediately hits the soul. If I play well, if the director is good and everything worked out, then for the viewer, time and space suddenly cease to exist. A magical switch occurs: it draws the viewer into a sensory funnel, and his consciousness changes.

The play, the atmosphere, the sound, the light, the acting - everything should turn into a kind of new reality that will take the attention, the consciousness of the viewer. This is “spiritual work”. You cannot measure it, smell it, hold it in your hands. But then a man sits in the hall and suddenly begins to sob. In the play "People and Mice" the hero Kharatyan kills the hero Baluev. The viewer cries and becomes enlightened, I call it “soul massage”. The weapons we own are much more powerful than the weapons that Shoigu has. Because his weapons can only destroy and kill. And our weapons can also create.

In America

Over the years of his life in America, Mikhail Gorevoy had a chance to work and be friends with the legends of world cinema.

• 2002 - “Die, but not now” (English Die Another Day, 20th Bond film) - Vlad Popov, Russian scientist, creator of “Icarus”.
• 2003 - "Murphy's Law" - Nikolai.
• 2006 - Space Race - Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov, Chairman of the USSR State Security Committee.
• And recently he again starred abroad in the film "Spy Bridge" (2015, USA).

There is an opinion that childhood traumas affect a person's life and creativity. Do you think this is so?

Yes of course. I had a performance on this topic, called "Where the bun was running." Of course, childhood traumas and victories, experiences and memories are absolutely essential in my work, whether I am an actor or a director. I not only think about it, not only feel it, not only live with it, but also use it in my work.

When I go on stage, this is not the same me who is sitting at home on the couch, this is a different substance. I don't know where and how some information comes that I can receive. I am just a repeater - a device that can perceive information, it is not in letters, it is inside me. She is on the air, she is everywhere. I accept it, grind it in myself and give it to the viewer in a language that he already understands.

Isn't this position of the victim: "I'm just a repeater and I'm not responsible for what I do"?

How am I not answering? I clearly realize that my responsibility is great, very great. If you are already admitted to the human soul, if you do a "massage" of this soul, then before that, be kind - "wash your hands", that is, "behave correctly", but this does not mean at all that you have to be "holy".

Are you sorry you went to the States? Or have you returned?

No, I'm not sorry. I was 27, it was 1992. I, a curious and very energetic dude, went to the States for a short time, and stayed there for three and a half years. In our country, my profession was then considered simply despicable. If not for a trip to America, I would not have had my own theater, no filming in James Bond, no Spielberg, or other pleasures. Providence clearly guides me through life. Nothing is for nothing and everything is connected to everything.

Filmography

The actor starred in more than 70 films, including such well-known Russian films and TV series as "Kamenskaya", "Stop on demand", "Antkiller 2", "Shadowboxing 2", "Wolf Messing", "At the Game", "The best film 2", "House of the Sun", "The Way", "Nightingale the Robber", "Moms" and others.

You find your roles, even psychopathological ones, useful. Or can they injure the audience?

Zhenya Lukashin from "The Irony of Fate" says: "I often have to hurt people so that later they can live well." I don't have many buttons that I can press to affect the viewer. I can make you laugh, make you cry, scare. So fear and fear are tools in my suitcase, and I use them.

Is there a danger of being drunk with power?

I consider people in power as victims of circumstance. Look closely, are they free? They are driven into a rigid framework. I was lucky to work and even make friends with really free people. Among them are Jackie Chan, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Gary Oldman. Spielberg - Mozart of Cinema. It affects the life and consciousness of billions of people. And whoever has seen "Schindler's List" will never be able to become an anti-Semite. Theater is the art of "direct action": the viewer leaves in an altered state: what was done to him, he did not understand, but experienced an incredible range of feelings. Is this not a collective unconscious?

Do you feel like the master of this unconscious?

Yes. For 35 years I have learned. Like. I get a buzz and a salary for doing a very difficult, psychologically costly, but amazing job. My profession is the best and the worst at the same time.

Does an actor need a psychotherapist in order not to burn out?

I don’t think so. I do not need any mediator between me and the providence that has always guided me through life. You just need to learn to catch the "hints of the sky", learn to feel and react. Better you come to the theater - and there I will try to become your psychologist: honestly, sincerely, do my best to give you a "massage of the soul."

EXPERT OPINION

Psychologists and actors

People often use the word "psychology" in the most general, common sense: "Here is my aunt - an excellent psychologist!" In the same way, we can say about someone: "Well, he is an artist!" It is important to understand that any science is, first of all, a fairly extensive database of experimental data, which has been repeatedly checked by various scientists under the same conditions.

But there is psychology as a science, and there is as a practice, and these things should not be confused. I agree that today at every corner we can meet either a “psychologist” or a “digital photographer”, and often even with a bunch of relevant pieces of paper. But this does not mean at all that there are no real professionals in their field among them.

Respect for someone else's profession, first of all, assumes that a person first enters into the course of the matter. And only after that begins to judge what this or that profession is. Using this not only their fantasies and emotions, but also the corresponding knowledge.

I myself often repeat that practical psychology (again, not to be confused with science) is at the interface between science and art. And in pure science, one cannot do without elements of creativity. After all, otherwise Einstein would never have gone beyond the aisles of Newtonian physics and would not have created his "theory of relativity". But inspiration is not everything.

In any profession, you also need knowledge and considerable work experience. Surely, before Mikhail goes on stage, he repeats the text of his role many times. Likewise, in practical psychology there are things that you just need to know and remember by heart. At the same time, a good actor is also a psychologist in something else, and a good psychologist is an actor in something else. But in both cases - in the general everyday sense of the word, but not in the narrowly professional sense. In some ways, our professions are really similar, but there are clear boundaries between them. At a minimum, those people who pay us money for our work rarely confuse the signs with the words "Psychologist" or "Theater".

Boris NOVODERZHKIN,

family psychologist, psychotherapist