Kyiv in May
On May 16 the Imperial Ballet’s Dreams of Love opened the fourth international theatrical festival of twinned cities Kyiv in May.
Even now it is safe to assume that the festival in its current format exists not due to but despite circumstances. Practically every festival press conference here is known to have started with Oleksandr Bystrushkin, head of the city culture department, bewailing lack of funds, the indifference of business and government people, etc. Unfortunately, this was no overstatement, but this only stresses the importance of Kyiv in May remaining a true festival rather than an internal shop event, with its colorful opening ceremony, invariably starring celebrated producers and actors. This year, the festival prologue took place on Khreshchatyk in front of City Hall. The list of the noted participants and rendition, in addition to the Imperial Ballet, includes Vilnius’s Small Theater’s Masquerade, a post-Soviet sensation directed by Rimas Tuminas and based on Viktor Pelevin’s “A Recluse and a Six-fingered Man” (Estonian Drama Theater), and Annie Girardot’s famous solo performance in Madame Marguerite.
And there are other names and plays well worth seeing. Many have taken an interest in New York’s Step Theater’s version of Cortazar’s Cronopios and Famas and the joint Where is My Home? project (based on Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita) of the Kyiv Experimental Theater and Polish Plama Club, or South India’s ritual dances by New Delhi’s group Ganesha Natilayah. In a word, the program is quite versatile. The festival will last a week and a half, ending May 26, marking the Day of Kyiv.
