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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Kyiv in May Theater Festival ends in the Ukrainian capital

12 June, 2001 - 00:00

There are places of interest in the cultural field of every city, things one is really unashamed to show. Apart from architectural charms, they also include various kinds of festivals, a worrisome business as much as it is gratifying. The twin cities theatrical festival, Kyiv Travnevy [Kyiv in May], held this year for the third time, has perfectly asserted itself as an invariable attribute of spring in the capital. Two weeks of stage games in the setting of blossoming Kyiv greenery provided a quite effective and popular spectacle.

This year the organizers tried to place the forum on a special, truly capital scope. The festival’s presence in the city was festive, thanks to well-planned advertising and well- known names among the participants. Practically all the theatrical sites of Kyiv accommodated the festival at least once. It was especially pleasing to learn that there were practically no lacunae in the program as everybody stated in the posters had arrived. As for the program, it was impressively motley. There was everything, from marginal experimenters from the US Vision Theater Local Infinities to the legendary mime Marcel Marceau. And between these two extremes was fitted a multitude of shows to satisfy every taste. Traditionally many comic and folk shows. Thus, the Clown Tamilla Japanese-Ukrainian project and the Swiss Patchwork one-actor play acted as a kind of dramatic relief. The Morena Amoora flamenco group, Korea’s Jongdong, Tibetan monks’ Gjumed, and dancers from Surrey (UK) put on a real parade of unusual rhythms and weird rituals. The point was not so much performing mastery as the atmosphere of joy.

As for mastery, Marcel Marceau remained undoubtedly in the lead. His two evenings on the stage of the Ivan Franko Theater will forever remain in Kyiv’s theatrical annals. Well advanced in age, the French master reasserted his reputation with graceful ease. All in the audience, many seeing him for the first time, realized that the king is alive and the throne not vacant.

Somehow all Kyiv theatergoers and people more or less interested in the theater had their share of joy. Those devoted to the Taganka Theater besieged the Ivan Franko Theater to watch The Master and Margarita. Those interested in Eastern European experimental drama had an excellent choice of Paper Flowers from Bielsko-Biala (Poland), Bald Woman Singer by the Old City Theater of Vilnius, and the Czech Republic’s Suplik company The Pump and A Conversation with a Man They Ignored. Lviv’s Zankovetska Theater brought its politically scandalous satire, UBN [abbreviation for Ukrainian Bourgeois Nationalist]. Music devotees feasted on two French operetta nights and the concert, Golden Voices of the Italian Opera.

In general, Kyiv in May reaffirmed its determination to have the reputation of a festive and memorable theatrical celebration. The important thing is that both the City Hall and private sponsors provide the festival with increasing support every year. It appears that Ukraine is changing its attitude toward culture for the better. This gladdens one’s heart almost as much as this most exquisite drama quest.

By Dmytro DESIATERYK, The Day
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