On June 6, 2015, an event took place in the theater world that did not leave indifferent spectators or critics. This is the premiere of the play "Tales of Pushkin" (Theater of Nations), reviews of which you can hear the most controversial. An extraordinary performance with such a native name for every Russian comes with a full house for more than a month and still causes a lot of emotions.
Robert Wilson: style and creativity
The director of the performance was the world famous director. He is considered the leader of the modern theatrical avant-garde and almost a cult figure, and legends are composed of his fees. The master has many followers and even has his own academy on Long Island.
Robert Wilson's style is a surreal mix of classical drama, avant-garde art, elements of traditional national theaters of different nations and extravagant modern dances. In his performances, all means of conveying the director’s intention to the audience are used: visual effects, plastic and pantomime of the actors, inimitable, magic light magic and original music specially written for each performance. It is in this combination of different types of stage art that the innovation that attracts viewers Robert Wilson lies.
"Tales of Pushkin" (Theater of Nations)
Robert Wilson often refers to the classics of different nations. So, in Greece, he staged Odyssey, in Berlin - The Three-Penny Opera, in France - La Fontaine's Fables. In our country, the 73-year-old director chose Pushkin's fairy tales (Theater of the Nations, tickets are recommended to be booked in advance) for his performance, the works of the great Russian poet, known to all of us since childhood.
In the process of working on the Moscow production, Wilson studied the work of Bilibin and Palekh painting. The source of inspiration for him was the drawings of the greatest Russian poet.
In a play created by a talented director, something similar to an enchanting circus show, there are no vivid scenery or familiar costumes. The scene is dominated by the contrast of black and white - black robes of actors and white face masks. In terms of visual perception, the performance resembles such an avant-garde trend in painting as Suprematism.
Creators and Performers
Together with Robert Wilson, the opera director Nicola Panzer, stage designer A. Lavalle-Benny, and lighting designer A. D. Weissbard came to work with him.
In the play “Tales of Pushkin” (Theater of Nations, reviews see below), more than twenty actors are involved. The central image of the Storyteller (Pushkin) was created by Evgeny Mironov, who managed to realize the director’s plan. His character is at the same time similar to Pushkin, as Kiprensky saw him, and to Johnny Depp, and to the Mad Hatter L. Carroll.
Together with him on stage were Daria Moroz (Tsar Dodon), Alexander Stroyev (Rybak), Dmitry Serdyuk, Oleg Savtsov, Elena Nikolaeva and others.
CocoRosie
A huge role in the new production of Robert Wilson is played by music, and not ordinary, but experimental folk. It is in this style that the American duet brought by Wilson, consisting of two Cassidy sisters, CocoRosie, works on stage. Moreover, the girls wrote the musical accompaniment to the performance right during rehearsals, so it is inspired by the play of Russian actors.
"Tales of Pushkin" (Theater of Nations): reviews
One can describe the impression that the performance made on the Russian theater society in one word - shock. And the point here is not so much in the categorical rejection of the unusual production of beloved fairy tales by everyone - but it also occurs - as in the effect of surprise. It turned out that our theater community was simply not ready for the perception of such a Pushkin.
But moving away from the first shock and comprehending what was seen on the stage, critics and reviewers paid tribute to the talent of the director, the skill of the actors, and amazing, enchanting visual effects, and a peculiar presentation of the text.
The most important thing that can be noted in the reviews, and they are mostly restrained-positive, is the understanding that something completely new was presented to the Russian audience under the familiar name “Pushkin's Tales”. The play (Theater of the Nations) staged by Robert Wilson is a distinctive avant-garde work that must be perceived on its own.
Public opinion
Unlike reviews, in which, along with rejection, one can clearly see admiration for the work of the Master and the innovation that he showed in the play "Tales of Pushkin" (Theater of Nations), the reviews of ordinary viewers are more categorical. Those who watched this performance were as if divided into two irreconcilable groups.
One of them did not even recognize the very possibility of such a production of Russian classics, and the reviews of this group are full of such ratings as “Nightmare!”, “Unique nonsense”, “the creation of a neurotic in a state of paranoid disorder” and others like that.
The Russian audience was especially outraged by the gloomy atmosphere created by the strange make-up of the actors and light and noise effects. After all, every Russian person has the kindest and most pleasant childhood memories associated with Pushkin's fairy tales, but not at all scary stories in the style of West European Halloween.
The second group, on the contrary, enthusiastically accepted Pushkin's Tales (performance, Theater of Nations), although these viewers were able to see in it not symbolism of meaning conveyed by the means of surrealism and avant-garde, but a banal theater show.
Well, both opinions have a right to exist. However, all agree on one thing: even children aged 10-12 years, not to mention babies, should not be led to this performance, so as not to destroy the charm from Pushkin's real tales, which should remain with them for life.
Ticket price
For five months, the performance arouses the interest of the audience and goes on with a full house. Thus, if you are interested in the play "Tales of Pushkin" (Theater of Nations), you have to book tickets for it in a few days. Moreover, their prices are far from low. Even for places on the balcony you need to pay 4000-5000 rubles. Tickets to the mezzanine (6000–9000 rubles) and to the stalls (from 17000 to 25500 rubles) are even more expensive.
However, true avant-garde lovers continue to storm the Theater of Nations. "Pushkin's Tales", the price of tickets for which is quite high, has already been watched by several thousand people, and their number continues to grow.
If you want to get in touch with a magnificent mix of European directing and Russian acting, be sure to check out “Tales of Pushkin” (Theater of Nations). Reviews are always subjective, and perhaps you write your own, which will be different from all existing ones.