John Fasile

And that's what happened to you.

Gregory spent three years with the Arkady Rykin Theater, playing to full houses.

Basically, you became the most popular mime in Russia.

Is that fair to say?

The early and mid-60s were a comparatively liberal time in the Soviet Union.

Yeah, you had to be careful about speaking your mind, but if you did, you might just get a talking to instead of being disappeared or shot.

That all changed in 1968.

when Red Army tanks rolled into Soviet Czechoslovakia to crush protests there, but also to send a message everywhere.

At around the same time, Gregory and his troop were gearing up to take their next leap to television.

Why that piece?

Because that's the most political... That seems like the piece that you would be most likely to get in trouble for.

Man in Machine starts with a mime, walking towards the front of the stage.

He's swinging his limbs, not a care in the world, about to walk into the audience.

An invisible wall, a barrier, a force field.

Then the wall moves.

Back.

Back.

To the back of the stage where the machine is waiting for him.

They wrap their arms around the free man and then spin around him.

He falls to the ground.