Declan Donnellan recently staged a production of Pushkin's Boris Godunov, starring Yevgeny Mironov, at the Barbican. New Style met with the talented English director, whose production has won critical acclaim in both Russia and Britain, and the conversation focused on his international experience and work with Russians. ...

— You have actors from Germany, France and Russia. Language is a key factor in the roles they play. How do you choose actors without understanding what they are saying?

— I can understand Russian. But I've learnt through years of working in the theatre that if the words are important, they are not the most important thing. What's most important is the quality of the experience. In a way, it's good not to understand the language to become a better director. The words distract you from what's happening on stage.

— You've directed Three Sisters and Boris Godunov. It was a brave move for an English director to interpret such Russian classics, wasn't it?

— I agree. I've always loved Chekhov, but to do him or Pushkin on stage requires a great understanding of actors. ... I love my Russian actors and know and understand them really well. They are like my family, and we work together really quickly. It's difficult for me to go to another country and start another group of actors. It's not always good to work with new people, which is a Western way. There's something precious about the Russian system I hope you hang on to: it's important to keep the same group of actors. Although in the theater we are lying – we are pretending that these things are happening for real - it's even more important what we feel in the theatre is authentic. It could be easy to fool the audience into believing it. It's not the case with the Russian audience, maybe due to the high standard of theater. They are not yet brutalised by a kind of Hollywood inauthenticity. The Russians still understand the difference between what's fake and what's really alive in the theater. ...

— How have you found working in Russia?

— When I first went to Russia, I fitted into the Russian theater scene. I felt they understood me. One of the most wonderful things was going there and being embraced: it's difficult to explain it to English people sometimes. I don't feel like I'm an exotic foreigner but, of course, I'll never be Russian. But I feel at home. ...