SOVREMENNIK THEATRE. “Five Evenings”
29.04.2014 Baden-Baden
03.05.2014 Offenbach
07.05.2014 Mülheim
SOVREMENNIK THEATRE. LEGEND IN GERMANY.
From April 29 to May 8 during the annual International Festival of Art-Assemblies the internationally acclaimed Days of Russian Culture Sovremennik Theatre will tour Germany. The theatre’s artistic director is film director, actress, educator and winner of four state prizes, the inimitable Galina Volchek. During December 2013 her birth anniversary was widely celebrated.
The Art-Assemblies Days of Russian Culture continues to represent national theatres with a great history depicted on the European stage. In the spring of 2013 there were very successful performances in Germany by the Moscow Art Academic Theatre named after A. P. Chekhov.
German theatre enthusiasts are looking forward to spring 2014 when the Sovremennik (Contemporary) Theatre tour of 2014 begins. This production is well-known throughout Russia and enjoys a considerable international reputation. The production’s performances have won hearts and minds in the United States, London and Paris.
Now, 12-years later it is set to repeat its success in Germany.
Sovremennik Theatre as a theatrical event is produced by the outstanding director Galina Volchek. This producer’s theatre company, for which she personally selects actors and actresses, is one of best in Russia.
The cast is a true constellation of stars. These are artistes of different generations fortunate to have their supreme talent recognised by the most prominent directors of Russian theatre. Together they have gelled into a film and theatre company whose objectives share a common ideal.
Sovremennik Theatre was created in 1956 by young and ambitious actors as a theatre. It researches and develops the principles of Russian psychological acting drama. After more than a decade of outstanding performances it is now at its peak of excellence. The performances natural realism is painstakingly revived and thoroughly deserves the sobriquet of ‘Contemporary’.
In Moscow or on tour the theatre’s performances are box office successes with theatre seats constantly being sold out. During its German tour Theatre will present two performances to light up the hearts of audiences whilst at the same time retain the relevance of their themes. These theatre performances are “The Cherry Orchard” by Anton Chekhov and “Five Evenings” by A. M. Volodin.
“The Cherry Orchard” theatre production by Galina Volchek can rightly be called one of the most striking interpretations of this very famous Anton Chekhov drama. The theatrical production portrays hopeless tragedy and dreadful suffering veiled by feverish gaiety. The psychological theatre traditions in which this work is created allows the director to define and carefully balance emotion and tragedy for which the most excellent acting is essential.
Committed to the ‘truth of life’ pledged in all Anton Chekhov works it skilfully picks up each theme and radiates expressions from the stage to the audience. What remains concealed in the text of the play becomes comprehensible through the incredible expressiveness and infectiousness of Sovremennik (Contemporary) Theatre actors. Among them are included Marina Neyolova, Valentin Gaft, Sergei Garmash, Olga Drozdova and many other brilliant stars of theatre.
The première of “The Cherry Orchard” was held on Broadway, New York prior to extensive tours American undertaken by the theatre. The performance with the same degree of success was subsequently played in Moscow and in most European capitals. For this play and the other production Sovremennik Theatre was awarded the U.S. National Prize in the dramatic theatre Drama Desk Award. This was the first occasion in which this major distinction was awarded to a country other than that of the United States.
“Five Evenings” is the Theatre’s symbolic statement. Indeed, in 1959 Oleg Yefremov, the founder and first artistic director of staged the play on this principle. However, the current “Five Evenings” celebrating the anniversary of Theatre cannot be described as a re-make. It is a new and novel interpretation of a familiar song.
Alexander Volodin, author of “Five Evenings”, was one of the first Soviet writers whose interest rises above ideology. In this play, and in his other works, he defended the right to privacy. The power of that intuition or sense may be far more important than any social upheavals.
The two heroes of “Five Evenings”, Tamara and Ilyin, are torn apart by war. After seventeen years the time-worn hero returns to the city of his youth, to his first and, as we later realise, his only love. He has not been successful. In the past this once successful chemistry student worked as a driver somewhere in the north. What exactly happened during his years of absence remains a mystery behind the scenes. However, knowing the history of Russia, you can imagine what usually happens during the Stalinist period to such honest and rebellious people like Ilyin.
Returning home after so many years, and knowing that for other people time has also past and left its mark, he does not expect to encounter the grown-up woman that his beloved Tamara has become. This is a story that explains the period between departure and the future in which the now middle-aged man finds his feelings of love thawing.
The actors Yevgeniya Simonova (Tamara) and Sergei Garmash (Ilyin) have rightly been described as having ‘lyrically fine-tuned today’s theatre’.
This outstanding creation by two major Russian artists is a production in which they were assisted by Galina Petrova, Alexander Cahoon,
Darya Belousova, Polina Rashkina and Shamil Khamatov.
Performances of Theatre with rapturous precision convey the most delicate feelings and moods. The artistry causes one to think deeply, to examine one’s inner self and to ultimately change things for the better. After all, this desire was the genesis of truly great theatre.
Do not miss “The Cherry Orchard” by Anton Chekhov.
Performances will take place April 30 in Baden-Baden.
Offenbach May 4.
Mülheim May 8.
The play “Five Evenings” by A. Volodin can be seen and experienced on April 29 Baden-Baden.
Offenbach May 3.
Mülheim May 7.
Performances will be held with subtitles in German.
Organizer of the festival «Art-Assemblies Agency GmbH».
Tours are arranged with the support of MMC Norilsk Nickel.