PECTORAL OF SILENT DAYS Kyiv awards its most prestigious theatrical prize for 2000
The ninth presentation of the Kyiv Pectoral Awards, traditionally held at the Ivan Franko National Theater, gave no special cause for surprise or outrage even to our habitually faultfinding critics. The favorites had been known and predictable; perhaps the only embarrassing aspect was the jury’s indifference toward Dmytro Bohomazov’s good tragicomedy Tarelkin’s Death (Theater of Drama and Comedy on the Left Bank). All things considered, such predictability was not a sign of well-being. The past season really did not bring any special attainments, revelations, or even passable scandals (with regard to the latter, only Andriy Zholdak proved noteworthy, although this time he was content with staging the controversial Idiot at the Podil Theater). It can be stated that, after noticeably livening up in the middle and late 1990s, the doldrums have returned to the large Kyiv repertory stages. An analysis of the reasons for this disheartening status quo would exceed the limits of this particular newspaper feature. Thus it is worth pointing out that the theatrical little brothers, the chamber and children’s companies, appeared to be the most convincing award recipients.
The Pectorals that went to the Kyiv Puppet Theater’s Cherry Orchard (Best Chamber Theater Play, Best Stage Production Design, and Ihor Lebedkin’s Best Theatrical Composer’s Debut) met with the audience’s obvious approval. In fact, Cherry Orchard was the only last year’s discovery. Mykola Yaremchuk, the stage director, succeeded in finding a virtuoso solution to an almost insoluble problem, presenting Chekhov’s most complicated play using a puppet language that is generally never considered seriously but fit only for communicating with children. No one who has seen it can forget its bewitching, truly lyrical atmosphere filling every nook and cranny of the miniature cherry orchard. Without being afraid to appear biased, I will risk suggesting that Yaremchuk’s production deserved even more Pectorals. But let us be grateful for what he got.
Yevhen Kurman’s Little Mermaid (Young Theater) won in the Best Children’s Play nomination and the audience responded with a little ovation. It was good to see the jury notice this professional work, and the youngsters loved it. The bad thing is that it is the only prize-winning play at the children’s theater’, all the others are far inferior. No one could find any fault with The Little Mermaid, yet there should be more such productions, at least ten a season, because children, of all people, have a right to quality entertainment.
The play also brought Natalia Korpan (as the Young Theater’s Witch) the long-deserved award in the Best Supporting Actress category. She shared the trophy with Natalia Lototska as Korobochka in Brother Chichikov (Franko Theater). Another children’s company — the Children’s Music Theater, to be precise — won in the Best Plasticity Arrangement nomination ( A Child and Sorcery by choreographer Alla Rubina). The rest was completely dominated by Brother Chichikov, as Nina Sadur’s rather specific interpretation of Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls cleaned up in all the prestigious nominations: Oleksiy Bohdanovych as Chichikov (Best Actor), Bohdan Beniuk as Sobakevich (Best Supporting Actor), Polina Lazova as the Witch (Best Actress), and Oleksandr Dzekun (Best Stage Director and Best Play).
The actor nominations are an ambivalent thing, for here the number of contenders is always large. I wonder why. Fortunately, we have quite enough good actors and actresses in Kyiv. Beniuk’s Sobakevich was truly irresistible; Bohdanovych’s Chichikov was brilliant, while Lazova won her Pectoral simply because she has played so many good roles. Nevertheless, Chichikov’s supremacy in the most prestigious standings once again reminds one of the crisis in our nation’s repertory. The shortage of ideas for dramatization, attendant reluctance to diversify the drama stock (after all, who is actually and purposefully working with Ukrainian playwrights?), and the absence of an energetic generation of stage directors all result in a situation such that plays win the highest award just because they are sincerely meant to achieve the most convincing result, not because the result is so convincing. Once again, it is not the fault or shortcomings of a given play or stage director. It is the fault of our national theater as a whole.
We all know the adage about a negative result also being a result. Silence is always followed by a sound. It is not clear as yet who will rupture the current silence on our stage, how, or when. This ambiguity is a definite challenge, but this means there is still hope.
