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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

A win-win situation

The 3rd International festival “Theater. Chekhov. Yalta” was held in the Crimea
28 September, 2010 - 00:00
THE DRAMA OF THE LAST LOVE IS REVEALED IN THE PLAY PRIVY NOTES OF A PRIVY COUNCILOR (MOSCOW’S THEATER “ERMITAZH”). IN THE PHOTO: ALEKSANDR LIVANOV (MIKHAIL FEDOROVICH), MIKHAIL FILIPPOV (NIKOLAI STEPANOVICH) AND OLGA LEVITINA (KATIA) RUBBISHY LOVE STAGED BY THE RUSSIAN DRAMA THEATER IN LITHUANIA WAS A REVELATION. INGA MASHKARINA PUSHED HERSELF TO THE LIMIT PLAYING THE ROLE OF BABUSHKA, NINA ANTONOVNA

Companies from Azerbaijan, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Moldova, Singapore, Ukraine, and Russia showed their performances, workshops and open rehearsals were held, and guests and participants socialized informally. The repertoire was diverse: classical and modern plays, lyrical and vanguard works. Some productions were deeply philosophical, other companies showed their experimental searches. Patterns were changing on stage like in a kaleidoscope: famous stars and novice actors, just making their first steps. This time the grand prize was not awarded. The festival program turned out to be very flamboyant, and since there was no consensus among the jury members (the team of judges was headed by Nelli Korniienko, director of the Les Kurbas National Center for Theater Art), all the participants of the forum were given the title of laureate and the “Crystal Pediment” award in different nominations.

The popular actors Bohdan Beniuk (Ukraine) and Katerina Vasilyeva (Russia) raised the festival’s symbolic flag. The main activities of the festival took place in the legendary Yalta Theater, which Chekhov himself repeatedly visited — actors of the Moscow Artistic Theater came there (in the early 20th century) to see Chekhov, to show the author, who was undergoing treatment in the Crimea, the performances based on his plays.

This year a Kyivan troup fulfilled the honorable mission to open the forum — the Franko Theater presented its version of Marriage. The famous play by Hohol, as if a bridge, connected the two anniversaries of the classical writers (the previous year was under the banner of Mykola Hohol, and this year Chekhov’s anniversary is celebrated). By the way, after the performance actors admitted that it was very easy for them to play, feeling the unusual aura of the theater walls, the sacred stage that connected the generations. Director Valentyn Kozmenko-Delinde used the wonderful translation by Ostap Vyshnia in this production, and actors were “bathing” in bright roles, painting classical characters in succulent theatrical colors. Looking forward, I will predict that the international jury will award the virtuoso Beniuk for his interpretation of the role of Kochkarev.

A few companies presented plays based on works by Chekhov or about him. The performances Seagull (the Donetsk Regional Theater of Young Spectator from Makiivka), Cherry Orchard (the Lviv Spiritual Theater “Voskresinnia”), Privy Notes of a Privy Councilor (the Moscow Theater “Ermitazh”), Bride (the Madrid Chekhov Chamber Theater, Spain), Duel for Weak Creatures (a single-show of the Moscow company “Ametist”), When the Sun Declines (the Saint-Petersburg Theater “Ostrov”) provoked heated discussions between critics. The Italian actors from the Academy L’armata Brancaleone (Massa) invited people behind the scenes, to see the birth of a future play, under the guise of the workshop “Rehearsing Chekhov.” How should one produce Chekhov today, so that the play does not look archaic and thrills the modern audience? Perhaps this was the main question that made theater experts break lances, provoked discussions among the Chekhov Museum’s personnel, and was discussed by the audience after performances. A part of the audience argued how many live carps were swimming in the pond (set designer Volodymyr Medved, the Theater of Young Spectator, Makiivka). Others worried about the actors from the theater “Voskresinnia” who performed different acrobatic rolls, risking a fall from great heights. Others still could not help crying when the character of Mikhail Filippov (Nikolai Stepanovich), knowing he has a fatal illness and his days are coming to an end, tries to analyze his whole life on stage. And here life gives the protagonist a priceless gift — the love of his apprentice Katia (Olga Levitina). How will Nikolai Stepanovich live his final days? (the play Privy Notes of a Privy Councilor, the theater “Ermitazh”). The actor uses restrained gestures, he does not force his voice, but the audience hearken to his each word. Today seeing Filippov’s filigree acting of his role, it’s difficult to imagine that director Mikhail Levitin first wanted Valentin Gaft to play in his production, but their plans didn’t coincide and the performance itself was “being born” almost three decades (!).

Nevertheless, staging a play pertaining to Chekhov was not a requirement. According to the forum’s director Mykola Rudnyk, the goal was to show what modern theater is like. Hence the program included a theater company from Singapore — the Chinese Opera Theater (Intrigues of the Imperial Court). It is not just exotics for our audience but also a genre of cantonal opera our critics know little about. The same goes for the student experiments of the Israeli Theater-Studio of Sofia Moskovich (A Lighthouse Picnic), and the Theater Studies Institute of the Ludwig Maximilian University (Germany). Celebrities from the Franko Theater and leading actors of the Moscow Artistic Theater received ovations. During the performance Rubbishy Love by the Russian Drama Theater in Lithuania the audience at first laughs, then bursts into tears. The director Yurii Kharmelin demonstrated inventory stage direction in the mystic drama Threesevenace (a play by Mykola Koliada based on Pushkin’s Queen of Spades) by the Municipal Youth Drama Theater “From the Roses Street” (Moldova).

Today one can say that theater traditions in Yalta are reviving, and the festival gives the audience an opportunity to see different companies. It is important that young people started going to the theater. “Though the Yalta theater didn’t function for ten years, it was in ruins, but after the renovation (businessmen Oleksandr Lebedev supported it financially) the building was not just renewed but also got new equipment. This allows to show performances and concerts using the best technologies for creating light and acoustics. This time the festival expanded its geography (this year ten countries showed 14 performances), and today it bears the name of ‘theater art,’ but later, when the forum grows and develops creatively, it will be called the International Festival of Theatrical Mastery ‘Theater. Chekhov. Yalta,’” says Rudnyk.

This forum was an occasion to meet interesting people. Angele Goutieres, who is also called “our Spaniard,” was one of them. During the Civil War he was evacuated from Spain to the former USSR. Angele grew up in an orphanage, and was educated at the State Institute for Theater Arts (GITIS). The older generation remembers this actor for featuring in the movie Salute, Maria where he acted together with Ada Rohovtseva. Since adolescence, Goutieres read all works by Chekhov, and when he graduated from the institute, he went to work to the writer’s homeland — to the Taganrog Drama Theater (he toured with this company in Yalta). Then Angele worked in the Moscow Theater “Romen,” participated in the creation of the Taganka Theater. When he returned to Spain, he created his own Chekhov Chamber Theater (he prefers producing world classics) and repeatedly referred to Chekhov’s works. At the Yalta festival, the director showed a warm, somewhat sentimental production of Chekhov’s Bride.

Rubbishy Love was a revelation (adaptation for stage by Marius Macevicius, director Agnius Jankevicius) in which Inga Mashkarina pushes herself to the limit playing the role of Babushka, Nina Antonovna. This is an actress with powerful energy and temperament who managed to convey a wide range of feelings — from love to hatred. The audience even did not suspect that Inga got cold in the Crimea and lost her voice. A few hours before the beginning of the play organizers even had to call a doctor who managed to treat her a little. Another actor would try to save her strength, but Mashkarina played as if it were her final performance on stage. The play Rubbishy Love is quite new (the premiere took place in March) but it was already staged in Odesa (during the festival “Meetings in Odesa”), Yalta and Sevastopol, and at present the Russian Drama theater in Lithuania tours in Tyumen.

Walking down the seafront, I met Mikhail Filippov and we arranged an interview. Preparing for the interview, I browsed the Internet and was surprised that the actor’s personal website contains a rather boring interview. I thought that if Filippov was so “Insipid” there, it must be difficult to talk to him, but it was quite the contrary. I even did not notice we were talking for the entire hour, and when the actor appeared on stage and played the role of the privy counselor Nikolai Stepanovich, it made me quite goosy.

Many years ago, when I was a student, I visited the Yalta Chekhov Museum. An elderly employee of the museum was my guide. Her stories about Chekhov were so interesting, and even after the excursion she spared no time answering my questions, allowing me to come into the writer’s room and touch his chair. I remember that excursion always (the next day I went to the library and got the book Around Chekhov — recollections of the writer’s friends and family, and since then I try not to miss articles about the classical writer, and if I feel sad I reread the works by Chekhov). When I happen to be in Yalta, I always visit the museum. This time the organizers of the festival suggested going to the White Dacha before it is closed (on September 30 the museum closes for renovation). At present windows and doors of the outhouse are painted for the upcoming opening of the exhibit “The Chekhovs’ Everyday Life,” and paths are paved with brick. Suddenly I noticed a tender woman sitting on a bench. It was that stunning guide from my childhood. It is impossible! As it turned out, the super-guide still works there. Her name is Alla Khanila, she is the head of the exposition department of the Chekhov Museum. Chekhov’s sister employed her in 1946, and Maria personally made a record in the employment records book, since then the fate of the museum and Alla Khanila are closely connected.

It is also impossible to forget conversations about theater and life with the head of the National Association of Theater Activists of Ukraine Les Taniuk, whom I seem to know for many years, but at the Yalta forum so many shades to the portrait of this man of encyclopedic knowledge were added; or how Yurii Rybchynsky, the popular poet and playwright, surrounded by crowds of fans of different ages, had to give many hundreds of autographs.

The festival is over, guests, participants and the jury went home, and Yalta residents and tourists had an opportunity to see the production by Lev Dodin Uncle Vania — about broken dreams, love that did not happen, and unrealized desires. The play was a postscript for the forum.

By Tetiana POLISHCHUK, The Day. Photos provided by the organizers of the festival “Theater. Chekhov. Yalta”
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