Famous actor Robert De Niro once said in a conversation: “What I value most in my work is the opportunity to live someone else’s life and never pay for it.” It would be interesting to ask familiar actors what is valuable to them in the chosen profession. It is clear that the answers to such questions may be a revelation. This conversation with the actor of the Zhytomyr Academic Regional Puppet Theater Oleh Yatsenko, which was supposed to happen a long time ago and was postponed all the time for unknown reasons, was a revelation for us

“Frankly speaking, I never planned to become an actor. This is a coincidence. At first I liked being on stage, but then everything turned upside down and I had to act as an actor. All my life I thought I was a director”

“I graduated in Kyiv with a degree in Directing and realized that the capital is not my city. Here people live like in an anthill, and I like to look at everything around on the street. These views, which rest on the ground when everyone is walking in a crowd in one direction, are not mine”

“I have a clear position: I do not run for titles or fame. For me, the eyes of the audience are more important, the contact with the audience… The quarantine period has crippled many, so today my main ambition is to return the audience to the halls”

“The main support of my life is my wife. Encourages, inspires, supports. I am well aware that in any situation I have support… I do not want to remember certain periods of my life, and I have changed thanks to her, my wife. We have been together for 18 years, although we got married not so long ago. We went to this point gradually, until we clearly realized that we should be together. When the thoughts came, then everything became simple… It was the most interesting wedding I have ever been to. We signed at the registry office, we were greeted by friends and all went to celebrate together. Later that day we went to sea”

“Once I returned to the theater after a week’s vacation when I buried my father. We had a comedy show, and I came on stage. Then I played only on acting, without emotions, like a robot. Technically, I did everything right, the audience hardly understood what happened – I liked the show. But for me it was a failure, such things are unacceptable”

“It’s harder to act for children. They feel us actors differently than adults. Adults perceive with their eyes, listen, analyze. In children, everything is at the level of sensations. It is clear that when the curtain opens, they see the picture, and then – all the feelings”

“An actor is a plasticine in the hands of a director who creates an image. However, every actor always wants to contribute something. I don’t like to just play, so I often remark on the director’s vision… There are conservative directors who just want this and that. Of course, they create a framework for me, so I’m looking for an opportunity to go beyond, to look for extremes… On stage, you live the life of your character, his story, which took place long before the play and will continue after it ends. It’s as if there is a parallel life to your character, and only at a certain moment in a particular emotional state does the hero appear before the audience. The director can’t feel what I’m feeling at the moment, so I think it’s possible to play my own emotion. But everything must correspond to the logic of events and plans of the director”

“I have a theater-studio, where I act as an artistic director. Most of the actors in the studio are children, and a cohort of students has recently been added. In the studio theater, we implement only social projects, pay attention to important topics, such as raising the issue of bullying or the environment, using non-standard approaches. And although the actors are children, their thoughts are adults. I do not expect that those with whom I am currently working will become outstanding actors in the future. I would like them to become good people”

“The task before me as a teacher is to sow the seeds of goodness and happiness in the heart and common sense in the brain. Only then do I start working with the child on acting skills. Theater studio is not just a job for me, it is my second family, with whom I spend a lot of time”

“For the development of art in general and in Zhytomyr in particular, first of all it is necessary to refute the myth that the actor must be hungry, because some people understand him literally. The actor must be hungry for creativity, grab different roles. Give? Take it, play it, live it! But the actor should not have any idea what to feed his family tomorrow”

“If I had crazy money, I would make a film about humanity. Today there is almost no mutual respect, mutual understanding, mutual assistance. People live by the principle of “don’t touch me”, only money is the main goal. And, having an infinite amount of money, I would educate children who go to school in difficult times, not where they want, but where they can. I would create an educational grant for specific professions for children from low-income families”

“Today, at a tremendously fast pace, we are adopting other people’s traditions, forgetting our own culture… Yes, of course we want to show ourselves in different parts of the world, but for this we need to keep what we have. Our culture is rich, and when we show our authenticity, we are simply amazed. Take at least “Eurovision” – Ruslana, Jamala. How cool our music can be! Or “DahaBraha”. I get a lot of pleasure from their music, because it’s so cool to raise and bring so many forgotten songs to the modern world. I think that culture should remain local”

“Almost my first book, so thick, still old-fashioned with a red root and an inscription on the cover, is “Kobzar”… To children who study in the studio, I ask the question without warning: “What are you reading?” This “control” takes place once every two weeks or once a month. I am for development, and nothing develops our consciousness and our imagination better than a book “