In the Classroom: 3rd Year Acting Exam/Экзамен по мастерству III-ого курса

Today the third year acting course (Козак/Брусникин) held their final acting exam of the year.  By the end of the third year of study, the acting exam consists of scenes from pieces that are meant to be expanded into a full-scale diploma project; a proposal for a project that can rejected or accepted by the faculty body in discussion afterwards.  In Russian, it's called a заявка на спетакль.  This acting exam was centered on the piece Материнское Поле (Our Mother, The Fields) by Чингиз Айматов (Chingis Aimatov).  Aitmatov was a soviet poet and writer from Kyrgyzstan, and this particular narrative tells the powerful story of the women of small village, their lives, loves, and incredible losses as they come face to face with the horrors of World War II.  The work was directed by Maria Zorina.

Before I went to this exam one of my Russian friends mentioned to me that he hadn't been able to stop his tears while watching the work of his female coursemates.  He then quipped that he didn't know if I'd be able to appreciate such Russian national themes as World War II, to which I replied that I've been russified to such a degree already that something was bound to get through.  I found the writing to be incredibly powerful, speaking simply and without embellishment or coloring about those things that are most important in our lives.  In a sense, I was reminded of the delicate and deceptive simplicity of Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town', a piece that never fails to hit home. 

The piece has been staged in a 'speech theater' format (to read more on this format and how it's not always my favorite, you can read my blog on Shukshin Short Stories here), and there are no men onstage; each of the girls in the course take turns recounting to each other and to the audience how they fall in love, have children, how their children get married, all to be dashed to pieces with the coming of war.  By the end of the story, they have all been widowed, and the audience comes face to face with the brutality and horror of war.  The work is powerful but raw, and yet at the same time extremely promising.  I have no doubt it will develop into a very nice piece as the girls continue to explore and play with each other, and as the transitions become more fluid.  I wish them luck in their process, and am sure the results yielded will be even more moving and powerful than the display I witnessed yesterday; a message about how one must strive for life at all costs, never give up even when the hour is darkest, and never forget how to love.

-A