Squinting, as if peering into the darkness through the spotlights, the theme of heroism was picked up by Vysotsky; – Well, I have recently had an occasion to rehearse...We stood on stage at the edge of the grave. Where there was a certain wooden beam. And suddenly my partner stumbles and flies headfirst straight towards the corner’s sharp edge. My heart jumped. But I managed to catch this guy and tell him: “Now you owe me your life till the grave”. And he laughed: “No, he says, now you have to support me till retirement!” In the course of the story I first got a glimpse of the poet and noted his excellent physical fitness, sturdily built body of a man who was not very tall, with excellent movement coordination and instant reaction. I was struck by a two-sided impression, made by his face. By his appearance, the face of the poet could quite easily pass for an ordinary Moscow hooligan, if not for some subtle, perhaps, acquired later, with the tireless work on his persona, hint of inner nobility. Hair bang, heavy chin, bushy eyebrows, protruding lower lip and constantly restrained inner strength. It seemed that in his account Vysotsky was interested in the moral aspect of the “rescue - gratitude.” He apparently was thinking about it, when he noticed that I stubbornly had long since secretly turned on my “Reporter”. - Well, ask me already - he smiled understandingly. - Vladimir - clearly and boldly, as if on the air, I asked my first question. Can you tell me how to call you by your patronymic? - Why is this to you so important? - Unexpectedly sharply and seriously responded Vysotsky. - You are a popular poet, a famous artist of the most renowned theatre in the country and abroad, you are older than me and our meeting is official. I can not in front of radio listeners call you just Volodya. Somehow it is incongruous with the situation. - As I could, I explained. - Well, Semyonovich, - reluctantly muttered Vladimir. And retorted: What's yours? - Well, Ivanovich. - I picked up in the same tone. - So, Vladimir Semyonovich, please tell me how you evaluate your work? You – who is a minstrel, bard, singer? - I am a poet! - Solid as a mathematical formula known by heart, said Vysotsky. - I am a poet who writes poetry and performs them with a guitar. I never sing another's song or poem. I think that, if Pushkin had lived in our time, he'd also performed his poetry with a guitar. He seems to have played some musical instrument. - Who is your favourite poet? - I love all in various ways. You can not love just one poet discriminatingly. - If you are a worker of the written word, where and which of your books can be read by our audience? Vysotsky delayed answering. G. Pozhenyan intervened: “That question I will answer. We, his friends, are helping Volodya with the release of the first poetry collection. It will be released soon. We hope.” - And what advice would you give to young people. How to become famous or, say well-known? - Take to the streets, for example, Gorky Street - Vysotsky shrugged his shoulder in a shiver - select a window which is biggest - and kick! So that pieces of glass shatter down. - His examples were, as they say, of “the adversary.” – Depends on which fame one strives for. 8. Vysotsky was unable to continue. The door was rashly opened and, having escaped from the hands of bodyguards, into the room rushed in, a flushed from the fight, blonde with false eyelashes and blush on the cheeks, in a dazzling silver dress with lurex, all resembling a cosmic creation. Hypnotically entranced she approached directly towards
Vysotsky. Well, not at Mr. Pozhenyan, would she approach, who was sitting near, with moustache, a fat, and elderly man! - What will it be! What will it be! - Anxiously pounded the thought in my head. - Who is she, this girl, this young woman? Betrayed and abandoned? Seduced and defamed? I became really worried about the outcome of the interview. Moreover, since the hands of “a fleeting phenomenon” were strangely and even ominously behind her. But Vysotsky, who was sitting at a table halfturned towards me, did not change his position, only stared at the girl in a sulky boxing defence. - The dead silence established in the room. It seemed, any moment now something would happen...But not having received the anticipated reaction of adoration from the poet, the former passionate fan turned around in disappointment and – what do you know, where did everything go to? - Not fluttered, but ran out heavily. Oh, God! What expected this girl in absentia love, whom did she anticipate to see and whom to meet? - So, - the even voice of Vysotsky brought me back to the prose of life – Let’s continue our conversation... 9. - Vladimir Semyonovich, please tell me how originated the concept of the unfamiliar to the audience image of Hamlet, whom you play on stage? - I asked a question in the second part of our interview. And once again, in front of my eyes, flickered the red arrow on the blue scale of the sound indicator, responsive to every sigh and a pause of the “banned” celerity, sitting in front of me. - One day - Vysotsky dictated thoughtfully – we were with Yuri Lyubimov in a fast train in one compartment. I told Yuri how I see Hamlet and the whole play. Beginning with a monologue “To be or not to be”; There, in this sentence, a question mark is nowhere present in Shakespeare. And we must not canonically assume that Hamlet - is a sort of half-mad person entangled in the nets of circumstances. No, Hamlet is a street artist who has not lost his mind. He - the prince, courtier, he was taught this science: to manage oneself, his destiny and people. His age is of quite a mature man. Not accidentally, but deliberately, he impales with his sword an eavesdropping adversary behind the curtain. He consciously crushes all his enemies. It is for this he arrived by ship from England to restore order in his home...” And then, in the conference room rang the bell for the first call. - What would you like to wish our radio listeners-optics? - I blurted out knowingly. - To be healthy. To produce more glasses, binoculars, photo cameras, microscopes. Well, what else is there? - And to you, Vladimir Semyonovich, further creative successes and achievements! I drew from my pocket a theatre program of “Hamlet” and asked Vysotsky for an autograph; His mind already on stage, he literally repeated his wish word for word, adding only “Dear Optics”. And we went into the auditorium. 10. “This evening, I remember for a lifetime.” There’s no other way to say it. Light in the theatre dimmed during the performance. Old-fashioned Russian shirt of crimson color with a hot hue was tucked into trousers, this time it was a stage costume for Vysotsky. In the opening of the shirt the veins on the throat of the wheezing poet dangerously swelled. From time to time, making sharp movements on the stage, he 35