05.01.2021, Moscow.
Actors chase fame until they find something supernatural in their work, said theater director, political scientist, leader of the Essence of Time movement Sergey Kurginyan in an interview to journalist Vladimir Solovyov on the Solovyov Live YouTube channel on December 24.
During the interview, we started talking about theater, discussing the qualities inherent to many actors, and Solovyov noted that fame and public adoration often inspire people in this line of work.
Sergey Kurginyan, the director and founder of the Moscow “Theater On the Boards”, objected to this, arguing that such motivation works for an actor only up to a certain point.
“It works until an actor encounters something supernatural. And when that happens, nothing else matters except encountering it again,” – noted the director.
Kurginyan explained what exactly “supernatural” means. It is the essence that every person has. Moreover, not only religious, but also secular people are aware of its existence.
“I know that each person has a certain essence. This is the topic of a huge argument. As for me, what was the main thing that Karl Marx said? He claimed that capitalism separates and alienates people from their human essence. And he didn’t really specify what it was, he took it from Feuerbach. Marx said that living a true life means finding one’s essence. And in religion, true life means connecting with God.
Therefore, the difference between God and the human essence (God for a religious person – and the human essence for a secular person) is not that great. But no one wants to admit that Marx constantly talked about the spiritual death, about the cold self-centered calculation, where capitalism drowns the human soul, he talked about the spirit,” explained Kurginyan his vision on the issue of essence.
The director noted that actors experience an encounter with such an essence during the plays that he puts together in his theater. And that such an encounter is more important for them than any external manifestations of success in acting.
Kurginyan gave an example of such a special attitude towards the acting craft: “I said to one of my actresses, who I love terribly: ‘Listen, look what you could have been… Look at those who is becoming famous.’ And she said: “Sergey, don’t be silly. Why would I need that?”
In addition, the director explained why he was not interested in working with any of the famous actors, taking into account his theatrical approach:
“There is a huge difference between people who perform better or worse, and people who are completely captured by the content they wish to convey. The average actor always wants to be preoccupied with the personal presentation. It’s impossible to be completely liberated from it. Unless, they are completely strange people. And those who act in my theater are completely free from that.”
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency