Actor, screenwriter, director, theater and film producer, and not least, musician, Tim Robbins has established himself as a remarkable personality in the global artistic world. His role in “Mystic River” earned him an Oscar, and the one in “The Player” a Golden Globe. He wrote and directed “Cradle Will Rock,” a film that entered the competition for the Palm d’Or at Cannes, and “Dead Man Walking,” which was awarded numerous international prizes, including the Oscar for Best Actress given to Susan Sarandon and the Silver Bear for Best Actor awarded to Sean Penn.
Since 1981, Tim Robbins has been the artistic director of the experimental theater company The Actors’ Gang, which has been awarded over 100 prizes to date. In 2016, he received a star on the Walk of Fame during the Sibiu International Theater Festival (FITS) “for his exceptional contribution globally in the fields of cinema, theater, and education.” This year, The Actors’ Gang will present at FITS an absolute world premiere: “Aphrodite or the liberation of the world,” a show that talks about the human condition, about forgiveness and hope, mixing a serious tone with a humorous one.
Anda Ionaș: After graduating from (high school) college, in 1981, you founded the (experimental) theatre group The Actors’ Gang. What made you stay so dedicated to this troupe, and to theatre in general, over the years, and to devote so much of your energy to it, given that you have also built a successful career in cinema, which arguably brings more notoriety and money than theatre?
Tim Robbins: Fame and money do not make you wiser or more insightful about the human condition. In fact fame and money might lead some in the opposite direction; an insulated and protected place where one is considered special for their talent. To live in this rarified air is not necessarily conducive to the growth of the spirit or the expansion of one’s intelligence and relationship with the world. Theater has always been a way for me to ground myself in the unknown, this incredibly fertile space that Peter Brook wrote about, a space of perpetual discovery.
This space is impossible to discover for those that consider themselves experts or feel themselves to be elevated above others that do the same work they do. A live performance takes away all pretense and illusion one might have about themselves and renders us all equal. An audience has its needs and whether you can meet those needs with the work you do is all that matters. If you’re a big star, your fame and fortune won’t protect you if you suck on stage.
The Actors’ Gang has a rich educational activity and, very interestingly, also offers a personal development programme through theatre for prisoners. Where did the idea for such a programme come from and what results have you seen over the years?
Tim Robbins: I have witnessed transformations. I have seen withdrawn traumatized children become sentient and vibrant and alive through the work that we do with them. I have witnessed tough and hardened incarcerated men and women having transformations into emotionally available and compassionate adults. I have seen racial and gang barriers dissolve with the work we do. And there is nothing particularly complicated in what we do. We introduce them to characters from the Commedia Dell’ Arte and ask them to choose one of the four emotions while they are on stage. We are not psychiatrists. We don’t have discussions about trauma.
We ask them to play, simply play. And we ask for honesty and urgency and purpose in the emotion they are sharing. I believe both the incarcerated and the children we teach are able to access these emotions because they are accessing them through a character. It is not them, it is the Harlequino or the Pantalone that is angry or sad or afraid or happy. It also seems to resonate with them because survival in their respective worlds allow only one emotion. With prisoners it is anger. With children it is happiness. The incarcerated wear a mask of anger at all times. Showing any of the other emotions in prison will compromise your safety. Many tell me that while they do the work they are accessing emotions that have long been dormant.
The same is true for children. Their mask is happiness. They are told by adults to not be scared, not be angry, and not to be sad. But children have the full range of emotions, so you can imagine how liberating it must be for these children to express fury and rage and sadness and fear. And again, the characters of the Commedia give them the permission to express themselves freely without fear of an adult’s judgment or consternation.
When you accept a role, what criteria do you consider?
Tim Robbins: A solid script is essential. I tend to choose characters unlike anything I have played before. I’m not interested in anything exploitative or gratuitously violent. I feel like too many films use violence as entertainment, without regard to the loss of life. If there is violence in a film it must have ramifications for the story. The loss of life should be dealt with. The after affects of violence are as brutal as the act itself. I also try to avoid films that have revenge as a through line. Revenge is mankind at its worst and to encourage it in entertainment as a solution, to get audiences to cheer it on, is irresponsible in my opinion, perhaps the most damaging element that entertainment has brought us in the past forty years.
Which role has made the biggest impression on you?
Tim Robbins: My role as a father. It is consistently illuminating, always challenging and constantly evolving. In film, it wasn’t a role but a person that made the biggest impression on me. Robert Altman changed my life. To observe him, to collaborate with him, to be under his guidance taught me everything I needed to know to navigate the vagaries of show business.
Are you really a complete artist! In 2010 you also released an album (Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band). Which artistic pursuit is closest to your heart? As a musician, actor, writer or director?
Tim Robbins: My parents were musicians so my entire worldview was shaped by their love for music. Music was always the entry into this magical world. As an actor, as a director, as a writer, I think and feel musically.
The theme of this year’s Sibiu International Theatre Festival is friendship. How important has friendship been for you in the development of your career, and life in general?
Tim Robbins: Real friendships are the key to surviving all of the obstacles and challenges that face us in this world. A real friendship is a love that is unconditional, that is unafraid of the differences that may exist between the two of you. Friendship is about mutual respect, not about singularity of belief. These past four years have illuminated many new truths for me.
There has been a sadness in realizing that friendships may not have been what I thought they were, but I am grateful for the clarity that has brought me. I have come out of this time with deeper bonds to those that I love and consider friends and I believe this new clarity has made me a better friend to those I love and hold dear.
Photo credit: Colin Arndt
