Many years ago, I met a young actor named Alexander Reed.
Actually, that’s not true, I didn’t.
In those days he was a handsome, youthful, acting-obsessed fellow called Aleksander Ristov and we ‘did theatre’ together.
Shakespeare, all sorts of stuff.
His dream was to go to New York and to become Al Pacino.
Instead, he went to NYC, got some great theatre training, did some fine work, has had a long career of extraordinary quality, and has become himself.
That self is Alexander Reed.
This was a wise decision because, as I understand it, Al Pacino is already taken.
Alex regularly returns to his New York acting roots at the Stella Adler School. Adler is, of course, a legend in the world of theatre teaching. She studied with Russian icon Konstantin Stanislavski and remained true to his teachings throughout her life.
She taught first at Erwin Piscator’s ‘Dramatic Workshop’ before founding ‘The Stella Adler Conservatory of Theatre’ in 1949, her big-name students being Brando, Stritch, McQueen, De Niro, Beatty, Bogdanovich, Sheen, and Keitel.
And Alex.
She also taught at the ‘Yale School of Drama’ and led the undergraduate drama department at New York University. She was well known for her pithy sayings, perhaps her best remembered being ‘don’t be boring.
Alex had certainly heard that one before he left our shores!
The dear man regularly comes home to family, and he always wants to catch up which is nice. I adore him and so do my whānau. He seems to like us too. Catching up is never dull with Alex. Dinner is never long enough either, and it’s always vivid, intriguing, and fun, with no-one ever being boring.
I struggle increasingly with that but no-one seems to notice, I do love polite people.
He’s a very special man who I’ve come to love and admire in so many ways. When he was here in 2024, we had dinner at the Bodrum Kitchen in New Lynn because, well, you do, don’t you? Who would ever, when dining with a Macedonian man, choose food from anywhere other than the Mediterranean and, in particular, (if I’m doing the recommending) Türkiye?
As we chomped away on the most magnificent breads known to man, Alex reminded me so much of the actor who played Roy Cohn in Mike Nichols magnificent, made-for-cable mini-series, ‘Angels in America’ penned by the brilliant Tony Kushner.
I couldn’t remember who it was – until I did.
It was Al Pacino
So, there you go.
I’m reminded of ‘The Circle of Life’:
From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round
Maybe this is where Alex and I connect: neither of us will be satisfied until we’ve seen, heard, and done everything.
And, in my case, written something about all of it, a little something that it’s unlikely anyone will ever read.
Long may this unconventional and unpredictable friendship continue. It’s certainly totally worth staying alive for.
Thanks, Alex, thanks so much.
dykiegirl 