Dmitry Zhukovsky: A Chekhovian Conversation
When Dmitry Zhukovsky was a teenager, he stumbled into a small community show and fell in love with the expressive storytelling nature of theatre. He has devoted his life to it ever since. A long-time appreciator and admirer of the famous dramatist Anton Chekhov’s work, Zhukovsky will be directing I Take Your Hand in Mine by Carol Racamora as a part of the Chekhov Collective during the 2025/2026 Theatre Kingston season.
This interview was conducted by email and has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you first get involved in theatre?
It happened by accident one evening as a teenager, when a friend and I walked into a small community show. I don’t even remember what they were performing, but what struck me wasn’t the performance itself—it was the people. People my age on stage, united by a shared energy, emotional sincerity, and openness. I was drawn to that energy.
I’d never really dreamed of becoming an actor or a director. Even when, right after school, I was incredibly lucky to be accepted into a well-known Moscow acting school, I didn’t think of it as a career move; I just loved that genuine, creative, communal process.
When you’re not directing, what kinds of plays or performances do you enjoy watching for yourself?
Sometimes it’s a dramatic play or physical theatre, but what I’m always looking for is a living human being on stage, fully present in all their dimensions: intellectual, emotional, physical. What moves me is that intimate, fragile, trusting experience—when you feel someone’s humanity exposed. In everyday life, we don’t often get that. People are guarded, protected—which makes sense, we all need safety, but the price of that safety is distance. Theatre allows us to be open safely and lets us experience empathy and human closeness.
What drew you to I Take Your Hand in Mine as a director? Was there something about the script, characters, or meaning behind it that immediately clicked with you?
There were a few things, first, the writing itself. Carol Rocamora wove together Chekhov and Olga Knipper’s letters, real biographical details, and moments from his plays into something elegant and deeply Chekhovian—like a delicate psychological lace.
And Chekhov is an important figure for me as a writer and human being. I love his plays, stories, and way of seeing people. So when I came across this play, it felt impossible to resist stepping into his world and exploring, not just as an author, but as a character.
This project became a way to understand him more deeply—and to share that feeling with others.
How has your artistic style shaped the way you approached directing I Take Your Hand in Mine?
The play is based on the letters between Chekhov and Olga Knipper—so by definition, it’s really about words, but what happens beyond the words is just as important. I’m always interested in body language. From the very beginning, we moved away from the idea of a staged reading and started to work physically.
The result is a refined minimalism—no external theatrical effects like lighting tricks, sound, or music. Just two actors on stage and a few pieces of furniture. Yet within that simplicity lies a deep complexity—physical, emotional, and intellectual. It’s a dense web of feelings and meanings, expressed through words, gestures, movement, and tone.
In creating a play so deeply connected to Chekhov himself, I wanted to stay true to his artistic spirit—and his subtlety.
What’s your process for working with actors and designers so their ideas shape the production while still staying true to your vision?
Our play is pure actor’s theatre—a 90-minute performance, two people on stage, no sound, no lights, no effects. Everything depends on the actors, so you need to understand their craft. I came to directing from acting, and I’ve spent my whole professional life teaching it. Your vision as a director shouldn’t exist only for yourself. It has to inspire the actors. It should be alive, contagious, and clear enough to translate into their language.
Bringing all that together, a director must be ready to dissolve into the actor. To disappear inside the actor’s life on stage. Only then can something truly alive appear before the audience.
What excites you most about sharing this play with the community?
This play has been with us for ten years now. We’ve performed it in different spaces in Toronto and the U.S., and now we’re bringing it to Kingston, which feels very special.
We really love this piece, so every new performance, every new audience, is a joy. It’s always a beautiful opportunity to meet new people and share something meaningful. For both the actors and the audience, it’s a moment of intimacy—a chance to feel close, which is something theatre can do like nothing else.
What do you hope audiences leave thinking or feeling after seeing I Take Your Hand in Mine?
Human life is a strange gift—full of joy and beauty, yet also of pain, suffering, and loss; life has an expiry date. Chekhov understood this deeply. He conveyed it with tremendous power and yet with great delicacy—never sentimental, always truthful.
He had a sober, ironic, doctor-like view of human existence, without illusions about human nature. That unique Chekhovian blend of irony and compassion is what gives his work its unmistakable taste. If, after our performance, people leave with a trace of that feeling, or perhaps feel inspired to open one of Chekhov’s books again, then our meeting with the audience was not in vain.
Is there anything I haven’t asked that you wish I had? Or something you’d like to share?
Chekhov’s characters often wondered what life would be like centuries ahead. Thinking about Chekhov now, I ask myself: What would he be doing if he were here today, as we witness the Russo-Ukrainian war? My answer: he wouldn’t remain silent. He would name the atrocities Russia is committing today by their real names. And where could he do that? There aren’t many options for a Russian writer today—either in exile or behind bars.
Dmitry Zhukovsky is a Canadian theatre and film director, actor, and acting coach who has worked in the USSR, post-Soviet Moldova, and Russia, performing on stage and teaching at leading theatre and film schools in Moscow. Since immigrating from Russia in 2012, he has divided his professional work between Canada and the United States.
‘I Take Your Hand in Mine’ premieres at the Baby Grand Theatre, running from Nov 12-22, 2025. More information can be found here.
