My call is to be a present observer and witness of destiny / LR1 / / Latvijas Radio

I’m not an actor, I’m a random person who, passing by the theater, got there out of spite – says Juris Strenga about himself. About the Russian world and why now only burlak novels are read, about the roles of foreigners and yukush professors, and also drinking vodka, a conversation with Juri Streng At the crossroads of an era.

When the actor Juris Strenga entered the Faculty of Theater of the Conservatory after high school, the legendary teacher Vera Baļuna said: “Dear man, there is nothing to do in the theater with such big ears. Go study music or something else.” The later years proved that Vera Baļuna was wrong. With his ears, Juris Strenga has heard what many missed, with his great mind he is called one of the most intellectual actors in our theater.

Juris Strenga is most often seen with a book in his hands, however, when he was driving from Klapkalnciem to an interview with Latvian Radio, he did not read. Time has made its corrections. Now, every morning for Juri Strengas starts with a program about current affairs in Ukraine produced by Jānis Slaidin.

“It drew a line from all my other activities, like reading books, being interested in politics. Everything became meaningless,

I don’t read any philosophical treatises anymore, I read burlak novels, because it somehow goes together with the war,” admits Juris Strenga.

“My mother, who was born in 1900, died at the age of 98. Then she said: Tomorrow, I just want to see how this mess ends. It was about the Soviet Union. It collapsed, and my mother saw it. Me too today I can say the same – I also want to see how this mess, which has been cooked in our east, will end.”

Compared to characters and roles, Putin is a modern-day Moriarty.

Juris Strenga: I really regret that they took down the Russian channels where those propagandists were speaking. What kind of “bilinas” were these “bilina” tellers that they invented every day! I can imagine what a mess they were in. (..) I would like to see what they are saying now.

This is a terrible subject, we can talk about it for hours, but let’s get it over with. They will all be finished, that evil will go down the drain, just like Hitler’s evil.

Juris Strenga welcomes the change of Ukrainian President Zelensky.

Juris Strenga: His transformation from comedian to presidential role player in the film is amazing. How did this little man manage to get by. He now embodies the whole nation, the whole nation looks up to him. He’s running the whole thing admirably. I don’t know how something like that can suddenly flare up in one person. So he had those reasons, he had some sort of Brand start, he wasn’t satisfied with his role as a comedian. He aspired further to the impossible.

The actor admits that he admires the responsiveness of the Latvian people to donate and help.

Juris Strenga: It got me so excited that I even make a phone call once in a while. As a pensioner, I can’t particularly participate and I can’t buy a tank anymore. I’ve never been able to, either, because actors during the Soviet Union, although they filmed a lot, I traveled all over the Union and was acquainted with many Russian actors, wonderful people. Those were wonderful times, but money-wise it all stayed in the local pubs and restaurants. It did not reach home and did not bring any good. (..) What these people are doing now, I don’t know, but something is missing. Obviously, it will not be possible to restore these ties with Russia so quickly.

Kino Juris Strenga has played Nazis and fascists quite a lot.

Juris Strenga: The Russians needed to create the image of the enemy, which they constantly need. The Russians themselves were no longer being used, they were using us, the Baltics.

My look is disgusting enough – tall and tall and impossible to put anywhere, apparently very similar to a fascist. I played a fascist in Estonian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian films. I filmed a lot in Odessa. (..) There were captains, lieutenants. There were a lot of shoulders.

Speaking about Latvian politics, Juris Strenga admits that he feels disappointment.

Juris Strenga: Politics is just a frustration to follow and worry about, I avoid it. It’s enough for me to see what happens to people, which has always interested me. Who is a person, what is his psychology. These changes… (..)

Bitter realizations about human nature as such are only increasing for me, which this war does not improve at all.

Regarding politics, you mentioned that there is a lot of disappointment. It is so big that you don’t even go to the Saeima elections?

Juris Strenga: I go and always wished for a new party and I am always disappointed, because in the end it turns out that they are the same, only the name has changed a little.

This is also a presidential election year, should President Levitt be given another chance?

Juris Strenga: I’m a little familiar with him, but I think that you shouldn’t throw yourself around and look for someone better, because there are a lot of scumbags with great personalities in Latvia. It is also education. What were there during the first Latvia, what kind of educated people were there with the education of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Europe. What were they about the old people, what were they about the personalities.

Personalities can no longer be raised. With such an education system as it is now, nothing good can be expected, universities are also coming to an end. Starting from childhood, when parents do not read fairy tales in front of children, the collapse of education begins. (..)

You have to read a ton of books to understand what is good and what is bad. Bad books should be read too. I read all those burlak novels and I catch the writers, I catch the psychological ones also in a purely technical sense, where they recalculate, but you have to train yourself to think, not to tap the phones.

There was a Kārlis Auškāpas course, where I was allowed to work with the young actors, a little piece of the production. Before we started staging, I’m not a teacher, I’m not an actor either, I’m just a random person who, passing by the theater, has somehow ended up there, out of stubbornness. (..) I told them that you must know it, starting with Kant, existentialism, Sartre, American philosophers. You have to read something at the cognitive level. You cannot be an actor on stage, a thinking person who does not have a wide angle of view. But today the young actor is beaten, he is on stage, playing from one play to another, he has no time to read. He get some kind of husk speed, a few sentences of everything. No, it won’t go through without reading!

In the conversation, Juris Strenga repeatedly mentions the time when he did not have roles in the theater, when he filmed more and devoted time to self-knowledge.

Juris Strenga: I have simply rested on my laurels and got through with logic, which has been the most important thing in my life, and even further, when I watched the performances of Venta Vecumniece and thought why I can’t do it. They were Soviet girls, sometimes in a sad state, I wonder if I can’t do it if she does it so clumsily and illogically. Can I do that with my logical thinking? Peterson [Pēteris] they helped me choose to stage something, then I slowly started quietly. But

directing was not my calling, acting is not my calling either. My calling is to be a present observer and witness of fate in all that is happening around. I gladly accept the trust given to me and I also hope to get a few more years out, because I really want to see how this mess will end.

In the conversation, we cannot fail to mention the year 1975 and the Art Theater performance “Brands”, which is included in the cultural canon of Latvia. Lilija Dzene wrote at the time that Juris Strenga would not play anything better in his life after the role of Brand.

Juris Strenga: It was, and when she wrote it and told me that too, I felt very uneasy, but it turned out to be true. After that, everything went differently with the theater as well.

Is it true that director Arnolds Liniņš originally intended the role of Brand for Harija Liepiņš?

Juris Strenga: Aina Matīsa Radio told the following version. But I can tell another version, it seems more reliable to me, because it comes from Ilmar Blumberg. He said, “You weren’t meant to be dubbing for this role, Yuri.” Harry was first. Jānis Plēsums, who was Liniņš’s favorite, was expected to be handsome, but as he opened his mouth, it was a complete horror.

Blumbergs together with Modri ​​Tennyson, who both made this show together, even more than Liniņš. I think that Kārlis Auškāps, Modris Tennysons have put the most into this work, Liniņš was like a supervisor and, most importantly, managed the whole huge process of creating the show. Kärlis together with Modri ​​were the real creators of the spirit. They said we don’t do it without Strenga. I hadn’t played anything before, only some small games of the Soviet Union. It was nothing. Sometimes I mentioned that I would like to play something, but it remained hanging in the air.

How do you rate Brand’s return to Daile Theater and his return to this show?

Juris Strenga: I have a different attitude towards it. When I was rehearsing in the hall, I constantly heard mine and Ausma [Kantānes] intonations. In addition, I heard poetry, because that time we staged a poem.

Currently, this “Brands” is a melodrama directed by the director. It doesn’t go together in my understanding.

Also, the fact that there is a rhythmic language, a poem, gives breadth to this thought, gives some distance to the whole problem, but when trying to make him closer to today’s youth – I don’t know if this approach… where are the benefits, where are the losses.