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Oct. 19, 2012
Shakespeare to apocalypse
Anton Lipovetsky is busily racking up an impressive resumé.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Not many young actors get to play Shakespeare right out of acting school. But Anton Lipovetsky did. And in more than one production.
Only last year, Lipovetsky graduated from Studio 58, the renowned theatre program at Langara College, and, this past summer, he was part of the Bard on the Beach cast. He played Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew and Prince Malcolm in Macbeth.
“I’ve been lucky,” the actor told the Independent. “Many of my friends from Studio 58 have to work in coffee shops and restaurants to make ends meet, although they’re very talented, but I have been working as an actor nonstop for the last year and a half.”
His latest engagement is the The Unplugging by Yvette Nolan, which is playing at the Arts Club Revue Stage until Nov. 3. In it, he acts alongside two experienced actresses, Jenn Griffin and Margo Kane. The play is a post-apocalyptic tale, set in the Canadian north. “It’s a very brave play. A very Canadian one,” said Lipovetsky. “It shows how important knowledge is,” especially that which is related to living off the land and surviving without such basic comforts as electricity.
Lipovetsky has been interested in theatre since he was very young. “I was named after Anton Chekhov, maybe,” he joked. In reality, he was very active in his high school drama program.
“He was bubbling with creativity,” recalled his father, Mike Lipovetsky. “Like many Jewish parents, I wanted him to learn piano, but he refused. Then, when he was 11, he started to play guitar, had his own band. He wrote songs for the band, music and lyrics. Later, in high school, he didn’t even take math. English and drama were his subjects. He acted and he directed.”
Lipovetsky would have liked his son to have become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer like himself, but he didn’t want to pressure his son into anything. “Our relationship was too important to me,” he stressed. “Anton finished high school when he was 17; he skipped one year in elementary school. He told me he wanted to try for Studio 58, one of the best theatrical programs in Vancouver, although he didn’t believe he would get in. I thought: let him try, he is only 17, let him play around. Then, he got accepted. Now, I’m so proud of him. I haven’t missed any of his plays yet, even if I have to fly to another city.”
His father has cause to be proud. In 2012, at the 30th Annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, Anton Lipovetsky received the Sam Payne Award for most promising newcomer. He also won the 2011 Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award as an emerging artist in the theatre category.
He is thoughtful about his acting. “When I play a modern role, like in The Unplugging, I practically play myself in the given circumstances. I imagine what I would do if I were then and there. But, when I play Shakespeare, I can’t be myself. I have to be a different person to fit a costume role.”
Although Shakespearean roles add respectability to any actor’s repertoire, Lipovetsky harbors dreams of modern dramas. “If I could play anything I wanted, I’d try to play a bad guy; they are interesting. And perhaps some 20th century classics: David Mamet, Sam Shepard.”
In addition to acting, Lipovetsky also writes plays and composes music, and he tries his hands at directing as well. In 2011, he wrote a one-man musical – a comic play FLOP! – for Delinquent Theatre. He performed it, accompanied by Mishelle Cuttler on the piano, during the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 2011 and then, in spring 2012, repeated the show for Vancouver audiences.
“I see directing in my future,” he said, “but it’s hard to direct yourself. Acting is weird this way. As an actor, you never know how you do. You rely on others to tell you.” That’s why it’s so essential for actors to hear the audience laugh or applaud, he added. They gauge the quality of their performance by the public’s reaction.
Though the public has appreciated the young actor’s performances, he is still drawn to directing. Music also holds an irresistible appeal for him. “If it was an ideal world, and I could direct anything, I would choose an American musical, like Rodgers and Hammerstein – it was perfect how they told a story with music. But it’s almost impossible now. Those productions are too expensive, and the theatres are suffering from the lack of funds. We just lost the Playhouse.
“Theatres are facing adversity,” he continued. “The competition from TV, movies, YouTube is very strong. That’s why Bard on the Beach is so important. People who never saw a live play in their lives go to the Bard shows.”
Lipovetsky admitted that Shakespearean language is not easy, neither for the actors nor for the audience, but he is sure that even people who don’t speak good English can understand the Bard.
“My relatives from Israel were visiting this summer,” he offered by way of example. “They didn’t know English but they went to see me in the Bard shows and they got the plays; maybe not every word, but the meaning was clear.”
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
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