2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
June 6, 2015, an event took place in the theatrical world that did not leave indifferent neither the audience nor the critics. This is the premiere of the play "Pushkin's Tales" (Theater of Nations), reviews of which can be heard the most controversial. An extraordinary performance with such a familiar name for every Russian has been sold out for more than a month and still evokes a lot of emotions.
Robert Wilson: style and creativity
The performance was staged by a world famous director. He is considered the leader of the modern theatrical avant-garde and almost a cult figure, and his fees are legendary. The master has many followers and even has his own academy on Long Island.
Robert Wilson's style is a surreal mix of classical drama, avant-garde art, elements of traditional national theaters of different nations and extravagant modern dances. In his performancesall means of conveying the director's idea to the audience are used: visual effects, plasticity and pantomime of the actors, inimitable, magical magic of light and original music specially written for each performance. It is in this combination of different types of performing arts that the innovation that attracts audiences to Robert Wilson lies.
Pushkin's Tales (Theater of Nations)
Robert Wilson often refers to the classics of different nations. So, in Greece, he staged the Odyssey, in Berlin - the Threepenny Opera, in France - La Fontaine's Fables. In our country, the 73-year-old director chose Pushkin's fairy tales (Theater of Nations, it is recommended to book tickets in advance), the works of the great Russian poet known to all of us from childhood.
While working on the Moscow production, Wilson studied Bilibin's works and Palekh painting. The drawings of the greatest Russian poet also served as a source of inspiration for him.
In the performance created by a talented director, something similar to an enchanting circus show, there are neither bright scenery nor familiar costumes. The stage is dominated by the contrast of black and white - the black robes of the actors and the white masks of their faces. According to the peculiarities of visual perception, the performance resembles such an avant-garde direction in painting as Suprematism.
Creators and performers
Together with Robert Wilson, opera director Nikola Panzer, set designer A. Lavalle-Benny and lighting designer A. D. Weisbard.
The performance "Pushkin's Tales" (Theater of Nations, reviews see below) involved more than twenty actors. The central image of the Narrator (Pushkin) was created by Yevgeny Mironov, who managed to realize the director's idea. His character is at the same time similar to Pushkin, as Kiprensky saw him, and to Johnny Depp, and to the Mad Hatter L. Carroll.
Daria Moroz (Tsar Dodon), Alexander Stroev (Rybak), Dmitry Serdyuk, Oleg Savtsov, Elena Nikolaeva and others worked on stage with him.
CocoRosie
A huge role in the new production of Robert Wilson is played by music, and not ordinary, but experimental folk. It is in this style that the American duet brought by Wilson, consisting of two Kasady sisters, CocoRosie, works on the stage. Moreover, the girls wrote the musical accompaniment for the performance right during rehearsals, so it was inspired by the performance of Russian actors.
Pushkin's Tales (Theater of Nations): reviews
Describe the impression that the performance made on the Russian theatrical society in one word - shock. And the point here is not so much in the categorical rejection of the unusual production of everyone's favorite fairy tales - and it also occurs - but in the effect of surprise. It turned out that our theatrical community is simply not ready for the perception of such a Pushkin.
But moving away from the first shock and comprehending what they saw on stage, critics and reviewers paid tribute to the talent of the director, and the skill of the actors, and the amazing,enchanting visual effects, and a peculiar presentation of the text.
The most important thing that can be noted in the reviews, and they are mostly restrainedly positive, is the understanding that something completely new was presented to the Russian audience under the familiar name "Pushkin's Tales". The play (Theater of Nations) directed by Robert Wilson is an original avant-garde work that should be taken on its own.
Public Opinion
Unlike the reviews, which, along with rejection, clearly show admiration for the work of the Master and the innovation that he showed in the play "Pushkin's Tales" (Theatre of Nations), the reviews of ordinary viewers are more categorical. Those who watched this performance seemed to be divided into two irreconcilable groups.
One of them did not even recognize the very possibility of such a production of Russian classics, and the reviews of this group are full of such assessments as “Nightmare!”, “Unique nonsense”, “the creation of a neurotic who is in a state of paranoid disorder” and other similar.
The Russian audience was especially outraged by the gloomy atmosphere created by the strange make-up of the actors and light and noise effects. After all, every Russian person has the kindest and most pleasant childhood memories associated with Pushkin's fairy tales, but not scary stories in the style of Western European Halloween.
The second group, on the contrary, enthusiastically accepted "Pushkin's Tales" (performance, Theater of Nations), although these viewers were able to see in it not at all the symbolism of meaning conveyed byby means of surrealism and avant-garde, but a banal theatrical show.
Well, both opinions have a right to exist. However, everyone agrees on one thing: even children aged 10-12, not to mention toddlers, should not be taken to this performance, so as not to destroy the charm of real Pushkin's fairy tales, which should remain with them for life.
Ticket prices
For five months, the performance arouses the interest of the audience and goes to a full house. Thus, if you are interested in the play "Pushkin's Tales" (Theatre of Nations), you have to order tickets for it several days in advance. And their prices are far from low. Even for seats on the balcony you have to pay 4000-5000 rubles. Tickets for the mezzanine (6,000–9,000 rubles) and for the stalls (from 17,000 to 25,500 rubles) are even more expensive.
However, true lovers of avant-garde spectacles continue to storm the Theater of Nations. "Pushkin's Tales", the price of tickets for which is quite high, has already been watched by several thousand people, and their number continues to grow.
If you want to get in touch with a great mix of European directing and Russian acting, be sure to watch Pushkin's Tales (Theatre of Nations). Reviews are always subjective, and perhaps you will write your own, which will be different from all existing ones.
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