The Theatre Backstage

About a week ago I was lucky to be at the Theatre Night in Moscow. It’s an absolutely new format of the theatre event. The majority of moscow theatres are open for visitors during all the night. There were organized a lot of interesting actions such as concerts, perfomances, exhibitions, backstage tours with participation of actors and theater employess. I was very pleased to take part in this event and I think it’s a good idea for attraction the young people’s attention to a theater life.

As you might guess I chose to visit The Gogol Center.
By 11 pm here was a huge number of people of different ages, mainly students. The fexhibition started with the story about a history of the theatre building. Originally here was a construction of the railway depot. Even today we could recognize some elements of the old building, which were deliberately saved by architects.

Then we went down to the background floor. Here was a long trip through the costume, ironing, requisite, video engineering, makeup rooms. In some of its we were met by actors with short perfomances and it greatly inspired me. We could see the theatre through the eyes of light engineers, directors, actors, decorators, etc, to feel the inside theatre life. Most of all I remember the place under the main circle on the stage. It was a dark room with a blue spot, where two guyes met visitors playing drums, reading poems and improvising. All of this created the mystical atmosphere of the night theatre life, which I remember for a long time.

 

 

Radio and Juliet

Looking back I would like to talk about a performance Radio and Juliet by Edward Clug, which was showed in Moscow about a year ago. Noted for the ballet’s choreography and simplicity, Radio and Juliet represents a modernized interpretation of Shakespeare. This an hour long performance was set by combination of the classic drama and the electronic music by Radiohead.

I remember that day, when I was staying in the long turn to Kremlin, where this ballet should be showed. And despite of a truly cold winter evening, people were coming and coming to the entrance. It was a real sellout and the auditorium of Kremlin was full completely. The main reason of such popularity of this performance was, of course, the music of British band Radiohead, which was so favored in Russia and which had never had their concerts here.

The Russian organizers decided to divide this event into two parts. The first part represented fragments from the classic Russian ballet and the second – Radio and Juliet. To my mind, it was a quite crude decision, because the audience, consisting from the music fans, was mostly not prepared to perceive traditional ballet and was bored openly during the first part. For me it was an interesting experience to feel the contrast between the traditional and modern ballets.

Talking about The Radio and Juliet, I would like to note the common style of choreography, which was made up of sharp body movements. It includes twitching and jerking which gives the appearance of robots on stage. The robotic choreography fits to robotic voice from the album OK Computer and creates the intense atmosphere. The stage design impressed me much by its extremely pithiness and clarity. There were only black and white backs and in the contrast – white and black bodies, this visual desicion standed out and emphasized body lines and forms perfectly. Strong music, visual effects, clarity and expressive language of body – all of this got a great impression to me.

Sasha Waltz | Dialoge 09 Neues Museum

Today I would like to talk about the greatest director, producer and choreographer Sasha Waltz and her perfomance and film Dialoge 09 Neues Museum. 

Sasha was born in German city Karlsruhe. She studied choeography and dance in NYC and Amsterdam. Her first major work Travelogue-Trilogie” (1993-1995) put her on a par with well-known theater directors. And after then she was talked like a new revelation.

In the perfomances Sasha combines postmodern dance with narrative ‘physical’ theater. Her purpose is to break into the content through the movement, using diversity of body language and the dynamic of its energy. Her perfomance is based on deep exploration of human psychology and reflects the acute social problems.

By October 2009 The New Museum of Berlin had been restored after the war. At the opening of the museum Sasha Waltz presented her choreography project Dialoge 09 Neus Museum, where she explored a relationship between dance and architecture. According to Sasha it was a vernissage, a walk through the museum, the performance of a temporary living exposition. Actors and musicians became museum’s live exhibits, dressed into costumes of different eras. They were either a part of the architectural composition or the independent subject of art. For viewers this performance became an absolute surprise and inspire them much.

Modern interpretation of the Dead Souls by Gogol at Gogol-Center

I was fortunate to visit a premiere of new perfomance at Gogol-Center. On the eve of the first anniversary of Gogol Center Kirill Serebrennikov produced The Dead Souls by Gogol. More precisely, he transferred eponymous show, staged two years ago at the National Theatre in Riga, to the Gogol-Center. Curiously enough, it’s the first perfomance of Gogol on this stage.

According to the words of Aleksey Kiselev (edition of AfishaVozduh) here is the ideal theatre purified from literal meaning. The main emphasis of the perfomance is built on the powerful actors play. So that is why the stage design looks extemely laconic and clean. Nothing distracts from the great game of actors. The scene represents a box of chipboard. It has a lot of modifications in the means of  light and video installations.

All roles of the perfomance, including female parts, are played by men. Thus there are a lot of fun and ridiculous moments. Above all I liked live music on the stage and short music parts performed by actors. It was well executed and gaily.

The Dead Souls in the version of Kirill Serebrennikov is progressive, fresh view to the classics with the great work of actors and the director.

Hamlet at Gogol-center. Contemporary approach to Shakespeare

A few days ago I discovered for myself a new moscow theatre, which pleasantly surprised me with a fresh and prograssive views, public and perfomance. It’s an ex-theatre of Gogol, which was reconstructed into absolutely modern space and now named Gogol Center.

This theatre is managed by Kirill Serebrennikov and unites russiuan and foreign perfomances mostly of young authors and directors. Furthermore, lectures, exhibitions, video installations and other art perfomances are organized here. It’s a cultural place, which combines several types of art in one space.

So, the perfomance was directored by David Bobe, a french author of dramatization and scenography. It’s his second work in Russia. Previous direction was in the MHT of Chehov with spectacle Fairy. The second time he collaborates with theater troupe of actors Seven Studio (it formed from another project of Kirill Serebrennikov – Platforma, experimental course for theatrical figures).

It was a Hamlet. Classic creation was adapted by french playwriter into modern language and translated in russian. Besides language of the perfomance most of all it was underlined by expressive scenography with modern technologies, video installation,  grandiose music and sound. Music was great! There were tracks of Cinematic Orchestra, Patrick Matson, Dead Man’s Bones,  Nina Simone. In combination with dramatic visual pic it made a strong impression. A stage area was flooded with water, which strengthened the visual effects and stressed expression. And of course it should be noted brilliant game actors. Hawlet was genious! He was playing during 3 hours almost all the time on stage, his energy was over the edge. Actors kept in suspense throughout the performance.