Onstage: Рыдания/Sobbing

Victor Ryzhakov's production of Kshishtof Bize's 'Sobbing' starring Svetlana Ivanova at the Praktika theater is perhaps the most powerful one-man (or one-woman) show I have ever seen. It is a tour through the lives of three women; a middle-aged woman, her mother, and her daughter in modern day Poland.  As we hear the stories of these three women, their dreams and world views blend into a single message of love, loss, and hope for the future. 

Seeing 'Genesis № 2' a few years ago at the same theater with the same actress and the same director was certainly a defining event in my theater life (I feel like I've been writing about a lot of those recently...).  Similar to the way I went into 'Lear', I was reasonably excited to see the newest collaboration of this great director (who I also consider to have been an unofficial teacher of mine) and Svetlana Ivanova, an amazing actress and powerful performer.  I was not let down...Watch out guys, this entry's gonna be a long one...

Non Sequitur: Марьино Роща!

On a side note, part of the wonderful experience of seeing King Lear last night at the Satirikon Theater was that I got to and from the theater on....drumroll please.....THE METRO!  That's right folks, the new station at Марьино Роща opened yesterday!

It was kind of like a separate part of the fun....after 8 years of waiting, the new station FINALLY opened, making travel to and from this great theater SO much easier.  No more excuses not to go!  I took these pictures with my camera phone, so they don't really convey the full effect, but the new stations (yes, Достоевская opened yesterday as well!) are very beautiful...

...What a relief!...

-A

Onstage: Король Лир/King Lear

Last night I finally had the opportunity to enjoy Yuri Butusov's production of King Lear at the Satirikon theater. 

After having seen this dynamic combination of director (Butusov) and actor (Raikin) produce nothing short of a visionary version of Richard III at the same theater, I was understandably excited for last night's show and a reunion of the same creative team, anxiously waiting to see if lightning could strike twice.  Adding to my anticipation was the fact that I had just seen Butusov's Ivanov at the Moscow Art earlier this month, and that this was the first time I had ever seen a production of Lear. In short, I was reasonably pumped.

Lear is no simple play, neither for the directors, the actors, nor the audience.  Even writing an analysis or review of the production seems to be a task daunting in size.  As we were riding home on the metro immediately after the show, I found myself nearly overwhelmed with the seemingly simple task of summarizing the plot with my friend, not wanting to skip over or leave out any plot point which might be important later on, and at the same time trying to keep things as clear as possible.   I suspect this blog entry will resemble more of the same; trying to streamline the impressions from this particular interpretation while also trying to convey a piece of the profound significance of Lear's message. 

Keep the Date: Синяя Птица/The Bluebird.

It has been called many things:  Bizarro MXAT, Evil MXAT, MXAT Alternate Reality Version...the architecture is so imposing it looks as if it could eat you alive from the outside...so imposing in fact, that the theater circles had a secret nickname for the building when it first opened (at least, according to my Stage Tech teacher)...Moscow State Crematorium #1 (yikes!)....But whatever its current hapless nickname, it remains...The Moscow Art Theater named after Gorky...

On June 26th, at 12:00, Maeterlinck's 'The Blue Bird' will be playing at the Gorky Moscow Art...and I am planning on attending.  The show has been in repertory since 1908; it is Stanislavky's original production. 

I am fascinated by how a piece of theater can be in repertory for 102 seasons....but here it is.  They say that the show was intended for adults when it premiered in 1908, but has since become a children's theater piece.  In any event, I'm interested in what it will be like, and what the atmosphere is like INSIDE THOSE WALLS...In 8 years in Moscow, I've never been inside this theater, generally fearing my soul will be devoured or permanently stained somehow once I cross the threshold...its that freaky looking...

I'm curious to see what the administrator does when I try to get in on my student ID...I'm not sure the last time they'll have seen one of those from the Shkola-Studia...

...Angels and ministers of grace defend us...

-A

Non Sequitur: Галина Аксёнова/Galina Aksyonova

Galina Aksyonova is one of the teachers at the Moscow Art Theater School, specializing in film history.  Today, while trying to explain some of the cultural differences between Americans and Russians in regards to a film, she had the following anecdote (Russian for 'joke') to share with her American students...

"In America, boys like girls.  In Soviet Russia, girls like tractors..."

......Yes......

-A

In Dialogue: Л. А. Сулержицкий/L. A. Sulerzhitsky

I've been reading bits and pieces from Leopold Antonovich Sulerzhitsky's writings and essays on theater and his experiences with teaching the first Studio.  For those who don't know, Sulerzhitsky (or as Stanislavsky refers to him in 'My Life in Art', "Good old Suler"...) was a contemporary of Stanislavsky's, known for his character, travels, and resolve to do the hard work.  When Stanislavksy opened the first studio, Sulerzhitsky was the headmaster teacher, and in lot of ways was responsible for the original pedagogical application of Stanislavky's then brand new system.  He taught Michael Chekhov, and to a degree Vakhtangov as well.  Going through his notes and lectures, and reading one called "О взаймоотношениях актёра и режиссёра" (On the Relationships Between the Actor and Director), I discovered some surprising and particularly harsh criticism of Meyerhold...

In the Classroom: Константин Райкин, I-ый курс, и Достоевский/Konstantin Raikin, the first year course, and Dostoevsky

Tonight Konstantin Arkadyevich held his final meeting with his first year students, giving them their homework assignments for the summer, and preparing them for next year.  The students will continue their curriculum of etude work, but instead of etudes based on observations, objects, paintings, animals and the like, the students will delve into what is called этюды к образу.  In english, the best way to identify this concept of work is 'etudes as a step towards a character/image'.  It's not quite pedagogical scene work, but it is a step towards creating a sharpened representation of a character, one that is truly 'far from oneself'.  The literature to be used for the purposes of these etudes will be Dostoevsky's 'The Brothers Karamazov'. 

I've mentioned this before, but I love sitting in on Raikin's classes.  The man has a plan, and it seems he has a very good idea of where he wants his students to end up at the end of four years...and it's only the end of year one.  And he's already hinting at it.  Of course there will be changes along the way, but the amount of thought and foresight used to structure the entire four year course of study is inspiring.