When I was a student with Vesna Petrushevska: I felt best when we played the out-of-tune piano at FDU with Igor Madzirov

We were on a diet with Tanja Kocovska and we were eating cucumbers and beets and drinking water all day long. It was a romantic and exotic student life, says the Macedonian National Theater’s leading actress in the story “When I was a student” that Fakulteti.mk and Pivara Skopje do together

I always wanted to be an actress. At 8-9 years of age, I was filming myself imitating actors, sports commentators, celebrities. When I found the tapes after 20 years, I was amazed how good I was. When the time for enrollment came, I did not have a shred of doubt whether to enroll at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, says Vesna Petrushevska, who has been almost constantly present on the Macedonian theater stage for 25 years and is marking her important jubilee this period.

She was delighted to recall her unforgettable student days, which were filled with making a lot of friends, studying, discussing theater related topics. Petrushevska was relentless for knowledge and a particularly committed student. She was taking the exams even in the June session. She graduated with a GPA of 9.8 and to this day she is grateful for all the lessons she learned from the wonderful people she met at the Faculty, but also later on, at the stage of the Macedonian National Theater, where she is the leading actress today.

Theater – love since high school

She first wanted to become a ballerina; at the age of six she wanted to play the violin, but soon she changed her mind and began to learn how to pay the piano, like her sister. She studied at the junior music school. She got the desire for theater during high school.

– In the high school Josip Broz I enrolled to the culture major. Katerina Kolozova was in that class, and at that time her parents Gjorgji and Shenka were already mega popular with the folk tales. Shenka acted in the theater more. We decided to form a theater group. There was a very complex text by Atanas Vangelov – Neodredeni (Undetermined), I do not know what we were thinking, but we set it and named the group accordingly. Kate really wanted to be a director. She gave me the role of the devil. Here we got acquainted with Stanislavski’s system; we were reading many books and Shenka helped a lot in selecting them. Kolozov was also reading a lot. He used to say: “Vesne, why do you bother acting? To be a monkey?” The two of them taught me to be disciplined, to speak Macedonian eloquently, to read nicely. They were telling me: “We have illiterate actors a bit too much”. It was strange to me because I did not think that the actors did not read much,” says the actress.

Undetermined gave way to the group Crv (Worm), where Aleksandar Popovski and Ivan Popovski used to play. Meanwhile, Vesna has already won many Yugoslav awards with the play “Modern Alchemy” directed by Saso Stefanovski. Although they were very active at the theater, she did not neglect the school.

Petrushevska remembers her entrance exam to FDU as if she took it yesterday.

– Shenka advised me not to appear at the exam with Chekhov’s play because he was boring. She proposed Cveta from “Black Hole” by Goran Stefanovski, a text that was staged in MNT. She told me to demonstrate fervor, although I did not fancy the text at all. I went to the exam with Aco Popovski, who also wanted to be an actor. I asked if I could get props, which was Aco. They allowed me – in the first row there were the professors Kire Ristovski, Vlado Cevreski, Vlade Milcin, Vlade Cvetanovski. I recited Baudelaire, followed by a musical piece. The commission was flabbergasted. Aco was rejected, and it was great, because he is now a great director – Vesna laughs and adds that the process between the two rounds of the entrance exam was the best when they worked with the acting professors.

She remembers the anecdote when Milchin showed her the board which had the Faculty of Drama Arts written and asked her: “Does it say a million dollars? You will never make that kind of money! This profession is not for money, but it is a privilege” – I will not forget the words of Milcin.

At the faculty from morning till evening

Vesna prepared many etudes. She was active at the faculty from dusk till dawn. She happened to be in the class of Kiril Ristoski and Vlado Cvetanovski, which was their first class. It included: Jordan Simonov, Aleksandar Mikic, Izabela Novotni, Biljana Taneska, Valentina Drakalovic, Toni Mihajlovski and Nikola Ristanovski.

– I do not know why, Toni and Nikola failed the important colloquium in acting play and studied only briefly with us. I even wanted to fail just to study with them, they had great etudes. I had no life other than at the faculty. In the first year I literally slept at the academy. I baffled the professors with the etudes. From this perspective, I realize that I was overdoing it. Kire and Vlade practically studied with us. With Vlade I cooperated on the focus and concentration games. I remember that he brought us a book “Theater Games”; I was translating them and bringing them to classes. They were such theater people. They were really very advanced for their time. Kire was a remarkable actor, yet very modest, restrained, wonderful, balanced – says Vesna.

She graduated in Ruli’s class

In the first year of studies, the most fascinating character was Gjorgji Jolevski.

– He was known for doing endlessly many etudes. They invited Jolevski to show us how something is done and I remember to this day his virtuosity for body play. He was our star – Vesna recalls.

She acknowledges that many of the lessons of the professors are understood even later, not while studying. Together with Kire and Vlade they were in class for two years. It was time for them to become professors and lead their classes. The students were very sad.

– We were informed that Dimitrie Osmanli – Ruli would be our professor. He was already retired, but they reactivated him for us. He was the best director of comedies, a master of vaudeville and he had taught great actors. He spoke very quickly; he was an exceptional charmer, punctual, accurate while using strange words that only he used. I had a notebook with his indications. We are still recounting his anecdotes. He called me Luda Mara, and at first it was making me angry. He loved building the character on stage. He was not into reading rehearsals much – Petrushevska recalls.

In the third year they decided to stage Stewardesses for opening of Skomrahi. Vesna got the role of the maid, who is the “engine” in the story, but a very dull one.

– I learned from Ruli about the exact places where we can make the audience laugh. He was telling me that I was a born comedian and was threatening me that I should not laugh privately while I play on the stage. In those days, while we were sitting at the faculty, we were hanging out a lot with the older ones, Tanja Kocovska, Dragan Spasov – Dac, Gjorgji Jolevski. Adjacent to the Drama Theater there was a supermarket Slavija. We were on a diet with Tanja and we were eating cucumbers and beets and drinking water all day long. It was a romantic and exotic student life – Vesna laughs and admits that the buffet was not her favorite place to spend time.

She played Blanche DuBois

Sinolichka Trpkova, then already a mega popular actress, became their teaching assistant in the third year. Vesna admits they were thrilled to work with her.

– In the fourth year we worked on A Streetcar Named Desire and I was playing Blanche DuBois in two sets. I had rehearsals nonstop. Ruli would show up and said: “Luda Mara, how is it coming?” We had a premiere at the Theater Centar for graduation; everybody was there, the whole academy – recalls Vesna, who graduated in 1992, and became part of the ensemble of MNT as early as the following year.

She also loved the subjects that were not her majors – philosophy, psychology. She remembers the philosophy professor Dimitar Dimitrov.

– I had written an essay on Kierkegaard and the professor asked me if I played the violin? He thought that I was from the Music Academy, that they were reading, and that we at FDU – were not. I remember that I went to the exam, but the professor did not even ask me questions and gave me an A – says Petrushevska.

She will not forget the subject music, but not for the good. She says they were “hassled” a lot by professor Blagoj Canev because he demanded a lot of theory. On the other hand, she loved the psychology classes of professor Miodrag Micev, because they studied a lot of case studies and patients with different diagnoses, something that greatly helped them to build the actor’s character.

Goran Stefanovski was pure gold

Vesna is very happy that Goran Stefanovski taught them world dramaturgy. She loved talking to him on many theater-related topics.

– He entered the first class and said: “Shakespeare is a burglar.” He was my professor, but became my friend. That man was pure gold. Once Jugoslovensko dramsko pozoriste (Yugoslav Drama Theater) staged a play by Unko; it was some Shakespeare’s work. The play featured Žarko Laušević, Mira Furlan. After the play, Goran said: “Come, meet the actors, chat with them. How else will you exchange experiences?” We were uncomfortable, we did not want to get in the way. This is how I met Zarko – Vesna recalls.

She was impressed by the great actor Nenad Stojanovski, from whom she learned what a great actor and great man meant. She did not have the chance to play with the legendary actor, but he produced two plays featuring her.

A colleague, whom she will never forget, is Igor Madzirov who died too early. They were in the same class with Vesna briefly, but he soon joined the army and continued in the class of Toni and Nikola.

– There was an out-of-tune piano at FDU and at the breaks we were stealing some time and Igor and I played and sang. These were the most beautiful days of my faculty period. Igor was a virtuoso; he used to sit and literally “destroyed” the piano. He was very entertaining and I have not met such a character again ever since. We laughed a lot, we were buddies. Everyone knew where to find us. Later, we played together in a children’s play at Salon 19:19. He was a really great and dedicated artist, he did not play just Mowgli. He could play virtually everything. I am really sorry that he did not live to play everything in his life,” Vesna said.

She met Igor Dzhambazov at her first professional play Lice I Opacina (Face and Back).

– We sat in the corridor and he asked me why I did not enter the buffet and I just wanted to repeat the text before the play. He then told me: “You will never be an actress if you do not go to the buffet!” From the first moment we clicked. He is like a brother to me. He taught me that I must commit to the profession. Except for having been friends, we talked a lot about texts, we watched a lot of movies; we were going through the whole actor’s trade, system, method together – Vesna says.

She learned something from everyone

She played with all major actors in MNT. From Mimi Taneska she learned how important discipline is behind the scene. From Meri Boshkova that it is not so scary to go wild for a moment in the corridor. From Dzhuvalekovski – how important is stage speaking, from Dusko Kostovski – how everything is transient and that you need to love yourself.

Vesna admits that she spent her student days in a lot of studying, sleeping at FDU in exceptional modesty.

– I was somewhat prepared that talent does not always play a major role. I was ready for the fact that you should also get lucky in this profession. You need to have a star. In the beginning when you are young, you think that you will play all Desdemonas, Julias, but then you realize that you were not born for those roles and that there are others destined for them. And when you start walking your own character path, only then you can succeed in this profession. I realized that even as a student – Vesna concludes and says that she always knew how to feel happy about someone else’s success.