- Is the idea of the play yours?
- Yes, it is. I think, the kitchen space is very interesting. The plot is like that: a new waiter comes to a restaurant and then… some odd things happen there.

- Fantastic?
- Yeah. And they mix up with reality. I explained Maxim what I'd like it to be: described the situation in the kitchen, came up with some ideas concerning the plot, but he gave them up later, to tell the truth. Or maybe it is the thing we had conceived that came about. Maxim, being 28, wanted to express everything he knew in this play. The first version was of 80 pages. We had to reduce it greatly. And we went on making it up… To be more precise, no… It sounds like "how we compose music with our boss". Of course, it was Maxim who wrote. But as I have more experience I could come up with ideas sometimes. Much was changed during the process of rehearsing. He brought the closing scene three days ago. The story has come out to be very complicated - you'll see for yourself.

- Do you direct and play again?
- Yes. I had been trying to put off the moment of coming onstage as long as I could and as an actor I got into the play literally a week ago. That is why the feeling is rather vague at the moment. There are two different plays: the one an actor sees from inside and the one you see from outside.

- Do you succeed in combining them both?
- Not yet. Hope, I will someday. I came out onstage and realized that I'd been directing myself wrong from outside.

- And what if the director was right?
- Possible. And the thing I have to do now is to start communicating with him.

- How did you rehearse? The way they do in the west: actors learn their lines and then they go on with staging?
- (laughs out loud) We are not that insolent yet…

- And what about money this time? There were some financial difficulties with "Woe From Wit".
- Well, it was the time of this… I've forgotten the word… Default. Everything just collapsed. Along with our sponsors. And we were to produce the play in August. The actors were to get one amount of money as their salary and finally ended up getting another.
Now we have our general sponsor - "Russian Standard", to be more precise, they invest their money, they plan to get profit. There are some more sponsors but they don't want to be named.

- How long will this play be on? To the utmost?
- No, for us it's impossible. If it were a play for two or three actors, it probably would. But we can't, for example, go on long tours - all the actors work in different theatres. We'll play it as long as we can.

- And then?
- It'd be just perfect to play something for a year and to prepare something new at the same time. But I don't want to think ahead now.

- So you mean you are coming back to the theatre?
- But I have never left it. I performed here and there all the time. One season in Great Britain, another in France. Well, it wasn't often - but it's the same thing with films. If I get one role in six months, I feel all right.

- Did you become a director because you wanted to stage plays or because there wasn't such a director who you'd be satisfied with?
- I've never called myself a director. It's just that I like to make up a play. As for lack of directors… it is as it is. And do you think there are many?

- There have never been lots of them.
- No, there was a period, when ten great directors worked at a time.

- So it turns out that you produce a play longing for a director?
- Maybe. Although I think if I go on with it I'll probably gain some knowledge myself… I've always wanted to direct.

- What kind of theatre do you fancy most? Who is the perfect director in your opinion?
- I always repeat: Strehler this and Strehler that… I can't help it. The thing he does has always captured me, turned me upside down. But I realize, I can't compare to him now.