D'ARTAGNAN 40 YEARS ON

Many admirers of Aleksandr Sharovskiy's art remember him with a smile and marvel at his D'Artagnan - impulsive, passionate, dare-devil and deeply touching in his love for Constance. "Constance, Constance, Constance..." - D'Artagnan/Sharovskiy used to kneel, partly to mourn his lost love and partly to leave behind his careless youth. The audience used to be so affected that sometimes the seats in the stalls were wet with their tears.  But never mind the audience - even the actresses in the cast were crying behind the scenes!

And there were... very many

That was in 1968.  He was only 20! And it seemed that nothing was impossible in this world!  The whole of life lay ahead. And, therefore, glory, love, and everything else too.... As part of that everything, he met stage director Yuliy Gusman promenading on Torgovaya Street. And this Gusman made an offer which the young actor could not possibly refuse. At that time, neither of the men could ever imagine how successful and long-lived their extremely adventurous project to produce "The Three Musketeers" musical would turn out to be! Back then, the genre was not as popular as it is today. The well-known movie starring Mikhail Boyarskiy as D'Artagnan had not yet been released. The producer was going to take a risk. However, we can say now with certainty that Bakuvians were the first to breathe life into the genre and the first to give life to Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan, of which we are now so fond. Sharovskiy, with his long, dark curly hair, huge moustache and youthful abandon was well suited to the role of the bullying Gascon! And Gusman was right when he counted on the masculine charisma of the young actor from the Childrens' Theatre, which was part of the amazing success, transforming an ordinary guy from Chadrovaya Street into an icon for his peers. His natural charm, magnetism and charisma made him not simply known, but famous and popular. Aleskandr Sharovskiy was now a household name. And to many representatives of the fair sex, it became a symbol of masculinity which they always sought in the opposite sex but, unable to find it, identified the protagonist of a play with the actor who played him, thereby making him their icon and an object of idolatry; or worship. It was highly individual. But, one way or another, raised by the audience to peaks of success, actor Aleksandr Sharovskiy established himself in the profession as a talented, extraordinary and interesting person, and a promising actor.

Later in his career, he played Zhadov in A.N. Ostrovskiy's "Profitable Work"; he was deeply touching in his unreserved admiration for Polinka, the brutal Don Juan in Pushkin's "The Stone Guest"... With mesmerizing confidence in the inevitability of another "victory," he marched unswervingly toward his goal with boredom in his heart, as a man tired of being the successful seducer. Then, again thanks to a lucky break, he moved to the Russian Drama Theatre, where director Enver Behbudov invited the actor to play the role of Farhad in "Farhad and Shirin."  Today, he is not particularly enthusiastic about how he handled that role. Apparently, they -- the actor and the protagonist - were different in some respects. But back then, when he axed into the imaginary cliff and uttered the words of Farhad, who conquered the cliff to join his lover, he could never have imagined that he would stage the play himself 30 years later. And that he would enthral the audience with the beauty of the play, making the audience's hearts respond to the profundity of feeling in the protagonists in a love story which appears quite modern.

However, he quite soon felt constrained by the limitations of acting and was drawn to stage direction. He did not want to simply "build" images from one scene to another. He was tempted by the possibility of making stories come alive by freeing the characters from the lumps of an author's text, giving them recognizable qualities of character, reinterpreting the situations set out by the playwright and transforming them into scenes of emotional human relations. This began in the late 1970s, when it was very difficult to get permission to stage a play independently. But he was lucky in making friends with Rustam Ibrahimbayov, who often staged his plays back then in the Samad Vurgun Russian Drama Theatre. Being assistant to the grandmaster of theatre and cinematography was not only an honour, but also a pleasure. Even now, many years later, Aleskandr Sharovskiy still has an apprentice's respect for the teacher towards Ibrahimbayov. Perhaps this is a trait of character, to remember what paths you have walked in life. And he does remember. He remembers all the actors and all the directors who became not simply a part of his career at some stage, but also milestones in his professional growth. Perhaps he does not always mention them in his interviews, but he does remember them often. Even when he works and he needs to cite an example. And even when, at the gala opening of the theatre after almost two years of structural remodelling on 26 May, Sharovskiy, a People's Artist and chief director, was handed the Sohret Order by the country's president. As excited as a young boy, he said with a quiver in his voice that the award was a sign of appreciation for his entire troop, not only for him, and then added that receiving a government decoration was not only a great honour to him, but also in memory of everyone who constituted his "universities": parents, colleagues and friends. What can be more sublime and honourable than the recognition by the state of one's service to the Fatherland? Nothing really. Inside every one of us, perhaps at a subconscious level, some mechanisms are set off which force us to raise the bar of our relations with life ever higher. We call this growth. For Sharovskiy, it was manifest in years of attempts to go beyond the constraints of the theatre's technical possibilities; they have been broken many times by changing its original purpose. This is, of course, the objective reality which one cannot ignore but, nevertheless, it is very sad that for these reasons, people have never seen a great many of his theatrical fantasies. They do, however, periodically see the stage director in the role of actor. This may be quite good for the public, but it is not an easy thing for the director himself. It is universally known that acting and directing at the same time is very difficult. One of his new roles is that of an experimenting stage director in Vladimir Neverov's play "Dreams Come True." The cameo appearance, performed in grotesque style, arouses Homeric laughter from the audience. It demonstrates not only a mastery of the genre, by the young actors as well, but also the theatre's ability to make fun of itself while at the same time preserving traditions originated by Shveytser the Pessimist (founder of the theatre - author) and, as if looking at itself from the outside, to reveal the secrets of theatrical life, exclaiming like Karel Capek:  "So this is how it is done!"

So much lies ahead

Of course, for the ability to make the public laugh and forget about their problems, at least for the two hours of performance, he was heavily and frequently criticized - usually by those who do not even go to the theatre and know little of the theatre as an art form, those who, even though they do not know the meaning of a comical revue sketch or where it originated, use the term as a pejorative and derogatory word as applied to the theatre and its work. But revues gave rise to the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre and also to the Second Studio - the one which formed the core of the Vakhtangov Theatre. Revues gave rise to N. Baliyev's "The Bat." Variety revue comedy - accommodating different genres, and eclectic both in content and in form - gave rise to our Satire and Propaganda Theatre and, later, the Baku Workers' Theatre. And please note, these small forms are in demand precisely during periods which prove to be historical turning points, or during crises. Time chooses its heralds with no regard for the opinion of officials or documents produced in offices. And, as the most important component, people are very important. That is, the public who buy the tickets. It is the public who assess - and very selectively too! - how well theatrical plays are staged.

As for the most important point, Sharovskiy understands these attacks.  It would have been worse if he had not been criticized at all! - There is no better or more effective publicity than adverse publicity. But, on the other hand, it is not easy to be the principal person in a theatre. The actors are like little children: they are always unhappy with something. And every day in the theatre is a day of struggle for human ambition; for the right to be the best; sometimes - to be the chosen. Theatre is the world in miniature, and all human life is there. Just like everywhere else. Simply, theatre is always a focus of attention because it is a public art and everyone talks about it. This is good, Sharovskiy says, and he is probably right. Because no matter how harshly the theatre is criticized, if its actors are in demand on TV and in the productions of non-repertory companies, it means that the theatre is not so bad. Indeed, being a theatre director is not easy at all...

He lived and lives as well he can. Sometimes he has made mistakes. And he has probably hurt some in his life. Perhaps he has sometimes hurt them more than he would have liked. But it was unintentional. After all, it is impossible to be equally good to everyone!  Everyone understands this, but no one accepts that this rule applies to himself and everyone demands special attention and favour for themselves and their professional achievements. However, this is the usual situation in relations between actors and directors. So it is good when a person has a safe haven in which he or she can seek refuge from the trials and tribulations of his life. He has one: his home, his wife - his Donna Anna, whom he met when he was already middle-aged and whom he had sought for many years. Their onstage duologue in "The Royal Games," in which he was King Henry and Natalya Sharovskaya was Anne Boleyn - was not the only one. In Rustam Ibrahimbayov's "The Loop," he was Subbotin and she was Nina, two people who shared a love for their faraway native land and for each other. These are the essentials to have in common if people are to stay together for a lifetime. In the play, they stay together until the moment of doom. Were it not for that moment, the characters would live long, happy lives in a foreign land, bringing up their son and hoping to return to their native shore... But all that was on stage. In life, the actress and director duo is the happy Sharovskiy family, in which everything happens the way it should in families where peace, understanding and love reign...

Celebrating the 60th birthday of People's Artist and Principal Director Aleksandr Sharovskiy, the company decided to present him with a surprise theatrical performance called "Meet-ing at the Christmas tree, or The Belated Anniversary."  This happened on New Year's Eve with the participation of the actors, Sharovskiy himself and the public. And it was a great opportunity for the theatre to express its love for the Bakuvian public.