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My roommates were Meto Jovanovski, Dimitar Stankoski and Gorgi Stojanovski. Part of my everyday obligations were: taking care of the hygiene and washing shirts, the actor who is never tired remembers in the section “When I was a student” for Fakulteti.mk in collaboration with “Pivara Skopje”.
Despite being in the eighth decade of his life he still isn’t tired. He is performimg in his “Dramski Teatar” and in “MNT”, shooting series, and he is looking forward to talking about the theater. Blagoj Chorevski is probably one of the few left Don Quixotes whom the theater is a lifestyle. His energy is something the younger colleagues would have envied to. Numerous awards are written in his biography, and the last one is for the role of Wilfred Bond in “Quartet” of MNT that he received at the Festival of Chamber Theater “Risto Siskov” in Strumica.
He was pleased on our invitation to reminisce to the student days in the distant 70s, days of the best Bulgarian theater academy, back then Higher Institute of Theater Art (VITIZ), today’s National Academy of Theater and Film Arts.
First play when he was four years old
Chorevski is a child of a theater family. Trajko and Ratka Chorevski are one of the founders of the National Theater in Bitola. He wanted to become an actor ever since he knew about himself. “Makedonska krvava svadba” is the first play in which he played, when he was almost four years old.
Although many parents wish their children not to follow their rates, this was not the case with his parents.
– My father, Trajko Chorevski, died very young. There is one scene in “Makedonska krvava svadba” when they kill the bey, the people set off on an onslaught, my father lies aside to make the audience think that he was killed, and I ran to him. I thought something happened to him, and he told me: “Get away, this is a theater, watch your role.” After that, I realized that theater is something similar to life, but at enta-degree.
He had stomach cancer and I thought that they were causing him pain. And now, after so many years, few days ago they wanted to operate me from hernia, I told them, I cannot come on Thursday, I have a play, I will come on Friday. It is a way of life – says Chorevski.
I always played Santa Clouse at school
In primary and secondary school, he has not had any other desire to study except for acting.
– In the time there were no carpets, my mother had rugs for everyday use and for guests. I picked up the rugs for guests and placed them as curtains and even then everyone who wanted to come see the show had to pay. With that we bought juice or sweets. I got beaten so many times for those rugs. In elementary school, I always played Santa Clouse at school. I graduated at Agricultural School, cattle breeding or veterinary department. My mother enrolled me in regular high school, but there was this amazing teacher which was really strict. I was scared I would have problems in school and therefore I told my mom to drop me and I would enroll somewhere where it would be easier for me to finish high school. Today, I am proud I finished that school. I learned a lot about the animals, and that helped me in my current profession – he says.
The student life was wonderful
When it was time to enroll in a faculty, in Skopje there still wasn’t a Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Together with a group of friends they decided to go to Belgrade and try to enroll in Film direct. All failed to get in, except for Vladimir Milcin.
– Dimitar Stankoski and Gorgi Stojanovski went straight to film directing in Sofia, they got in and after a year I went too. Stanko Stoilov, an actor from the Bitola theater, was preparing me for the Academy. I chose a song from Vaptsarov, but I did not know it was a female song. In Sofia, we were together with: Meto Jovanovski, Slavica Nikolovska, Vanco Petrusevski, Marin Babic, Dragi Veljanovski. Then there was a system of reciprocity. As many students came from Yugoslavia in Bulgaria, the same amount went from Bulgaria Yugoslavioa – explains the actor.
In Sofia they lived in a dormitory for foreign students. At that time we paid 80 stotinki for a month.
– Our student life was wonderful. We were living a lavish life, for the eastern countries we were unattainable. My roommates were Meto, Dime and Gorgi. Two actors and two directors – anecdotes as many as you want. We were very helpful to each other. I was assigned about the hygiene, I washed our shirts, as not to give them to student services. We had food in the dormitory, Bulgarian students were not allowed to come. But, since we had a lot of money, we often went to the Hungarian restaurant, where we were very famous – reminds Chorevski.
Through jokes he admits that fun did not lack in their years of study.
– One evening we sold “Opel Record” and we drank it – he says.
In the years of studies, actor Ilija Dzuvalekovski formed a school in Zagreb, in which Emil Ruben, Vladimir Svetiev and others were members. It was from that academy that the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, which was first within the Faculty of Music Arts, was born. The first rector was the composer Vlastimir Nikolovski.
The students, who were the first year, such as Vanco Petrusevski, transferred them to Skopje, and those who were third and fourth year were left to finish in Bulgaria.
Highest grade for acting
Blagoj was a dedicated student. In all four years for the most important subject actor’s game he scored ten. He says that charm helped passing the exams, but not their own benefit in the future.
In the first year the professor yelled at me: “What are you doing? What are you playing? – On Bulgarian language. I could not invent the exercise well, probably I did not give all from me. When we started building characters, I was already better. Third and fourth year we played on a wonderful big stage. We were stars, although we were students. My generation is very famous. Meto Jovanovski, Marius Donkin, Maja Dragomanska … these are the legends of the theater in these regions – Blagoj says.
The closest one was Dimitar Stankoski.
– We were like brothers with him. We met when we were aroung 12-13 years old at the Festival of Amateur Theater in Kumanovo. We visited each other a lot, I went to him in Prilep, he came to me in Bitola. I played in all of his plays. I have always played with my whole soul, with my whole heart with Dime. He was a master of characteristically choosing the actors, which is a feature of a good director – emphasizes the actor.
It was a problem for us to master the Bulgarian language.
We studied other languages in college, there was Italian and a very beautiful professor, and because of her we went to classes, not for anything else, Chorevski laughs.
– We studied at an Academy with acclaimed history. We were taught by people who learnt from Stanislavski. Since the third year, with Meto’s class, almost every night we played on grandiose scene. When we were saying that we are students at VITIZ, we were seen as if we were something else, something weird. “The 12 Angry Men” was our graduating performance. Two jury commissions from both theaters – MNT and Drama – came to the graduation. As of September 1, I got employed in “Dramski“ and I retired there, – he says.
We loved “Dramski“
He admits that “Dramski Teatar” was the dream of his generation, because it was more avant-garde, more focused on acting, unlike the MNT, which was more obscure.
– When applying for VITIZ there were more than 800 candidates. I am happy that my teachers were top pedagogues. Michael Anastasov was my first teacher, who gave me the basis in the first year. He taught me what it means to be an actor, to believe in the profession, to develop talent. I was taught by Metodija Andonov, Ljubomir Kabakchiev, all legends.
When asked if there were any subjects that he learned enough to pass – he admits that there were some. But, both World and Russian dramaturgy were a must.
Vanco was a special actor
One of the actors with whom he had a special relationship was Vanco Petrushevski.
– He was an actor who managed to persuade the audience that he is not acting, which is the hardest. I am very thrilled that I had played with Vanco in two great performances. One is the “ZOO Story” by Edward Olbi and “Sega mu e majkata” by Goran Stefanovski. When he saw the performance, Goran asked us: “Ok, what text did you play?” – laughs Chorevski.
Together with Vanco, Goce Todorovski, Gorgi Kolozov after the studies, they formed the independent theater “Modro Okce”, which operated within the Youth Cultural Center. Chore says that they also needed another stage, beside “Dramski teatar”.
– I am happy that we were the ones continuing the heritage of the previous generation in Yugoslavia. They were surprised when we went to festivals – how come Macedonia has such good actors. They were generously sharing their knowledge with us. They were watching us on stage and gave us signs from which we understood how we did something. Petre Prlicko, who was my godfather, would say to me: “Son, what are you doing on the stage? What do you want? “We always listened to them, we would sometimes get a slap, but when we get home, we reconsider and understood what they were trying to tell us., – he shares.
There was no rivalry between him and his brother Boris Chorevski
– My brother received the only prize in Hvar for best amateur of Yugoslavia and he wanted to go to the Academy. I told him I would prepare him if he was good. Recently I was preparing a girl for NATFIZ, her name is Blagica Stojmenova, and she got in. I am proud of Tanja Kocovska, which I also prepared. You cannot create an actor unless it was given to him by God. Some get away with small roles or will get their chances thanks to their parents, but it will have no meaning – Chorevski is categorical.
And after so many years, Chorevski does is not losing faith. He says that if he is not like a child who believes in the play, he is not a good actor.
– The first moment when I lose faith, I will stay at home. If you do not share your faith, it’s waste to deal with art. You have to be convincing in front of the audience. A good actor should give you part of the “liver” – he is categorical.