“So that I won’t forget that I’m Armenian,” jokes A. Jigarkhanyan.
October 12 marks the 70th birthday celebration of the beloved actor and the Moscow theatre directed by A. Jigarkhanyan will show Demetrius Psafas’s “Liar Needed” play. Jigarkhanyan has played in the same play in Yerevan 45 years ago.
“Theatre made my life more pleasurable and created a special bond,” he said and added that he’s not familiar with the new nuances in the play.
Armen Jigarkhanyan doesn’t like festive gatherings. He has always refrained from throwing his anniversary parties because he doesn’t enjoy formalities. But now, as he has reached old age and is celebrating his 70th birthday, as Dante Alighieri says the age of “the man of godliness”, he allows himself to look ahead and see that according to Dante, “there is only a desert” lying ahead. Armen Jigarkhanyan hasn’t been on the stage for the past couple of years already, claiming that “it’s better to leave the stage early than a day late.” He confessed that he sometimes misses being on stage, but doesn’t think it would be right for him to continue his acting career.
“I don’t want people to accept my apologies. We all commit errors when we lose sense of time and space, even when we become physically deformed, it’s important to remember that that’s natural. I am celebrating my anniversary, I’m no longer at the age of being devout and am entering the desert.”
He tries to console himself with reaching old age. “Our desires are what make us rich and not what we own.” Today, most of Jigarkhanyan’s desires have a lot to do with his theatre, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The wise, talented and sympathetic Jigarkhanyan says:
“I’m breathing and living; it means that I should be happy. Now nothing can seduce me.”
About theatre
“Theatre is cruel. The theatre is not a sacred place, or a place to call home or a family. It’s a model of nature where you build relations based on people’s virtues and defects. As in nature, in theatre the weak are inferior to the strong. “Natural selection” also exists in theatre. Who’s going to be the prey of the other, who’s stronger? You can see all that at the theatre. It’s a place where you see chemical reactions. One changes by entering the theatre. He comes when he has problems. He comes to watch “Othello” in order to know who Othello is today, can man really kill another?” says Armen Jigarkhanyan. “Everyone “wants” each other, loves each other or gets jealous of someone at the theatre. In general, educational institutions bother actors a lot. Youth grow in a mixed-up environment and then…break-down when they come to watch a play.
Jealousy is the one thing that hurts theatre the most. Jealousy can help you move forward, or it can make you go back. There are 52 actors working for my theatre and it’s very interesting to see what kinds of relations those actors have. You see how they check up on each other, count how many flowers the other actor got after the play, which actor got more applause. It’s very interesting because you start to understand them. The one thing I fear the most is that the actors of my theatre will turn against each other. Recently, some of my actors received the ranking of “great artist” and the others got jealous. There are no standards in my theatre; the only standard is talent. As my teacher Armen Gulakyan used to say, “Everything is acceptable in the theatre”, besides maybe alcoholism.
You say that theatre is fading away? I’ll tell you one thing: thank God that the bad theatre is fading away. Theatre has to be ready for change. You can’t be ready just by having the right advice and warnings. For example, theoretically, I know what democracy means, but I’m not practically ready for democracy.”
Rankings and dreams
“I would get rid of rankings. If I come out on stage and can’t play the role of Othello or Hamlet and am simply your average artist of the former USSR, then that will be horrible. Everything is simple in theatre. We don’t need rankings. I had a good friend whom I lost when I became the “people’s artist”. He couldn’t stand the fact that I was the “people’s artist” and he wasn’t. I wanted to tell him, ‘here, take my ranking’ and give my heart out to him. I’m certain that every actor plays what he dreams about on stage. I have had thousands of women, sisters and slaves while playing on stage for 50 years. I have liked seeing myself play different roles on stage. When I played Nero, I was certain that I was the sexiest man in the world. I even used to come out on stage in red underwear because I loved playing that kind of role,” says Armen Jigarkhanyan.
About love
“When they ask me who I love more, blondes or brunettes, I tell them to show me the woman and I’ll reply. I can describe love in only one word-responsibility,” says the actor.
About philosophy
“I sometimes say clever things, but I’m not a philosopher. I’m your average clown. Man must never lose his ability to be fascinated. Children and animals make me happier and fascinate me more than even the brilliant thought of any philosopher. The thing I fear the most is losing my ability to be fascinated,” says Armen Jigarkhanyan.