Actor

(Born 3. 11. 1983)

Valentin Zakharov graduated from the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theater Arts (Professor V. Filshtinsky’s class) in 2006. In the school and diploma performances he played the roles of Benvolio (“Romeo and Juliette. Sketches of Love and Hatred” after W. Shakespeare, director V. Filshtinsky), Dmitry (“You” by O. Mukhina, director G. Byzgu; this performance got the prize of the Third International Festival of theater schools in Warsaw “For the Best Ensemble of Actors,” 2005), Soldier (“Good Bye, Boys” after B. Okudzhava, directors V. Filshtinsky and A. Prikotenko), Party chair Piskunov (“A Lonely Foxtrot” after A. Platonov, director V. Senin), Ivan Karpych and Osip as well (“Flying Over a Charitable Institution” after N. Gogol’s play “Inspector General,” director A. Prikotenko), and also one of the major parts in the plastic composition “A Lesson in Jazz Style” (Director I. Lyakhovskaya, choreographer Yu. Vasilkov).  

After graduation from the Theater Academy he was admitted to the intern group of the Alexandrinsky Theater. He debuted on the Alexandrinsky Stage in the performance Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (Director Theodoros Terzopoulos, 2006), where he played the role of a Phoebe Choir Member and Oedipus’s Messenger.  He was also introduced in The Inspector General performance (7.09.2006). Presently, the actor’s repertoire includes the roles of Police Officer (The Living Corps by L.Tolstoy, Director Valery Fokin, 2006); Bug (The Fly after Joseph Brodsky’s poem with the same name and Korney Chukovsly’s Mukha-Tsokotukha (The Clattering Fly) fairy-tale) (2007); Director О. Eremin, 2007); Balrazar Baltazarovich Zhevakin (The Marriage by N. Gogol, Director Valery Fokin, 2008); Jeraia Jeep (Man Equals Man by Berthold Brecht, Director Yury Butusov, 2008); Yakov (The Seagull after the motives of A. Chekhov’s play, Director Khrystian Lupa); Mityai (Ksenia. The History of Love by V. Levanov, Director Valery Fokin, 2009); Resident of Mirgorod (The Ivans after N. Gogol’s The Story How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich and other N. Gogol’s writings, Director Andrey Moguchy). In Andrey Moguchy and K. Filippov’s performance “The Fortune” he is engaged in mass scenes (nurses, emergency doctors, bird-headed servants of the Night) (Director Andrey Moguchy, 2011). 

 In the new Oskaras Korshunovas’ performance “The Taming of the Shrew” by W. Shakespeare (2010), he plays one of the key roles - a drunken loafer Sly who became a victim of a hoax played by the Lord and his servants. Usually, this character is omitted from directions of “The Taming of the Shrew” along with the entire prologue. In Oskaras Korshunovas’s performance, not only Sly turns into the principal onlooker, but he also is the most active participant of the comical action about taming the obstinate Katharine. Korshunovas even expanded the prologue attaching a provocative performance in the beginning: a drunken young man bursts into the auditorium trying to escape from an usherette. Once on the stage, he is getting into a dialogue with the public telling the story of his unfortunate love – a sort of “a Sly of our times.” But when already on the stage, he becomes directly and figuratively engaged in a weird game: he becomes the very Sly, who is catalyzing the action. The audience needs such a character that puts sense into the whole action. In the end, when all the actors are hidden behind the curtain, Sly remains one-on-one with the entire audience again.