The samovar and the steam train: an interview with Albert Filozov

Abstract

During the Soviet era, there was very limited contact between the rich training traditions of Russia and the UK. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, mutual exchange became easier. Bella Merlin, for example, has documented her difficult but inspiring year at the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). Merlin’s teachers at VGIK influenced a number of other English-speaking practitioners at a series of summer schools in Birmingham in the mid-1990s. These schools were known as the ‘Russian School of Acting’. The senior RSA teacher was Albert Filozov, the celebrated actor and People’s Artist of Russia, who died in April 2016. Steeped in the Russian tradition, Filozov trained at the Moscow Art Theatre under Kedrov, and was strongly influenced by Maria Knebel. During the first RSA, Filozov was interviewed by three participants, Asher Levin, David Jackson and John Albasiny. An edited reconstruction of the discussion is published here in ‘Sources’ for the first time. The introduction summarises Filozov’s achievements and contextualises three questions he considers which are of particular interest to performance training: what is the difference between life and stage emotion, what is the relationship between emotion and action and is it possible to teach acting at all?

Keywords:

• Albert Filozov
• actor pedagogy
• Russian School
• acted emotion
• theatrical action

Acknowledgment

Translations from Russian sources by John Albasiny.

Notes

¹ The Russian title of the play, серсо (‘Serso’), is derived from the French ‘cerceau’ or hoop. During the play, the characters play a game of ‘hoop-la’.

² This monologue was posted on YouTube as a tribute to Filozov soon after his death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcqi_9hdLA8 [Accessed 18 May 2017].

³ Redgrave’s isolation on this subject is illustrated by a clash with Tyrone Guthrie (see Strachan 2005, pp. 192‒193).

⁴ Filozov appeared as Rooster in the original production and subsequent film of Slavkin’s Cerceau. The play was first performed at the Taganka Theatre in 1985 and later toured Europe, including the Riverside Studios in London (see Gussow 1987; Pitches 2006, p. 193).

⁵ Filozov is referring to The Rape of Europa by Peter Paul Rubens, which depicts Zeus taking the form of a bull and running off with her on his back (see Figure 1 below). Filozov’s meaning is fairly clear: one law applies to a deity and another to a beast. In this image, the bull is temporarily able to behave like a god because it is possessed.

⁶ Filozov is thinking of the Latin tag ‘quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi’: what is permissible for Jove is not permissible for a bull.

⁷ The group worked on scenes from Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

⁸ Filozov refers to Astrov’s monologue in the scene with Sonya in Act Two, played by Jackson (see Chekhov 1993, pp. 149‒153).

⁹ Referring to a successful rehearsal of the scene in which Sonya and Raskolnikov, played by Levin, confess their crimes to each other in part four, chapter four of Dostoyevsky’s novel (see Dostoevsky 1989, pp. 266‒280).

¹⁰ Vladimir Ananyev, actor, director and movement specialist (see Merlin 2001, pp. 27‒98).

¹¹ Chekhov (1993, p. 153).

¹² See discussion of the Opera-Dramatic Studio in, for example, Gordon (1986), pp. 206‒230; Toporkov (2001), pp. 104‒158; Carnicke (2009), pp. 13‒14, 189‒190.

¹³ Actress and teacher Katya Kamotskaya, now at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (see Merlin 2001, pp. 99‒150).

¹⁴ It is not clear if Filozov is referring to a remake of Sturges’ film or a dubbed version of the original. He seems to be thinking of James Coburn’s performance as Britt. At the beginning of a memorable duel scene, Coburn sits leaning against a post with his Stetson tilted forwards to protect his eyes from the sun in a pose of complete calm, whilst a rival attempts to provoke him into a fight (The Magnificent Seven 1960).

¹⁵ This passage is obscure in the original transcript. I take it that Filozov is referring to the arguably reductive view of the Method of Physical Actions promoted by Michael Kedrov (see Merlin 2001, pp. 152‒158; Carnicke 2009, pp. 189‒194; Jackson 2011, pp. 168‒171).