Vusal Mehraliyev: "Every day actor starts all over again"

National studios are a long tradition, of which Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute ('Shchuka', as it is informally known) is proud. In last year, an Azerbaijani studio in 'Shchuka' was opened under the leadership of Mikhail Borisov. Recently, second-year students of the Azerbaijani studio did an acting technique auditorial test, and the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza managed to interview some future and already accomplished actors, such as Vusal Mehraliyev.

- How did you get to the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute?

- I work in the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators. I work as an actor, but I tried my hand at choreographing, directing of children's plays or their fragments. Since 2009, they have started to send young people abroad to study in different countries as part of the program for training Azerbaijani youth abroad. And, of course, Russia is the best place to learn theater art. Russia is almost the birthplace of a professional theater, and the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute is a very prestigious university. When I had a chance to enter it, I decided to try myself. And I've done it.

- You are an experienced person with a certain professional baggage. Was it difficult to start all over again, or, perhaps, forget the progress made to date?

- It is difficult to start over again in any other activity. But it does not apply to our profession. Acting is different because everything always starts again - every day, every second. We go to the stage, do the play a thousand times, but every time it's like the first time. So, anew, it is not difficult for an actor to learn something again, but, on the contrary, it is a useful thing to do.

Here, in the Shchukin Institute, I feel that my professional level increases and my acting skills become better. Every day here we must do it, rehearse and train. Feels like this is where I belong.

- How do you assess the conditions created for you here?

- We study at the expense of the state, our state pays for our studies, accommodation, scholarships. All we can do is study, do what we love. I have no worries, I just do what I love, my whole life I wanted to do this. There is a creativity-inspiring atmosphere here, you're never bored here, they keep us busy from morning till night. We always prepare for something. It is interesting. This is theatre.