'Vital necessity' of spiritual exchange

By SUSAN BUDD

Theatre director Vadim Ledogorov wants to change the Kiwi attitude to his homeland.

"When they hear of Russia, I want New Zealanders to think of Chekhov, not vodka," he says. Ledogorov laughs, but he is serious.

Soul, not light comedy, is what he aims to place centre stage.

Ledogorov is a missionary, bringing us the spiritual experience that he firmly believes is theatre at its best.

"I think theatre is a vital necessity," he maintains. "Nowhere else can people experience a spiritual exchange.

"The actors should make an input of their souls and hearts, feeding the audience, who give them their energy in return. It is what people need, though they may not know how to get it or where to go.

In this irreligious age, he believes that theatres are our temples.

It is ironic that his production of James K. Baxter's play The Sore-Footed Man should open at Auckland's Maidment Theatre on the same night as the launch of the TV2 International Laugh! Festival. Though he claims it has moments of comedy, it is essentially a very serious drama.

Soon after his arrival in this country in 1995 Ledogorov read Baxter's play and felt it had something special. The play is based on Philoctetes, the ancient Greek epic by Sophocles. Philoctetes is bitten on his ankle by a snake - hence the sore foot of the title - and left by Ulysses on an island for 10 years. Because of a prophecy that Achilles' son will defeat the Trojans, Ulysses persuades him to go to war against Troy.

Baxter changed the story, says Ledogorov, to lend more emphasis to Ulysses, a man without morals but a survivor. Written in the 1950s, the play becomes the tale of a lost generation, showing that the old ways work no longer.

"We could not find a Baxter character per se," says Ledogorov. "But in everyone there is a part of him. The whole play is the world of Baxter."

In Baxter's hands, the Greek chorus has become a collection of individuals, like Shakespearean clowns, who comment on the action.

The rehearsal period has been two months instead of the usual four weeks, but it still does not seem long enough to Ledogorov. He is strongly influenced by Stanislavsky, the Russian director who established a new school of acting that inspired the American Method school. Marlon Brando was its most notorious exponent as he slowly mumbled and felt his way through a text.

"Stanislavsky raised the level of acting to art rather than entertainment," says Ledogorov.

"The aim is to create and raise the level of the human spirit to a beautiful artistic form. You must find yourself in the character and the character in yourself. I was taught by actors who worked with Stanislavsky and they said that if the audience judge you as a good actor, you have failed."

It is the antithesis of the star system.

A successful actor and director, Ledogorov lost interest in the Moscow theatre scene in the 1980s as its repertoire moved from classical plays to more commercial fare. He turned to studying film direction and produced classics for radio.

In 1994, he chanced to see a Wild South documentary about New Zealand and, dazzled by the natural beauty it showed, decided to emigrate with his wife and son. "When the Chechnya war began, I thought, 'This is for ever. I don't want my son to be obliged to be a soldier.'

"This is the best nation on earth," he declares, and admits to a strange feeling of recognition on his arrival. He was born in Tashkent, in Uzbekhistan, and feels that the two places share clarity of light and glorious greenery.

Ledogorov's parents now live in Auckland and another son has been born here.

Despite his wife's urging to change his career because of New Zealand's small theatrical pond, Ledogorov persisted. "I am stubborn like a dog, and sent CVs off everywhere."

He has been teaching and directing at Unitec since 1996 as well as teaching acting technique at Selwyn College and the University of Auckland's School of Music. A short film is in the planning stage and, of course, plays, especially Chekhov.

* The Sore-Footed Man is at the Maidment Theatre from April 27 until May 20.