Marina Vlady

“Vladimir, or, Flight Interrupted” is a confessional performance, in which the celebrated French actress Marina Vlady, a legendary sorceress, speaks candidly, yet with reserve, about the passion that has colored her entire life. Under the exquisitely tactful direction of Jean-Luc Tardieu, Vlady tells the moving and nostalgic tale of the years which she spent traveling back and forth between Paris and Moscow in order to be with Vladimir Vysotsky. The production is drawn from Vlady's memoires, which caused an enormous stir in cultural circles in France when they were published at the end of the 1980s. The book, bearing the same name as this production, sheds light on the magnificent and complex relationship of these two outstanding personalities and on the splendid and tragic life of a great Russian poet, singer and actor. Just as the book did many years ago, the production of “Vladimir, or, Flight Interrupted“ („Vissotsky ou le vol arete”) stunned the French public with its pain and sincerity. The premiere took place in the fall of 2006 on the famed stage of the Bouffes du Nord in Paris. The French press called the show “a true minor masterpiece.”

The critic for Figaro wrote, «In 45 brief scenes the actress reveals all the facets of Vladimir Vysotsky's talent, a Russian actor, poet and singer, whose life she shared over a period of 25 years.»

“Under Tardieu's marvelously warm production, and with the accompaniment of excellent musicians, Marina Vlady sparkles with beauty and talent as she induces the spectator to cry, to laugh, to feel joy and to feel sorrow“ (Periscope).

“This production is a gift of memory, a gift of stunning precision and sincerity. Marina Vlady is its heart and soul, a true Queen of Hearts. She is tender and magnificent, radiant and glorious in song, in whispers, in shouts and in silence. Performing the best pages of her book “Vladimir, or, Flight Interrupted,“ she resurrects Vladimir Vysotsky, the poet and passionate actor who was her husband” (Figaro et vous).

„Jean-Luc Tardieu created a production that sings the passionate praise of Vysotsky and makes use of marvelous lighting by Jacques Rouveyrollis. Thanks to the video projections of Michel Vinogradoff we feel the poet's gaze on us” (Le Quotidien du Medecin).

In an interview with Pariscope: semaine de Paris, Marina Vlady tells how she risked doing a dramatization of her book „Vladimir, or, Flight Interrupted” 27 years after it was published:

Micheline Rozan (Peter Brook's co-director at the Bouffes du Nord) suggested it. I would never have dared do it on my own, but they suggested a new approach to telling Vladimir's story. So I agreed.

How did you make the transition from book to stage?

This was done with the director. I was too overcome with emotions. He approached everything from a proper distance, which allowed him to reveal the story's main thread. I relate my own personal view of everything that happened and I sing Vladimir's songs.

One assumes that wasn't easy?

Of course it wasn't easy. At first I didn't know how I was going to be able to do it. Once again I immersed myself in his poetry, his music and everything that I have tried to forget. Then I began to come upon those moments when I was happy, regardless of the difficulties and the long period of mourning. I was able to find a way back to the light, which is very important.



The Russian premiere of “Vladimir, or, Flight Interrupted” took place on the stage of the Meyerhold Center from February 6 to 15, 2009.