There are stories about him, they want to be equal to him, they want to work with him and learn his acting skills, the People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Anna Mele celebrates his 60th anniversary in January.
Despite such an honorable age, the actor remains young in his soul and full of creative energy. All because the creation process never stops. On the eve of the birthday of the famous artist, we asked Anna Mele about her vocals, sources of inspiration, the theater of one actor and her life on stage, literally.
Anna Mele was born in 1962 in Serdar city (now Kizil Arvat) in Balkan velayat. Once, at a rural wedding, an amazing boy saw a performance by a sharp-tongued dancer. Young Seyitnepes Nepesov jumped into the center of the dance floor from the crowd. With eyes wide open, Anna watched a dance and at the same time realized that he wanted to give himself to the stage with all his acting passion.
Soon he was given such an opportunity. He began to visit the People's Theater in his hometown not only as a spectator, but also as a participant in stage productions. When he finished high school, his brother brought Anna Mele to Ashgabat and arranged for a Turkmenfilm film studio.
– As a young man, I was fortunate to work with prominent filmmakers Halmamed Kakabaev, Usman Saparov and many others,” recalls Anna Mele. - I even managed to star in episodic roles, and then went to serve in the army.
Already after the service, in 1983 Anna Mele became a student of the acting faculty of the Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute of Arts. Among the mentors of the starting actor are Professor Nurmuhammed Keshikov and actress Ogulzhan Niyazberdyeva. After finishing his studies, the new artist went to work at the Mariinsky Theater named after Kemine. And two years later he returns to Ashgabat as an actor of the young spectator theater.
It is from this period that the professional maturity of the actor begins. In 1991, his creative work in the play "1000 and One Night" was noticed at a theater festival in Ashgabat, and the first award of the artist became the award for the best male role. Collaborating on the play "Joseph and His Brothers" by Thomas Manna, Anna Mele's collaboration with director Ovilakuli Khojakuliev.
This creative tandem largely influenced the creation of a one-act Turkmen theater called "Awara" ("Maverick"). Shakespeare's play "King Lear" was the first one-man show in which Anna Mele reincarnated in all the characters of the tragedy - from the king to the courtroom shooter and the daughters of Lear. With this one-man show, played in Turkmen, the actor traveled around the world. And everywhere he went, it was a marvelous success. As one foreign observer once observed, "I have been engaged in Shakespeare all my life, but I did not know that Shakespeare was a Turkmen."
For his original performance of "King Lear", Anna Mele won international awards and prizes in Germany, Poland, and Ukraine. The actor also toured in France, playing Lear during the day and rehearsing Hamlet at night. For the first time in 2007, the Turkmen "Hamlet" shone at the "Passage" theater festival. Returning to his homeland, Anna takes on a new role. To the 200th anniversary of Mollanepes, he embodies on the stage the classic image of Turkmen poetry.
– The dream of any actor is to play the one-man show, - argues the artist. - But for this you need a lot of energy, stage concentration, the ability to keep the attention of the auditorium for the whole activity. "Get in the role" and "get out of it", always staying on the edge of reality and fiction. If an actor dreams of his monopoly performance, of a single role, then he necessarily needs a co-thinker, one who will understand it at the subconscious level. In this sense, I was very lucky with Ovilyakuli. I even traveled by train to Tashkent to work with him. My colleagues have written anecdotes and legends about these journeys. Then I took only one rug with me and went to rehearse "King Lear". There was no need for anything where I appeared, there was my little theater - the theater of one actor.
Anna Mele's list includes performances, theatrical productions, film productions and performances. There is not a single article to tell about this amazing man. Today, the People's Artist works with students of the Turkmen State Institute of Culture, teaches young people everything that he knows and knows himself. He is full of creative plans, one of which is to play the role of Mahtumkuli in a new one-man show.
On the question of whether he would like to change something in his life, Anna Mele answers unequivocally:
– No! If I hadn't become an actor, I would still be an actor.
