|
|
| Arts Calendar / June 30 / Theatre |
|
|
|
|
|
A comedy in five acts by Alexander Ostrovsky. 180 min (with an intermission). Director: Pyotr Fomenko. Stage Director: Ma Zhenchong. Subtitles are available in English, French, German and Russian. Once upon a time, this stage production became the theater’s “claim to fame", and today, 25 years later, it is still a part of the program. This production allows the audience to see the classical play from a completely different angle. There’s light play and light sadness, and the poetry of the by-gone world of the Russian estates, Chekhov’s Impressionism, and lots of humour. The play’s story — speculation with bills of credit — is presented in a sharp and even grotesque manner. The director doesn’t stress contemporary connotations, the audience feels them anyway. The production was performed in Poland (Toruń, 1993), Austria (Salzburg, 1993), Lithuania (Vilnius, 1994), Germany (Berlin, 1995), France (Paris, 1999), and was a part of the Avignon Theater Festival in July of 1997. Its awards include the Grand Prix at Contact-93 international festival in Poland and Best Actor prize for Yuri Stepanov (for the role of Lynyaev), and Stanislavsky Prize for actor Andrei Kazakov (for the role of Pavlin Savelyich). "So this what theater is really like? — because we seem to have forgotten it, like we forget everything, even the faces of our loved ones […] Everything seems like an improvisation, everything is thrown together, like a light sketch, a sand castle, a dream […] Farewell to convention! Farewell to the old productions, samovars, mouldy frocks and false beards, let the false rags and pretences rot away! Dirt-cheap tablecloths, two throw blankets, and two candle sticks are enough to bring all the vestiges and corners of the whole world to life. We leave the theater auditorium dazzled and pensive, the beautiful images turn our heads. And for a long time we remember this gracious nonchalance, the essense of Fomenko’s art, which seems so much like the suddenness of love. It’s as if you inhale the forgotten but beloved smell, which you missed so much," Frédéric Ferney, Figaro. Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre |
|
|
|
|
|
|