Vahram Zaryan was born in the village of Nalband of the Spitak Marz, was one of the leading actors of the Yerevan Pantomime Theatre, after which he moved to Europe, where he tried to study and work in Germany and then France. He was the last student of legendary pantomime artist Marcel Marceu and graduated from the school of Marceu and is currently part of the “New Pantomime” small theatre group. The theatre group consists of three actors of French, Japanese and Armenian nationalities, and was considered the most perspective and talented theatre group in Paris last year, thanks to which the theatre has been able to continue its activities; the actors have had the opportunity to not have to do other things besides acting. Vahram has reached great heights with his chosen profession. He is a professional and has a very promising future. We started our conversation in one of the cafes of Paris with the topic of the amount of government support for theatres. The image of the French theatres goes to show that that the state is not rushing to finance the work of any staff; rather it prefers to support the groups that have a future and portray an image. The European theatre group mainly works on its own and tries to find financial means in order to put on new performances. In France, for example, only a couple of theatres receive large amounts of state funding (the “Comedy Frances” of Paris, the theatres of Lyon and Marseille). On the average, one theatre receives up to 15 million Euros to put on three plays a year. The rest of the theatre groups and stage producers are simply part of the cycle of management. In fact, the state often finds itself in the status of a skilled and economical manager by helping the theatre groups that help raise and enrich the image of France.
Vahram Zaryan, 26, knows very well what it takes to succeed, and how much perspiration is required in order to present his talent.
– How did you meet Marcel Marceu?
– I was certain that I had to meet him. He had a school in Paris where I was accepted. But two years later I found out that the school was going to close and that the members of our group were going to be his last students. There were thirty people in our group, but only three received diplomas, including me. In reality, that diploma is a very big deal; we get a chance to work, pursue a career and teach with that diploma. It seems as though that diploma is like a great help or, as the French say, a carte-blanche by which you can enter different theatres. Marceu is considered to be the pride and national property of France. The whole world looks at Marceu as the best pantomime. Marceu is over 80-years old, but we still have a lot to learn from him. There are mainly foreigners studying at the school; there are followers of different styles who had to have done some serious work in order to be able to study there. It is impossible to study there without some background education because the schedule is extremely heavy. It is almost as if you are serving in the army; you have to work day and night. We had a Japanese actor who had come from the kabuki theatre and had his own movements; it was not like Marceu’s style, but he was considered to be one of the best students. Marceu had an ability to see potential in each of his students. You stand on the empty stage and see elements of pantomime. It is then that it becomes clear what you can aim for and how well you master the art of pantomime. As a matter of fact, among the exams such as technique, we also had an exam on our own production, which nobody usually had any idea about.
– How is the school system? Is Marceu’s style considered mandatory to know?
– Marceu worked personally with the best students; those who had to have the right to be considered his students and the ones who would continue his style. In reality, I am not continuing what Marceu did, but whether I like it or not, I am his follower because I was by his side day and night for two years. One of our last performances was dedicated to Marceu; we create a picture of three artists, who are no longer on stage, in a convalescent home, but still continue to play in real life because art flows through their veins. I came up with that plot when I visited Milan and saw Verdi’s house. Verdi is buried in the backyard of his house, and it seems as though his house has turned into the final landing of the elder actors of La Scala. The second floor of the house has turned into a convalescent home, where actors who no longer have the chance to be on stage can live. They are not in depression, and they understand the moment; there is a piano in the house and they can sing and dance in a familiar environment. It is like chaos and a beautiful life at the same time. The silent presentation of Verdi becomes very important because they have sung in “Traviata” and other well-known operas and still sing. Marceu has watched our performance and has made many professional compliments. But he didn’t like the topic that much because it was painful for him to watch the role of an old artist; with that he realizes that his best years are in the past.
– Do you still keep in touch with Marceu after graduation?
– Marceu did everything so that the three of us, his best students, would be able to form our group. There is much to be done to form your own theatre; you have to form an association, present a program, and prove that you are interesting to the French. We were able to pass that road with Marceu’s help, and created our “New Pantomime” theatre group. Marceu also helped us psychologically; he wrote us letters and guaranteed that we were ready to form a pantomime theatre. We have three actors, but there are more than 20 people in the group, including stylists, lighting and sound engineers, managers, and specialists in mask preparation. Our theatre has been around for the past three years. Of course, we don’t get help from the state, but the state does recognize that there is such a group.
– But you receive funding from the municipality of Paris.
– There is a “Young Talents” contest in Paris in which we participated and were recognized as the best young theatre group. The municipality awarded a lot of money and it was enough for us to start working, rent an auditorium, get props and pay for original music.
– So, that is a better way than state sponsorship.
– In some sense, yes. Being considered the best young theatre group of Paris, we participate in many tours, and are getting ready to leave for Cambodia soon. That is being organized with the help of the government of France. France spends a lot of money on advertising, as it is very hard to bring spectators to the performances. You can have as much quality as you want; the people won’t come if you don’t advertise. We have two managers who deal with selling performance tickets and include our performances in different theatrical programs. That has to be done a year before because there may be no more room later. I would really like to see Armenia have the culture of theatre management so that it would be possible to sell Armenian plays to foreign companies. The administrative work is just as important as the art. We couldn’t have worked without a manager.
– Armenians don’t have the mechanisms for that.
– But it is necessary to teach that profession.
– Tell me about the performance which was shown as part of the Year of Armenia in France.
– That performance was called “Laundry”. I came up with the idea a long time ago, when I was 14 years old and was living in the village of Nalband. We lost our home during the earthquake and were living in a “hut”; even now many people don’t have homes in the village and live in the same huts. My mother used to do laundry in a wooden bathtub and hang the laundry in the yard. When it was cold I used to love to go out to the yard and see all the changes taking place with the laundry. I used to look at the laundry moving with the wind and think to myself: poor clothes. I used to see living creatures in the laundry because they had humanly figures; they used to come and go with the wind and then stood still and then swung here and there. I saw elements of pantomime in that laundry and any movement made by the help of the wind made me emotional. I used those emotions and memories in our performance in Paris; I wished to feel the material of the laundry on my body. We have played that pantomime three times as part of the Year of Armenia in France and we played it in the theatre, which used to be a coin-operated laundry and now is called the “Modern Theatre of Paris”. The old rocks used for doing laundry in ancient times have been preserved in the theatre and the building is considered to be a monument.
– Pantomime is always developing; it is a very beautiful and mobile genre. Persistence is perhaps just as important as talent.
– Pantomime is in a very difficult situation in Europe; it seems as though the audience is always waiting for something new. Most of them are not even called pantomime theatre nowadays; they rather prefer to be called “movement” and “theatre of plasticity”. When Europeans say pantomime, they picture actors with white faces with a lot of make-up, but pantomime has ceased to be that for a long time now. You have to be persistent so that you can always keep yourself technically in shape and have new ideas.
– Does a special kind of persistence help the Armenian to establish himself in Paris?
– They often tell me that I look at the world from above and feel rather self-confident. The French are mainly very subtle and kind and consider Armenians as a little arrogant because Armenians can do something with confidence without calculating the results. There is also a negative opinion about Armenians, but I try not to get deeply offended by the insults and present our history and culture to the French as much as possible. I feel very good in France, although I know that sooner or later I will have to move back to Yerevan.