“I came to Perm about four years ago and it was the first time that I had come to Russia and I was very inspired by the theatre that I had seen here and I went and looked at other theatres in other places. But I think I saw maybe an opportunity for me to develop English theatre alongside Russian theatre by opening a studio theatre here that helps develop aspiring actors here and working with professional actors as well,” Cain said.
Cain spoke about different performances that his troop has already done including The plays Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet. They have also done kids production and five productions that Cain wrote himself.
“If I want to do a play and the guys want to do a play we discuss it and we just do it. At the moment we are rehearsing a play called Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker which is due to be performed in the middle of March, so we are still deep in rehearsal,” Cain said.
Talking about working in Russia and creating plays in English he said that it is difficult but it is a great way to discover these deep meanings of what Shakespeare, for example, was actually trying to say. So the whole troop works and studies the plays together which is a good practical way to make it accessible to everyone.
“When I direct it I try to reflect the meaning in the actor’s action and in my direction. How they stand and communicate with the audience physically. That helps bring those words to life and drives it home to the audience as well,” Cain said.
He further spoke about how difficult it was to start a theatre in a country that has such a rich tradition in the classical arts.
“It was very difficult, but I think it is difficult anywhere. One of the things that excited me was that Russia has spawned some incredible drama philosophers and drama practitioners so you look at Stanislavskiy, Chekhov, you look at multitude of different people and my idea was to take their teaching and teaching of English practitioners like Steven Berkhoff and Shakespeare and combine them and not to dismiss Russian theory but combine them and people were very excited about that,” Cain said.
Talking about why he chose to open his theater in the city of Perm and not in Moscow or St. Petersburg, Cain said that, “It was the first city to which I came after I landed in Moscow. I went to Perm and over time started to feel my way around the place and I like the way it’s laid out, the feel of the city I really liked it. It’s not an enormous city so one can navigate oneself around. I have time to think and be creative here,” the director said.
He further spoke about the theatre culture in Russia in general and said that he finds it incredible that so many people go to the theatre and it is so accessible to everyone.
“We are completely independently financed. We finance from the money that we generate in the studio. So there is a subscription fee for the people who are developing. It is a monthly fee and it’s not very much, just enough to pay the bills and hire the space that we use. The rest of the money comes from me and ticket sales,” Cain said.
Recently, the director expressed interest in staying in Russia for longer and maybe even getting Russian citizenship.
Cain said that he absolutely loves Russia. “I think I have found my place in the world. It is good to be here and it’s good to be a part of the theatre community or the arts community in Russia.”
He further said, “I am so happy to be able to share those experiences here and learn from other people’s experiences. It is a great gift and I want to sincerely thank all the people in Russia who sincerely helped and shared and supported me,” the director concluded.
