In 1989, the great Swedish actor Erland Josephson, known for his roles in films by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, István Szabó, and Liliana Cavani, performed in a production of "The Cherry Orchard" by Bruk at theaters in Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi, and Tokyo. "Role" is the diary Josephson kept during this journey. It is a report on current events filled with self-analysis, memories of previous works, and essays about the unfamiliar worlds of Russia, Georgia, and Japan.