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I thought that I would write about this time in Father-Russia ("personal nonfiction"). I thought...

Never mind writing.

Anatoly 2006.

PAST: Two years in Russia: 1992-1994

Russian American Theatre (RAT) Project, St. Petersburg, Moscow, New York

Fulbright Report (to be posted)

Russian American Theatre Conferences 1992-94

Moscow

St. Petersburg

Theatre News: St. Petersburg

[ not updated ]

Theatres @ Groups we worked with

Mimigrants

Satire Theatre, Vasilievsky Island

Comedians

vtheatre.net

"Metamorphoses" (right), movement oriented group; philosophy -- returning to the pre-Christian Slavic rituals.

REVIEWS:

Pre-publication version of a review of "Mozart and Salieri" and of the "Marquee" column to be published in the Moscow Times March 10, 2000.

Copyright 2000 John Freedman

I am a critic. And the title of my semi-profession proclaims what I am expected to do. I have done a lot of it in my time -- criticize -- although no one knows better than I how arbitrary the vast majority of that criticism is.

Criticism is a genre and, like any genre, it has its laws: Get the facts straight; name the key names; be fair; don't fear being wrong; don't pander; don't be petty; admit your prejudices when you know they obstruct you; don't fear your instincts; don't fear consequences; say openly what you believe; never believe you say the Truth.

Once all that is done, see to it you have written a piece short, witty and entertaining enough to appease your editor, but long, insightful and profound enough to keep the object of your criticism from staking you out in dark corners of the city.

Now, I have just played a game in order to wriggle free of the rules. The impetus for my wishing to do so is Anatoly Vasilyev's new staging of "Mozart and Salieri" at the School of Dramatic Art. Its searching, iconoclastic form makes me want to respond in kind.

"Mozart and Salieri" combines the short play by Alexander Pushkin, an interlude of Pushkin's poem "The Poet and the Crowd" and a final segment consisting primarily of Vladimir Martynov's "Requiem." But to describe this show's contents is to say nothing. And to approach it "as usual" is to miss what is most important.

"Mozart and Salieri" is the most recent and -- I suspect, in the last decade at least -- the most fully realized of Vasilyev's experiments in recreating the art of theater. After a swift rise to legendary status in the late 1970s and 1980s, Vasilyev in the 1990s basically retreated into the shadows of his laboratory at the School of Dramatic Art. He allowed only limited public access to what he was doing; he lately has softened that policy.

I still found much of "Mozart and Salieri" impossible to watch. The archly artificial manner of the actors' speech is off-putting in the extreme. Vladimir Lavrov's Salieri and Igor Yatsko's Mozart appear intent on deconstructing the rhythms of the Russian language, changing stress inwords and phrases, shifting cadences of diction. Frankly, it is hell to listen to. The actors primarily huff, puff and exercise their diaphragms.

It is so conspicuous it overshadows almost everything in the first two segments and there is a good deal of interest to overshadow.

The set by Vasilyev and Igor Popov is, once again, spectacular. A transparent, plexiglass "room" stands upstage. Inside it are small wood and plexiglass tables with goblets and decanters of translucent yellow and red throwing a dramatic dash of color into the overall scheme of transparency and white.

The depth and expressivity of Vasilyev's lighting is unsurpassed. In Russia I have only seen lighting of this quality done by the director Kama Ginkas and the lighting designer Yefim Udler.

One of this show's most exciting elements is its humor. This is most evident in the behavior and the wildly eclectic costumes of the nine musicians who share the stage with the actors. It is also present in a strange, semi-mechanical figure of Fate and the mysterious tools of alchemy that Salieri toys with. Alcohol, fire, vinegar, a copper plate and a small hammer provide some marvelous moments of theatrical business.

But as delightful, intriguing and provocative as all that is, I found that the main actors' mannerisms nullified most of it.

That is, until the show's third segment got underway.

Here, the singers of the Sirin ensemble of ancient Russian spiritual music performed the Latin texts of Martynov's powerful contemporary composition by doing what? -- by deconstructing and reshaping the sounds of the Latin words they sang.

Here, for the first time, I discerned at least the theoretical basis for Vasilyev's assays in elocution. He is out to find the music and poetry of the spoken word as it has long existed in the word that is sung.

That does not make the Vasilyev performance style any more palatable to me as it exists at present, but it does change my attitude towards the direction in which Vasilyev is moving. If ever he can get his actors tocommand the ease, simplicity and clarity of the Sirin ensemble, he might well create a new form of theater that will be as fascinating in deed as in theory.

My editor's stern gaze is on me now. My space is almost filled.

Did I succeed in breaking free of my genre? No. Which only makes me respect Vasilyev all the more. Imagine my failures next to his.

I disliked much of "Mozart and Salieri." But anyone interested in the art of theater should see this production. Martynov's beautiful and beautifully acted "Requiem" often achieves the sublime while Vasilyev's production of it makes us recall the first segments from a different point of view.

***"Mozart and Salieri" plays March 10 at 8 p.m. at the School of Dramatic Art, 20 Povarskaya Ulitsa. Metro Arbatskaya. Tel. 290-4796. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.***

The Golden Mask festival runs March 12 to March 27 at various venues. See the Calendar, pages * to *, for a full schedule. For furtherinformation, call 755-8335, write maska@theatre.ru or visit the festival website at www.theatre.ru/maska.***

2004 & After projects: my shows texts: in focus: Small Chekhov 2006 reading: Links BioMechanics

I did it many times; in the 80s and 90s...

This is how I learned English myself...

I mixed American an Russian actors. We did translations as workshops. We did the shows in two languages...

I placed the Russian texts to help me to translate "Four Jokes and One Funeral" -- UAF Fall 2005 show.

Use it -- Chekhov works!

Anatoly 3.1.05

NB

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