December

In brief: The 70^th anniversary of the prominent actor of the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre Vladimiras Jefremovas (1942–2009) will be commemorated on December 19. On this occasion the author of the article Ridas Viskauskas asked the theatre critic Marija Tanana, who worked as the head of the literary part at LRDT in 1994–2000, to remember the actor and theatre of his time.

According to M.Tanana, V.Jefremovas worked only at the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre all his life with one exception – her acted in the performance “Hamlet” of Meno Fortas (director Eimuntas Nekrošius) at the end of his creative biography (in 1997–2009).

She remembers performances of the Lithuanian Russian Drama Theatre since 1970. The flourishing of LRDT coincided with the 8^th decade of the last century, when performances were created by Romanas Viktiukas at the theatre. Jefremovas, Michailas Jevdokimovas and other actors read much of philosophical literature then. The theatre critic believes that the Russian Drama theatre was at its top then.

Jefremovas was one of the best known actors, has his audience. The actor became popular with the performance “Seller of Rain”, in which he acted a strong personality. This performance surprised by new theatrical language.

The theatre critic remembers the performance “Once There Lived” shown for almost 20 years. Even though the audience loved the performance, the actor asked to cross out the performance from the repertoire later. Vladimiras Ivanovičius was very strict with himself.

The rise of theatre of Eimuntas Nekrošius, Rimas Tuminas was later, and the epoch of the Russian Drama Theatre was before that. It is a pity that the last decade was not favourable to the theatre, and Jefremovas did not receive roles that could unveil all his skills.

Marija Tanana states that Jefremovas did not carry out the director’s indications blindly. He offered his own solutions and defended them. He needed an observant director, who could disclose an actor anew.

The actor used to state: “I feel the audience with my back. I know what I should do without seeing them.” It is an inborn thing most probably. Still, the actor did not like ignorance and disrespect. He was honest with himself and in art.

“The bigger the load in the repertoire, the better it is for an actor. When there are no roles, dissatisfaction with life appears. An actor has to perform. I believe the capabilities of Jefremovas were not used in the late creative period,” states M.Tanana.

The conversation took place on February 15, 2012.