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Evgeny Tkachuk: Here, in Sholokhov Museum, I have Found Understanding and Support

Last year, this young but well-known theatre and cinema actor was often seen in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya. A TV film “And Quiet Flows the Don”, where he acted Grigory Melekhov, was being shot.

And now he has returned to Vyoshenskaya to realize his old dream. On May, 10, the holiday “Steed is the Dearest for Cossack” will include a horse spectacle. The author and director of the show, Evgeny Tkachuk, tells about it.

- Thank you, Evgeny, for your sparing time to answer our questions. Please, give us some details of what you have prepared for the holiday.

-         Our horse spectacle is a story about a strong friendship of a Horse and Man based on a mutual trust in each other. Getting once into a habit of living closely to Man, a Horse can’t betray or leave him. And Man understands that a Horse is the dearest for him. Thus they become inseparable and go through life together.

-         How did the idea come to you? What did everything begin with?

-         It‘s my old idea. When a student I thought it would be interesting to do        something like that. In Syzran I got acquainted with an equestrian coach who suggested making a scene with horses. For a long time I have been looking for an opportunity to realize the idea of making a horse performance. But in all other places nobody was interested in it. And here, in Vyoshenskaya, in Sholokhov Museum, I’ve found understanding and support of my initiative. The headline “Steed is the Dearest for Cossack” is good for the performance we are making up, and all the story is focused around man and horse. And everything here has converged perfectly.

-         Who helps you to realize your idea? Who will take part in the show?

-         The people of ours and yours help as far as possible. One of them,     Danila Vorobyov, a popular theatre and cinema actor, has come specially from Moscow having left his projects and business to help me in everything as a second director. The people working at the Museum Stables help me a lot. Sanat Berkaliyev stages equestrian stunts, arranges all the horse performance. It is very good that in his club there are adults and children to take part in the performance. And the local residents are very kind for us. One day at the market a woman called me by name and gave apples. Another day I lost my way to the office for the morning meeting and was walking up and down the street. Suddenly a car stopped, the driver asked me what I was looking for and drove me straight to the place. It was very nice.

-         How do you work here? What difficulties have you got?

-         We must do a lot. As it is a night performance, we must arrange light and music for the public to feel comfortable. There are many things to overcome: the people have not been ready for such experiments yet. It is the main difficulty. It is really an experimental work. In the history of equestrian performances there were very few attempts to do something like that to show a real story in a dramatic way. We want to create here a horse and dramatic scene. So we must arrange the site and proper atmosphere to start our narration.

-         And what will follow the performance?

-         We would like to show the spectacle during the whole summer. If everything is a success, we will continue our work to improve the performance making it more interesting. We think of staging other spectacles and not only about Cossacks.

-         How do you manage to combine your work here and in Moscow? After all, you’ve got other projects, and the way to Vyoshenskaya is rather long.

-         After shooting the film “And Quiet Flows the Don” I spared a month for making the performance in Vyoshenskaya. Certainly, it is difficult. But many people help me. I think everything will be all right.

-         I wish you a success at the premiere in Vyoshenskaya, belief in your own strength and new victories in your work.

                 Interviewed by Tatiyana Nektova