Drama festival in Cherkasy

CHERKASY — The fifth inter­national drama festival Stsena liudstva (Stage of Mankind), recently held in Cherkasy, offered a panoramic view of various stage productions, with critics pondering the undeniable loyalty to the classics, diversified inter­pre­ta­tions — sometimes best described as topsy-turvy, and the expedience of experiments. The festival gave drama buffs an opportunity to assess Uk­rainian and foreign drama productions.

Lviv’s Zankovetska company staged Svatannia na Honcharivtsi (Match­making at Honcharivka), directed by Fedir Stryhun. This interpretation reminded one of folk festivities, when even the most personal matters are discussed in public, with young men and women not only listening, but also offering a piece of advice to the accom­paniment of music by Kyrylo Stetsenko. Also, one of the heroes, Ste­tsko, was not the usual thickset cha­racter sporting a toupee, but an ordinary young man who sometimes so­unds wiser than his peers. Inci­den­tally, there were two Stetskos during the festival, impersonated by Vasyl Korzhuk (Lviv) and Yurii Berlynsky (Cherkasy). The two actors were happy to see each other, considering that both had attended Borys Stavytsky’s drama classes.

Dnipropetrovsk’s Gorky drama theater amazed the audience with the tragicomedy In Twilight (based on Oleksii Dudarev’s story). This production has been in the company’s repertoire for almost five years. The play is a nostalgia for Soviet times, a painful reassessment of values. But it is more than just the Stalin bust that occupies a place of honor on stage for two acts. This production would have probably played to full houses on Victory Day [May 9]. As it was, the festival rendition left much to be desired, with the cast lacking confidence, and the whole thing could hardly be described as a tragicomedy.

Kyiv’s Russian Drama Theater gladdened the hearts of the devotees of the Jewish prosaist Isaac Bashevis Sin­ger with the refined two-act melodrama The Last Love based on Singer’s short story In the Shade of Vineyard. This seven-page story with no dialogs was made into a play by the young Moscow author, Valerii Mukhariamov. The amazingly energetic Oleksandra Smo­liarova was a discovery for Cherkasy theatergoers. She celebrated the 60th anniversary of her life on stage in June. When discussing the play, David Babaiev admitted that when his Harry, the main hero, shows the photo of his late wife, the picture actually shows Oleksandra Smoliarova’s late daughter Lina: “I knew her personally, so I don’t have to pretend that my heart aches when I see this image. Besides, I’m the only Jew in the cast. My grandparents were buried alive by the Nazis in Vinnytsia, so the tragedy of the Jewish people is really close to me.”

The Mihai Eminescu drama company from Botosani (Romania) brought the play Ivan Turbinca, a philosophic tale about an itinerant soldier. It was presented by the stage director and Botosani Mayor Ketelin Flutur. The audience received a powerful ethnic charge from the play as the Romanian cast danced something akin to the Ukrainian kolomyika; in their tales Death can be deceived the way the Ukrainian Ivasyk-Telesyk deceived Olenka the Snake. Whereas Ivasyk pretended not to know to sit on the spade that would put him in the stove, the resourceful Romanian soldier Ivan assured everyone he didn’t know how to lie in the coffin. The cast wore masks, of the traditional kind that Romanians wear on Christmas Eve. According to the stage director, Ion Saldaru, this is an ethnic show in which every actor fools around and plays him/herself rather than a given character.

Cherkasy theatergoers bought all tickets in advance to hear and watch the famous Odarka-Karas duet in A Zaporozhian Cossack beyond the Danube. This production of the Lysenko Opera and Ballet Theater of Kharkiv was played to full houses, so much so chairs had to be brought to the audience. Among the viewers was Olha Shlia­khova, Hulak-Artemovsky’s great granddaughter (she is the curator of her celebrated great grandfather’s museum in Horodyshche). Needless to say, the audience was packed with classical opera buffs.

Kyiv’s Ivan Franko Theater presented Marriage, based on Gogol’s story. Zhevakin was played by Volodymyr Koliada, in place of the late Les Serdiuk. After the performance the cast met with media people accredited to the festival. Bohdan Beniuk (Kochkariov) pondered the way classical pieces ought to be played these days: “We have our gut feelings, but everything is verified by the audience… Experimental plays have the right to exist, but working on them isn’t too interesting, whereas classical plays have profound interaction between the characters. Classics speak for themselves, they have such power and depth that don’t have to be modernized and don’t require extravagant costumes.”

Cherkasy’s Taras Shevchenko Music and Drama Theater ended the festival with the international drama project The Gypsy Baron. Last December it was staged by Mark Cron from the Netherlands, with the leading roles played by actors from Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. As previously reported by The Day, the company staged The Gypsy Baron abroad, where it was seen by over ten thousand Europeans. In March, the Cherkasy drama company staged a Ukrainian version of the comic opera. After almost two months the production is on stage again, starring the company’s leading actors Natalka Mamalyha and Yurko Prokopchuk.