{"id":7670,"date":"2008-01-31T17:05:10","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T22:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=7670"},"modified":"2015-06-06T08:07:22","modified_gmt":"2015-06-06T12:07:22","slug":"acting-chekhov-walken-as-ivanov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=7670","title":{"rendered":"Acting Chekhov: Walken as Ivanov"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt from The Actor’s Chekhov: Nikos Psacharopoulos and the Company of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, on the Plays of Anton Chekhov<\/a>\"\"<\/i>:<\/p>\n

JEAN HACKETT:<\/strong> What was the process with Ivanov<\/em>?<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN:<\/strong> I loved doing that. I’d like to do that again, actually. It’s a much better evening than it’s given credit for.<\/p>\n

JEAN<\/strong>: What happens with that man? It seems like he starts from a place of complete despair and then just goes lower and lower.<\/p>\n

WALKEN<\/strong>: Yeah, but, I mean, he’s so funny. There’s a scene in it where I think he stands on stage and doesn’t speak for about 15 minutes. The party scene in the second act. He says nothing, he just stands there and watches everybody. And I used to get a lot of laughs in that scene. He’s so ridiculous!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I saw Walken in The Seagull<\/i> in Central Park – and he was awesome. Small part – Kevin Kline played the real lead – but Walken wandered through the action, punctuating the scenes with lines – that always sounded thrown away … not punchlines, but he ALWAYS got a laugh. He was great.<\/p>\n

\n