Michael Craig - Copernicus Films

As the post production  film Vakhtangov and the Russian theatre comes to an end ( just some tidying up to do in various technical questions) other projects are already heaving into view. This is a mixture of new work and old which have been left to one side while the Vakhtangov film gets finished. Strangely tired after such a marathon trek with Vakhtangov starting from initial research and development, writing of the script filming, securing archive footage and finally post production. However keen to get on with the work that has been waiting - books and films and feeling surprisingly fresh on this score

Several days back from the UK after a successful screening and Premiere of  Vakhtangov and the Russian Theatre.  It took place on May 10th 2014 as part of the Vakhtangov study day at the Rose Bruford college of theatre and performance organised by The Stanislavsky Centre which is based at the centre. It was a privilege to be able to participate in the and share the podium with the Vakhtangov scholar and specialist  Andrei Malaev Babe l who has written two books about Vakhtangov ‘ The Vakhtangov Sourcebook” and “Evgeny Vakhtangov – A Critical Portrait” . Also  Graham Dixon of the Mikhail Chekhov Studio  in the morning session which he participated in together with Andrie Malaev Babel The morning session was dived into three parts. A long introduction presented jointly by Andrie and Graham, then the film Vakhtangov and the Russian Avant-garde which I briefly introduced and then a question and answer session with Andrie Malaev Babel, Graham Dixon and myself.

Coming to the end of another Moscow evening. Long nights drawing out so that it stays light almost to eleven. Some good work today on the new film Vakhtangov and the Russian Theatre   . Really just in the early stages of pre production, script writing, collecting research materials etc but things starting to take on a rough shape. Over the weekend met with Slava who was the camera operator on two of the films in my series about the Russian Avant-garde - "Mayakovsky" and "Meyerhold Theatre and the Russian Avant-garde" in the Scandinavian restaurant. Restuarant which harks back to the mid 1990s but still maintains its allure as a meeting place for foreigners. One of its attractions is the beautiful shaded courtyard. This photo of Scandinavia is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Working on the script for  Vakhtangov film - going through the script step by step to bring together a full draft. Also thinking about widening the short pieces I have been doing called "Chekhov Country" which is a a kind of side project which takes in the process of actually making the films - going around different locations and filming short episodes which will feed into the whole series - kind of like additional information about Russian theatre from that period. Chekhov Country is a not essentially about Chekhov ( although a lot of it will involve Chekhov) but more about the theatre world of Russia. I would hope to give more of a simple flavour of the atmosphere and aura of Russia and its relationship to theatre and acting. When making a film there is a lot of stuff on the periphery which doesn't go into the film but all the same is there and has a validity, its part of the overall macrocosm which exists around a subject or topic. Therefore it is hard to isolate a...