Let’s Live!

17.5.2024

Representatives of  the Starobilsk Professional College spoke with Volodymyr Talashko, actor, People’s Artist of Ukraine and theater teacher.

Volodymyr Talashko remembers the day when he came to the hospital to visit a wounded soldier on his birthday. That day, the mother of the wounded soldier, seeing the actor, thanked him, saying:
-Thanks.
– Thanks for what? Talashko asked in surprise, refraining from adding: “It’s your son lying wounded.”
– For “Let’s live!” – answered the woman briefly.

Today, students, employees and teachers of the Starobilsk Professional College of Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University had the opportunity to talk with a remarkable person – Volodymyr Dmytrovych Talashko, actor, People’s Artist of Ukraine and theater teacher.

Volodymyr Dmytrovych dreamed of becoming an actor since childhood and remembers with trepidation how he read Shevchenko’s poems as a small boy. He persevered towards his dream, despite the fact that his family considered this profession not serious. Volodymyr Talashko is very grateful to his teachers and says that it was thanks to them that he got on the stage. He especially remembers his first teacher, Nadiia Kyrylivna, who instilled in him a love for art.

The actor’s first work was the film “How Steel Was Tempered” based on the novel of the same name by M. Ostrovskyi. Thanks to his role, he got into the well-known picture “Only “Old Men” Go to Battle”. Leonid Bykov watched the materials for this film and noticed the novice actor.

Probably, everyone has seen or, at least, heard about the film “Only “Old Men” Go to Battle”. It is impossible to watch it without emotions, it leaves an imprint on many hearts. Volodymyr Talashko’s role in it is one of the main ones. Probably his hero, Senior Lieutenant Skvortsov, was remembered by the audience for his performance of the song “What a Moonlit Night”. It is this song that makes the heart skip a beat, because it contains love for art and the homeland – Ukraine. 

The actor was a patriot from a young age, he speaks about his native country with great tenderness. At our meeting, he read a work entitled “Prayer for Ukraine”, which he composed himself from poems by various poets, including Lina Kostenko and Mykola Vingranovskyi. When he read this poetry, the hall was completely silent, all eyes were directed to the stage, and it was impossible not to feel awe from the lines read. During his speech, Volodymyr Dmytrovych repeatedly emphasized how important it is to love one’s country, to know its history and culture, to be ready to stand up for it and protect it. The actor emphasizes that “it is not a shame not to know but it is a shame not to know and not to try to find out.”

The meeting with Volodymyr Talashko brought many impressions and a sense of admiration. Sensual teaching of poetry, which reflects deep feelings for one’s country, always, and especially in our difficult times, can cause excitement and admiration in the listeners, lead to internal reflections on the meaning of patriotism and national identity.

Anastasia Shevchyk,
first-year student of Starobilsk Professional College of LTSNU