BAM Blog Questionnaire: The Cherry Orchard's Danila Kozlovsky

The Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg is famous for its imaginative productions and Artistic Director Lev Dodin is renowned for his commitment to training and ensemble work. We spoke with Danila Kozlovsky, who plays Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard (coming to the BAM Harvey Feb 17—27), about the company’s rehearsal process and how theater is a lot like professional sports. 

Danila Kozlovsky and Elizaveta BoIarskaya in The Cherry Orchard. Photo: Viktor Vasiliev

1. How does Maly Drama Theatre training differ from other theater schools or companies?

I studied for five years in Lev Dodin’s acting course at the St. Petersburg Theatre Academy, and had the immense luck to perform as Edgar in Dodin’s production of King Lear during my third year. I joined the Maly Drama Company when I graduated in 2008. Most theater companies in Russia, like ours, have a full-time roster of actors and a permanent repertoire. But in a majority of theater companies, training and professional acting are clearly divided. A few years after joining a company, some actors consider themselves professionals—they think they know everything they need to know. It could be viewed as complacency or as self-assuredness, depending on your point of view.

I’m biased but I think Dodin’s way of training is the best: the training process continues seamlessly from the Theatre Academy into the Maly Drama Theatre. For five years we had daily training in classical dance, acrobatics, singing, instrumental music, voice, and speech. Before every show we do extensive warm-ups targeted at what the actors need for that particular performance—voice and speech (always), singing (always), classical dance, acrobatics, orchestra—whatever is needed. Spending an hour or two warming up together before the show allows us not only to hone the practical disciplines, but also to reestablish our connection as a company, which is essential for acting together onstage.

In Context: The Cherry Orchard

The Maly Drama Theatre comes to BAM February 17–27 with Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece The Cherry Orchard. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles and videos related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #TheCherryOrchard.

Chekhov, Consumptive and Laughing

Photo: Viktor Vasiliev

By Carol Rocamora

“My darling, how hard it was for me to write that play.”

So wrote an ailing 43-year-old playwright named Anton Chekhov, when he sent The Cherry Orchard (coming to the BAM Harvey Theater Feb 17—27) to his wife at the Moscow Art Theatre in October 1903. Whereas each of his previous plays had taken him only weeks to write, this one took him almost two years. It would be his last.

Chekhov’s first symptoms of consumption came in 1884, the year he graduated from medical school. He ignored the warnings. “It’s probably just a burst blood vessel,” he wrote dismissively, plunging into work. During the next year he would practice medicine, write 100 short stories, and experiment with vaudeville.

But the symptoms persisted, with hemorrhages in 1886, 1889, and 1897—when the official diagnosis came. His doctors banished him to Yalta, “my hot Siberia,” as he called it, far from Moscow and the Russian countryside that he loved. Even in decline, he managed to write three of his four masterworks: The Seagull (1896), Uncle Vanya (1897), and The Three Sisters (1901).

Erland Josephson 1923-2012

Natasha Parry and Erland Josephson in The Cherry Orchard

We at BAM were sad to hear the news of Erland Josephson’s passing. One of Sweden’s greatest actors, Josephson was most well known for his roles in Ingmar Bergman’s films—though Josephson was much more than a Bergman actor. He was also a director and a writer, and he starred in Andrei Tarkovsky’s final masterpiece, The Sacrifice.

Josephson also appeared in two productions in BAM’s Majestic Theater (now the Harvey Theater). First, in 1988, he played Gaev in Peter Brook’s The Cherry Orchard, and in 1991 he played Doctor Rank in Bergman’s A Doll's House. He came back to BAM in 2002 to play Melvil in Bergman's Maria Stuart in the Opera House.

Every performer who has acted or danced or played on BAM’s stages leaves a permanent mark. It is the mark of a human presence. Erland Josephson’s presence will be felt throughout BAM for a very long time.