St. Petersburg is so ridiculously cold. And the metro makes no sense. It feels like we have been really pressed for time here, so we haven't had much time for taking in the city. The Hermitage was amazing! And I'm not even a big fan of art museums. I also got to see a soyuz capsule from the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Now that the exam is over there is time to just relax before our final play tonight.
Last night we saw Man=Man by Brecht, which I thought was much better than Oedipus Rex that we saw the night before. I just thought Oedipus was full of too much pretentious symbolism, like the guy who was rolling around in a basket. Apparently he was Teiresias, but I could not tell. It also wasn't visually as interesting. The set had a lot of texture, but it was all tan, with occasional red. In contrast, Man=Man had a very visually interesting set. They used the entire huge stage to great effect. I loved the way they would light the stage, especially when they used the shadows on the walls. Like the one soldier whose shadow was caught in a light box in the wall. It was very cool. The live music was also very good, though it seemed to just come in at random times. It was nice that we got invited to move from bad seats in the second balcony to ones on the floor, so I could see this time without standing up. But apparently Russians do not believe in comfortable theater seats, so my back still hurt.
I hadn't read Man=Man, but from the synopsis we got, I felt I could follow along pretty well. I got the gist of where they were in the plot at least. In Oedipus I only knew where they were in the story twice, and I had read the play before.
All in all, Russia has been quite an experience. I am going to miss the blini stands, but not the sidewalks covered in ice. I will not miss the coat checks, scratchy toilet paper, squashing in the metro, and staring dumbly at every Russian who asks me a question. The Babushki, though, I will miss. I wish we could take some babushki back with us to always make us wear hats and button up our coats.
We'll be home soon!

Oedipus The King

On the 27th we saw a production of "Oedipus The King". It was quite the interesting piece of theater that is for sure. It was in the traditional Greek style with only three actors on stage, two men and one woman. The first five minutes of the production were quite comical as they started off playing "Around the World" a techno song and dancing along to it. It was quite different than I expected from a traditional Greek play, but also very much appreciated. They basically summarized the whole play in the first 5 minutes during the song and then proceeded to elaborate on the story for about an hour and a half afterwards. It was a little hard to follow at times because only one of the actors played the same character the whole time. The other two were several different characters. The set was very cool, while at the same time being very minimalist. The costumes were very plain and beige for the most part, although they were very versatile for the many different parts that the actors had to portray. Overall, I thought the play was very refreshing and really enjoyable. It was definitely a great way to start off our final stint of plays.

Petersburg and the Idiot

We went to St. Petersburg's acting and directing school and they invited us back for their rendition of "The Idiot."
I thought this production would be 4 hours of pain; instead, it was very entertaining and witty. The exception to this being the 45 minute monologues...in Russian...that I couldn't comprehend. However, I could follow the play pretty well based on their body language and facial expressions. There was one point in the play when the main guy told the bonde daughter that she was nearly as beautifula as Nastacia = it was at this point that I said to myself, "What an idiot!" Hence I got the title of the play finally.
I thought that the set was minimal, but that it was used fantastically. The curtains allowed for multiple stage areas/ scenes at the same time. The use of the doors to run into different areas of the stage was particularly usefull as well. The minimal set was actually advantageous as it made one focus on the acting more-so than the set itself.
I loved when they were all at the dinner table (the main character and the family of the general) and how they were ACTUALLY eating the pears and it wasn't pretend or with a phony sound affect-that was refreshing. I think that the acting was superb for 5th year students and possibly far better than most of the professionals that we have seen thus far. Not to mention that the blocking was fantastic- even when 20 people were on the stage, you could always see everyone's face. ...Plus the director was adorable when he would come in and say, "Thank you all for not leaving!"
Overall, I was very glad that we attended this performance and I feel that it did justice to the St. Petersburg institute of acting and directing.

Moscow Choir

Hello again!

This past Sunday we went to the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg. This theater is one of a number of "Theatres of Europe." These theaters receive funding for supertitles (translations projected above the stages) and frequently tour to other Theatres of Europe. Unfortunately, the supertitles for the production we saw at the Maly, Moscow Choir, were in Italian. This did not detract at all from the experience, however, as the Maly is supposed to be one of the best theaters in Russia-a reputation it certainly deserves.

Moscow Choir is set in Moscow in the mid-1950s. During the 1950s, Russia underwent major political changes as a result of Stalin's death. These changes originated primarily from Nikita Krushchev's "Secret Speech," delivered at the 20th party congress. In his speech, Krushchev denounced the "cult of personality" that surrounded Stalin, as well as other practices of Stalin's regime. The play takes place not long before the 20th party congress in a communal apartment. Most of the action is centered around a single family. The grandmother is schizophrenic, her son is having an affair, and his teenage daughter is likely pregnant with an illegitimate child (a few months go by between the two acts, during which she gives birth to a son). In the midst of all of this turmoil, the grandmother's brother-in-law is trying to run rehearsals with his amateur choir for an all-USSR competition.

The set looked to me to be a multi-story rendering of a single-story apartment. It appeared that the designer had taken the posessions that might have been in a 1950's Soviet communal apartment and rearranged them vertically. The result was a multi-tiered assortment of furniture that vaguely resembled an apartment. This description comes nowhere close to giving it justice, but I found the set to be very effective. For one thing, it allowed the entire cast to be seen during the rehearsals, when between 15 and twenty people crowded into a rather small space. It also gave the impression of an incredibly claustrophobic space that was preventing the characters from thriving.

The acting was some of the most emotionally powerful we have seen. As always it was difficult to tell exactly what was going on, but the acting style was highly realistic and emotive. The woman who played the part of the grandmother was exceptionally talented and her performance was met with much enthusiasm by both the audience and the cast. For me one of the most moving parts was at the end of the play, when the choir came on for the last time (they sang six times in all, at the beginning, middle and end of each act). The piece they were rehearsing this time was a movement of Bach's c minor mass. The grandmother had not sung in any of the other sections, but this time she joined the rest of the cast in singing. To me this was pointing out the healing power of music. Despite her psychological illness, she was somehow able to be brought out of that by the act of singing.

While they were lacking in technique, I enjoyed the choir's performance far more than the production of Sadko we saw at the Mariinsky earlier in the day. The timing of when the music was used in the play as well as the extremely emotional acting truly enhanced the performance a great deal. Each of the pieces was well suited to the mood at the time and they broke up the action nicely by breaking some of the tension.

Certainly another of my favorites!

Peter's Video Review of "Salome"

Joey's Video Review of "He Was a Titular Councillor"

Hannah's Video Review of the Moliere One-Act Plays

Jake and Isaac's video review of "Man = Man"

Садко

I was originally really excited to be back at the Mariinsky, as I had seen the ballet Swan Lake back in October. My excitement was relatively short-lived, however, as the four hour opera began. I was immediately reminded of the opera we had seen in Moscow, which is not why I lost my enthusiasm, but the set and costumes all seemed fairly similar. The set, in my opinion, was not similar, because whenever actors entered or exited through the background and brushed it, it sent a wave-like motion up the entire thing, which was sometimes a good thing as it distracted my attention away from some of the other things I didn't like that were happening on stage. Within the first five minutes of the first act, orange men dancers entered onto the stage, and immediately started dancing like two year olds. I know this may sound harsh, however I am confident that I am not the only person that holds this opinion.

My other major complaint would be about the one guy that when he sang, was barely audible. He seemed to have a lot of solos, or maybe I just noticed his solos more because it seemed like there was silence on state. When he did have solos, I started paying attention to those waves in the set once again. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the singing overall, I felt that it was one of the better parts of the performance. I especially enjoyed the female singer that looked like a man, because as Nadia put it, "the one girl that sings really hurts my ears." It's not that I didn't like the King of the Underwater World's daughters' voice, it's just that my senses found the other woman's voice to be more appealing.

Beyond my complaints, I enjoyed the last act the best. I also enjoyed the last act of the other opera that we saw in Moscow, however that was more because of the incredible set. The set in the last act was also the best one, in my opinion, as it was this underwater world theme with a screen in front at first, so everything wasn't entirely visible. When the screen did lift, they threw in some ballet, which I really enjoyed. We were seated on the floor, which I really appreciated during the ballet section in the last act as I could see their footwork and etc. When I had seen Swan Lake, I was in one of the balcony sections, and I could not see their footwork.

I think I have come to the conclusion that opera may not be my "thing". I don't think this solely because of the, in my opinion, poor performance of Sadko. I simply find ballet to be more beautiful, and I enjoy knowing what is going on during plays. Even though there were subtitles, and it may have even been more clear since there were subtitles in both operas, I found the subtitles to be distracting as they were off to the side during the opera in Moscow, and above the stage during this performance at the Mariinsky. I have enjoyed some of the other theater performances we have seen in Russian more, even though at times I don't know exactly what the actors/actresses have said.

Hello from St. Petersburg! If you are wondering about the weather, its cold. Today I want to write a little bit on the play that I have just seen, "Oedipus the King" at the at the Theatre on Liteiny. This wasn't my favorite play, but it was one of the most powerful that I have seen on this trip.

The play told the story of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, he had recently saved the city from ruin by solving the Sphinx's puzzle. By saving the city he was then proclaimed king and married the widowed older queen Jocasta. Soon however a plague of infertility strikes Thebes and the crops won't grow and women are barren. Oedipus then consults the oracles of Delphi and they proclaim that to end the plague the killer of Jocasta's first husband, King Laius, must be brought to justice. Oedipus then decrees that King Laius' killer, when found, will be blinded and cast out of the city. However he cannot find the killer, slowly however he finds clues that lead to a disturbing conclusion. First, Oedipus finds out that he does not know who his real parents were, he was adopted at birth when a shepperd found him in the wilderness. Then he realizes that King Laius and Jocasta had a son that they left to die in the wilderness, for that son was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Then he realizes with horror that he was the man who killed King Laius and that he was the baby that was left out to die, saved by a shepperd. Oedipus was the son fated to kill his father and marry his mother and has done precisely that. Jocasta upon hearing this hangs herself and Oedipus fulfills his decree by blinding himself and banishing himself from Thebes.

If you think I have given the story away, the whole story was all shown to us in the first five minutes, in dance. That was a risk that I feel really payed off however, the story itself wasn't the main point of this play. It was the fact that we knew what was going to happen and so we were voyagers, waiting and watching to see how others would react to the truth. With this goal in mind the play succeeded in milking put every emotion that a tragedy could have in it. There were only three actors (two males and a female) who all had multiple roles and their skill floored me. They could change their emotions, faces, and physical movements like a flick of the switch. One moment an actor was an old man, the next a sacrificial sheep, with each movement being carefully choreographed to convey not just why he had changed roles but the importance each role had. In the end however the true star of the play emerged, the actress who played Jocasta was unbelievable. The last scenes of the play, when the truth is slowing being realized by the Jocasta and Oedipus are milked for all they are worth. the Director knows that he has the audience, we can't help but look on as Jocasta begins to realize the horror of what she has done. she has laid in bed with her husband's murderer who is also her son. To describe in words her actions wouldn't do the acting justice, all I can say is that the actress really does convey the horror of the situation in bone chilling words and actions, I don't think a single person could blink. It was a huge contrast from the light humorous dance number in the beginning.

The stage itself was pure barren wasteland. I found that it didn't really add anything to the acting because there really wasn't anything there, just dirt and stones, the actors themselves had to create the show, they were the real props. The lighting too had the same role, when the lights were on, they were floodlights, they made sure that the audience looked at the actors but mostly they just made sure we knew where to look. The only difference seemed to be when the humorous dance number in the beginning of the play started. In the starting dance the actors seemed to take a secondary role to the dancing, the lights, the music and the props.

I want to add a little thing about the dance number right here since I have mentioned it a few times. In the beginning the actors came on stage and danced for us. They told the whole story of Oedipus with a dance in 5 minutes. It was light, cheesy, and fun, the actors themselves overacting to the point of absurdity and mocking everything, incest, murder, and drama, with a smile on their faces. The reason I feel that they did this however was to show the audience true contrast. We could not appreciate drama without knowing what over-dramatization really was. We could not watch with morbid fascination as Jocasta realized the magnitude of her horrible sin if we didn't see her take it lightly before.

This powerful play really did deserve the multiple encores in the end, and I know that it will have me thinking for many more days.

The Black Monk Yo

On Jan 15th, we went to see The Black Monk. This production was about a man named Andrei Vasilyich Kovrin who needs a break and so goes to visit his former tutor, Pesotsky, and Pesotsky's daughter, Tanya, who own a country orchard. Kovrin is thought to be a genius and the life of the party to his former guardians, but these perspectives start changing when he begins to see and have long conversations with a hallucination of a black monk. On the other hand, Kovrin has never felt more inspired and alive since the monk starts visiting him and telling him how special he is. After Kovrin and Tanya get married and Tanya and her dad begin to question Kovrin's sanity, he is given medicine to make the monk disappear. Kovrin becomes irritable and dry and his life begins to crumble underneath him. By the end, Tanya has felt him, the orchard has been given to renters, and Kovrin dies in the arms of the monk who was the only one who could break him out of his mediocre mindset and isolated world.

The acting in this production was phenomenal. First, the Black Monk had amazing strength and energy for a man of his age; swinging around the set like it was a jungle gym. Tanya was very effective at pulling on heart strings by her crying on demand. Pesotsky brought much of the humor into the play. Kovrin gave an amazing performance holding everyone until the last moment. Although the acting was done very realistically at parts, all throughout the play, it was certain that the director wanted to remind people that they were watching a play. This was accomplished by the actors narrating for themselves by talking in the third person about what they were doing or going to do. Also, many of the actions and movements about the stage were obviously acted as choreographed. These aspects made the play more of a story that the actors were telling the audience.

One thing that I had never seen before and thought was really sweet was that the stage was built onto the balcony. This made a cool effect because the stage looked like it was hanging off a cliff. This had its disadvantages and perks. Unfortunately, the poor planning for this set up made it so some people were unable to see any of the stage if they were sitting on the extreme sides. Also the stage was open on all sides and had to be small with no backstage, but it was very close and personal with the audience. This set up also allowed the actors to use the bigger stage in the back for the black monk. I thought that this was a great way to show the hallucinations of the monk. Kovrin would see the monk far away on the large stage with no conversation only yelling and waving and then, like a mirage, the monk would disappear into the blackness of the stage. The black monk would also appear on the close stage when he was having conversations and other interactions with Kovrin. It really showed how the black monk was imaginary and elusive, but also a real and tangible person to Kovrin.

I liked how this play questioned who really is sane or insane. Those who thought the idea of Kovrin seeing hallucinations was crazy wanted to help by making him more sane, but by doing so they killed his inspiration and a big part of his life. I really really enjoyed this play--actors, set, and stage--and would highly recommend it.

Russians and Feet

On our first full day in Russia on this trip we went to see Romeo and Juliet. Jet-lagged and trying to get comfortable in my seat, I placed my right foot at the heel on my left knee (as I would normally do in the States) during the intermission just out of habit, having no clue of what Russians find appropriate or inappropriate. Most of the Russians around us had left to get some food or beverages during the intermission, so it was just a few of the American class sitting in our row. There was a woman who was sitting in front of me who had also left during the intermission, and on her walk back to her seat she was giving my foot a death stare. Confused and tired, I sat and did nothing thinking that I was just tired and she wasn't really looking at my foot. She got to her seat and did not sit down, staring at me now and gesturing to my foot while angrily rambling in Russian, which was quite intimidating for a first day experience. I put my foot down to lean in and try to pick up some of what she was saying and as soon as I put it down she nodded, turned around and sat down. I asked both Marc and the student who had studied in Russia first semester about this and apparently showing the bottom of the foot is taboo, as it is dirty and touches the ground.

About two weeks later, we befriended an 18 year old Russian boy named Oleg. I was talking to him about the leg crossing through poor Russian and simplified English when I decieded I would demonstrate and ask him what was bad and what wasn't. I crossed my legs completely with one knee on top of the other and asked Oleg if that was ok, to which he responded it was good and normal. Then I slowly started moving my right knee (on top) to the right and asked him to tell me when it was bad or inappropriate. It seemed that as long as I was able to point the bottom of my foot mostly towards the ground it was fine, until I got almost all the way down my leg and Oleg said "No this is a bad thing!" It seems that just so long as people can't see the bottom of your foot you're in good shape, but I've become very conscious about how I hold myself and how I cross my legs, keeping both feet either on the ground or pointed toward it.

On our train ride from Moscow to Novgorod, some of us met a Russian man by the name of Max. We talked with him in the diner car for several hours and had beforehand taken off our boots, not wanting to track dirt and water all over the train. As his English was very good, he was able to translate for us what the waitress had asked us earlier and we did not understand. She asked why we weren't wearing "topochki," a type of slipper that is thin and small but keeps your feet covered. It was far from cold on the train, but she was still concerned about us catching a cold from having our feet uncovered. I experienced this a little bit at our hostel in Moscow when I was barefoot and walking to the shower in the morning and got another death stare from the cleaning lady in the hostel (something I'm getting good at it seems). I asked Max (from our trip who had studied in Russia already) about why she might have stared at me. He asked, "Were you wearing topochki?" to which I said, "No," and he said that that was most likely the reason. I wore some shoes that were easy to slip on for the rest of the time and didn't get any glares from her ever again.

Overall, I find the Russians' view of feet very odd, but they find it disrespectful when I do things that we would find perfectly normal in the US. As a result, I have come to think about my feet much more and I am much more aware of where they are and how they are positioned. I'm just curious about how long it will be before I'm not as conscious about them and don't have to think twice about how I'm going to position my feet.

Will Carlson Video Review of "The Secret of the Old Cupboard" (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"

Kris Elwood's Video Review - The Black Monk

Sarah Chao's Video Review - The Blue Monster

Realistic Absurdity

I am very familiar with Uncle Vanya. For an acting class last year, I read it twice, performed a scene from it, and watched "Vanya on 42nd Street," essentially a taping of a stage performance. However, I had not seen it live until the performance by the Tabakov troupe at MXAT (THE Moscow Art Theater). I generally felt that it was a very good piece of literature, but interminably boring to watch.

Traditionally speaking (in the U.S. at least), productions of Chekhov are kept as 'straight' as possible. Commonly, the dramaturg is given the final word on the production, making it as academic and 'factual' as possible. This approach does ensure the main themes of the text are communicated, but it also increases the chances of the production being long and boring for both the actors and the audience.

As with most American productions as well, the text is kept intact, for better or for worse. As an artist, I find this a difficult subject. On the one hand, it is the creation of the author and, as a piece of art, it is nobody's prerogative to just decide it's bad in some way. On the other hand, the production is the creation of the troupe as well, and they should have the opportunity to make their art just the way they want it. In the case of Chekhov, I feel that the fact that he's dead makes this less of an issue, so long as credit is given or not given for whatever creative decisions the troupe makes. I would tentatively say that this applies to all productions, but it's not a subject to just pass judgement on. After all, if I decide to become a director I'll feel one way, and if I decide to become a writer I'll feel the other, and I don't want to be responsible for rash pronouncements made in my youth :p

This production of Chekhov took some cues from the American approach, but it also had some novel aspects which kept and even strengthened the Chekhovian themes of disillusionment and a wasted life.

In my opinion, the production took a lot of staging cues from the absurdist style of the 40s-60s. The repeated opening and closing of the windows for no reason showed the pointlessness that the characters felt in their lives. The music cues--always the same plodding, odd and repetitive song--were another example of repeated actions, this time from the tech booth. This motif of repeated actions is very common in theater of the absurd.

Another common device is pointless actions. The mother had a gag with a hammock in the first act in which she finds some fleeting pleasure in its novelty, only to revert back when the hired help sees her acting differently from the norm. The hammock then is taken down and does not reappear for the rest of the play. Besides this, the characters had pointless actions throughout the play, but it came off as absurdist and not a bad directorial choice because of the specificity of said actions. The characters were searching for something to occupy their minds and save them from soul-crushing boredom, but ultimately only added to their misery.

The repetition of actions and pointless actions helped in a practical way as well. Further reinforcing the static lives of the characters, there were very few exits and entrances from the stage using the wings--almost all were through the house, excluding the hired help. However, this meant that the characters were on stage for long scenes which they weren't in. The solution here was to have them continue their daily lives in the background, eating, drinking tea, sitting in a rocking chair, etc. Nothing they did was fulfilling or had any variety, which made the staging realistic, boring and interesting all at the same time.

Partly due to the staging and partly due to the script, there was also a certain amount of the "humor as a release valve," again, from the absurdist canon. The mother's interaction with the hammock served this purpose as well, and she in fact was the main source of the humor in the show. She was very good at eliciting a reaction from the audience simply with a look or a grunt.

All this said, the production was still three hours long, and had I not been so interested in the acting, I think that I would have lost interest after about 1.5 hours. Is this a bad thing? On the one hand, if you bore your audience to tears, they will not take anything from it, and you will probably erase the possibility of future audiences. On the other hand, the point of this text is lost if you make the production too glitzy or pander to the audience too much.

So was the production successful? I think the troupe achieved their goal. The text itself is concerned with the same ideals as in theater of the absurd, so using techniques from this genre was a very powerful and creative way to express it. I believe this was their overarching goal. For the general audience, however, there was very little to keep our attention. Unfortunately, this seems to be a trend in Chekhov performances: if your play is about being bored, how can you possibly not bore your audience?

Lydia's Video Review - Chicago

Race in this place

I started writing this entry on our last day in Moscow, and I thought it was worth finishing so here it is:

During orientation I received a rather chilling message about Russian racism. I'm sure Marc and Anna didn't mean to scare me...they spoke directly and paused often in search of the best possible way to phrase such a delicate topic and I appreciate the sensitivity. Regardless, I escaped to the restroom following the discussion and yes, I cried. Could it be possible that this country which I'd fallen in love with would reject me just because of the skin that I'm in?

A few days before departure I started to get anxious again and decided to Google search Russian racism so I could prepare myself. There were some lovely articles about violent racist conflicts with skinheads and other extremists (something we touched on during orientation). I also learned that some Russians are hostile towards anyone who looks non-Russian and refer to these people as чёрный (black) even if they may be Caucasian (so if I was hated I would be in good company I guess.) Marc explained during "The Blue Monster" that чёрный was an incredibly derogatory term and that the politically correct way to say African American/Black here is actually негер which sounds like "nyeger" or "nigger." Huh.

Despite my initial misgivings however, the majority of my interactions with the Russian people have been quite positive. I find that people's reactions to me seem to fall into three categories: indifference, curiosity, and open fascination. Indifference is great. I mean, everyone treats strangers with indifference so this is hardly worthy of note. Curiosity is a little more ambiguous. Staring is OK in Russia as several people have already mentioned, and a scowl or a frown in idle mode is the norm here. So is that woman at the metro scowling at me because I'm black or is that just her natural expression? Do people look at me longer than my fellow comrades or could I be imagining it? Was that little boy at the theater who literally walked up to me, stopped, grimaced, and then passed by racist or was he just an insolent child? What about those adolescent boys on the Metro who were pointing me out to their friends and laughing? Was it just a "hey look! some black chick! don't see very many of those..." or a "dude, check out that wierd nigger over there..."? Foreigners here are targets for thieves in general, but is there a difference between how a predator would view a black foreigner as opposed to a white one? In what way?

I could go on and on but at the end of the day, what's the point? I can't read these people's minds and I can't see into their hearts. I haven't been attacked and I haven't heard people calling me чёрная or any other derogatory term. The most I can say is that I am for sure viewed as a foreigner and that my skin is a dead give-away. I have not ventured out on my own because I'm a woman and black one at that--a very obvious target. I can't blend in and I don't feel safe (though to be fair I admit that I'm a country-mouse--don't feel safe in Chicago either).

I want to move on now and talk about open fascination because this is where a lot of my positive experiences come in. Back at Godzillas, our wonderful hostel in Moscow, I would notice this Russian woman staring at me in the 3rd floor kitchen. She wouldn't smile until I returned her gaze and then she would look away. I was a little annoyed to tell the truth. One day I came in to make a salad and she was in there with her son speaking Russian. After 10 minutes of ignoring each other, she asked me about myself in English and when she found out I knew a little Russian her eyes lit up and we began a 2 hour long conversation in both languages. What fun! Her name is Tatiana and she was in Moscow with her fiance, an American named Donald who was also staying at the hostel and got to know some of our students quite well. She told me about herself and her family, tought me some Russian phrases, was patient with me as I stumbled over my words (though at times I was so comfortable I was able to speak fluently), and was just fascinated by everything I said. She was from the far eastern part of Russia near China and Donald later told me that I was the first black person she'd ever seen. She was quite taken, and even invited Hannah and me to the circus that weekend. Such a sweet lady. :)

Then there was Oksana, an actress and musician we met during our first week in Moscow. After her wonderful performance at the bar, she came to the non-smoking section to meet and take a picture with the class. She's seriously cool and I was actually a little intimidated but she smiled at everyone and was so interested in us. She called me "[her] beauty" and insisted on holding my hand when we took the class picture and embraced me afterwards. At her theater performance (she starred in K.I. from Crime), she would choose members of the audience to interact with at different times and she chose me at one point and handed me an invitation as part of her act. After her performance she hugged me again and called me her beauty. Wow. I did nothing to deserve such star treatment but sometimes it pays to be different. Other things like this have happened and they definently help to balance out any negative experiences I might have because of my race.

People react to me in various ways, and I also react Russia in a racially-sensitve manner. It's a little lonely sometimes living in such a mono-racial society. Russia is diverse in its own way--there are Georgians, Cossacks, Gypsies, and other groups but sometimes I wonder, where are all the Asians, the Hispanics, the Africans? I'm a minority back home and I'm used to it, but here it feels like seeing another black person is a rare sighting, like venturing into the jungle and catching sight of a white tiger. There was one other black person staying at Godzillas in Moscow who arrived during our last week. We had a conversation over breakfast and when I had to leave for Novgorod the next day, I felt like I was saying goodbye to my brother even though I barely knew him.


Well, those are my thoughts on race in this place. Sometimes race means nothing, other times I'm not sure what it means, and every once in a while it actually opens doors. I can't make any generalizations from my experiences, but I hope this was somewhat informative and helpful to anyone interested in how race might impact a foreigner's travels in Russia. Ciao for now.

America, Russia, and Doors

On the train to Novogorod, a couple of us had a sit down in the dining car. Before long, a younger Russian man invited us over to chat. We obliged. We discovered that he was a businessman working for an architechture firm that designed only doors. We found this rather strange, by our American standards, it would be unrealistic to expect that an architechtural firm that designes, not builds, doors could survive. He laughed and explained to us that in Russia, doors are actually a very important part of the esthetics as well as formality of business. He continued with an example: if you were looking to store your money in a bank, would you rather trust your money to a bank where the first thing you see on the street in front of it is a plain, assembly line made, unoriginal door, or a bank with massive, heavy, and beautiful oak stained and ornately figured door? It's all about perception, and sight is a very important part of this. So thus, there are architechtural firms in Russia that design only doors; its a big money business. We also discussed Russian/American relations in some detail. This man, Max, said he was heading for America in a few months to try and convince some wallstreet-esque businesses of the importance of doors and then sell them some of his firms. This, to me, shed light on the nature of the bridge of ideas that have been streaming between America and Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, that is, very cultural based. I have no idea if his door idea will flourish in America, only time will tell. As we walked away, I thought about the extent to which this idea had already permiated in America and was left with the gut feeling that if it has, it certainly hasn't to the extent to which Max was looking to bring. Anyway, it was a very interesting conversation; I learned a lot about Russian business, Russia, Novogorod, and laymans political relations that I otherwise wouldn't have.

Play #2 Tsar's Bride

This was our first opera on the trip, and the first opera I have ever seen. There were translations to english on the sides of the proscenium arch as well. This production took place in the Bolshoi Theater. Bolshoi (Большои) means large in Russian, and this theater lived up to it's name. It was huge. Multiple tiers, as well as a ground floor with seating on the tiers in an almost arena style (three sided because of the proscenium arch) For some history, the Bolshoi that we went to was actually not the ORIGINAL Bolshoi. The original is currently under construction and is projected to be finished sometime in 2012. So in the meantime, the "new bolshoi" is where all of it's original setlist takes place. That by no manner means that this theater is a push over, however. Enough about history, on to the Tsar's Bride...

Set:
To the date of seeing the production, this was the best staged set I have ever seen. It was HUGE, and they changed it so quickly, not a minute was wasted. The set was so fantastically done that there were times durring the production that I actually thought the set was 3 dimentional when it in fact was not. Such elaborate attention to detail and careful construction deserve more praise than I am giving it here, just phenominally superb.

Props:
Again, some of the best I have seen. The costumes were of the most elaborate designs and flashy materials, and there were so many active parts of the stage that if I tried to give you a complete list and proper detail, you would have a book, not a blog. However, I must wonder if all of the costumes were "built ford tough" Durring the production one of the golden beads on the costume just blasted off and bounced at a staged silence, making it audibly as well as visually noticable. Another thing I must talk about that probally is more Set related were the english subtitles on both the right and left of the stage. For those who did not speak the language, it was helpful for comprehension, but at the same time it created a problem by taking away from the play. More than once when I was reading the translations, (which by the way, were sometimes incorrect, and humorous) I missed an important action in the play itself, and that was frustrating.

Lighting:
Nothing really of note here, there was nothing that really stuck out to me as spectacular, but at the same time there was nothing about it that seemed lacking, the lighting was on cue and aimed in the right direction, and I cannot remember any slip ups, so all it all it was rather good.

Music:
Seeing that the play was an opera, it's going to have some music. It's going to have a lot of music. And the music was great. Loud, powerful voices, capable of reaching impressive octaves left me immersed, and completely satisfied. One character in particular that stuck out for me was the father of Ivan. That man had a very powerful, commanding voice, and he knew how to use it, I found my self favoring him over the others, and that was no small feat. The orchestrated music gave it their all as well, it all flowed very fluidly, and they started a little something to gather our attention before each act (four total) began. For an opera, I set high standards, and they were met.

Acting:
The acting was done rather well. I found it to be immersing, and there seemed to be no mental errors. Physically, Ivan took a slip in about act 2, but sometimes it's just unavoidable. As previously mentioned, I took a particular liking to the father figure of Ivan, and thought that he did well. There were some other shining moments as well, like the final act. But sometimes it seemed to be stagnant, and others it seemed to be exaggerated and melodramatic. However, this WAS an opera, so it was acceptable.

Overall:
One of the strongest shortcomings of this production was personal. I saw it too early on. It was beautiful and fascinating, but I was still trying to recover from Jet lag which made it hard enough to stay awake let alone fully enjoy the depth and richness of this play. I would definitely recommend seeing this, even if only for its eye candy value, and it held much more value than just that. It was very fun to watch, and it was equally fun to listen to. Definitely a worthy experience.

Play # 1 Romeo And Juliet.

I figured that it would be a good idea to give some insight to WHAT we were actually seeing in Russia so people can get a better understanding as to what Russian theater is like. So I thought It would be good to start from the beginning.

The first play that we witnessed was Romeo and Juliet. In this article as well as the following articles, I will do my best to break it down into core elements of the play itself such as the set, actors, etc.

Set:
The set for romeo and juliet was a rather interesting one. It seemed to be abstract in design, with something resembling PVC pipes making two opposite houses on respective sides of the stages, as well as some boxes and and clock in the middle. It also had an opening in the deep back of the stage (which I later learned was actually not as deep as the stage went, it went further) to allow actors to have a dramatic back lit entrance. The stage design of the buildings allowed for some impressive physical acts from the actors, and the boxes were able to be moved to set up a podium of sorts. They also had some plastic plexiglass type panes which were used to create some interesting invironments. (the planes were not completely transparent which allowed the characters to separate themselves, and even sometimes hide themselves from others.) The houses themselves, as previously stated were constructed with something similar to PVC pipes to allow for physical feats, and also there were balconies, which allowed the audience to buy into the structure of the building itself, instead of just seeing the pipes that were constructed in an almost jungle gym-esque way. It seemed to really work for the play and made it unique in it's own way.

Props:
Some of the props for R&J included some sort of cloth type harnass to be used as a swing, masks, the previously discussed boxes, flashy costumes and a clock that ended up center stage used as a reference to show that sometimes when characters were together "time stood still" Hula hoops were also a part of the props found in the productions. I felt that sometimes the props were hard to fully understand, like the hula hoops were at one point supposed to be blood or something, it was hard to tell. However I thought some props were a really nice touch. The boxes were multi-purpose and worked very well, and the clock was also a good edition. Many of the props were white, and sometimes it threw me off and made it seem monochrome, but that didn't take away from how useful they were, just came off as odd.

Lighting:
Fantastic. The lighting really seemed to work for me. I thought it was well used, especially when they showed the prince (I think it was the prince) who was originally dressed in white, covered in a red light, giving this villanous vibe off at the appropriate time.

Music:
A bit odd. Im not sure why the director chose to use Weird Al's "Lasagna" in the play, it seemed very distracting and out of place, and it happened more than once. If I could, I would like to ask the director why he chose that music. Other than that it seemed to flow well, but seemed just anti-climatic at times.

Acting:
Seemed very fluid. The actors knew the stage very well and seemed to have no sporadic or confusing body movements. On a side note, the actors must have been very, very, physically fit. Their ability to climb and swing up the buildings with hard-to-believe ease showed how much training they must have had. The fighting seemed well choreographed, and it all seemed to come together very well.

Overall:
An abstract approach to a classic piece. I believe it is definately worth a seeing to just go see the actors and how much time they put into the piece. Seemed a little on the short side as far as a "spectacle" would be concerned. That said there were some interesting dances, fights and aerial movements, as well as the phenominal fluid movements to scale/crawl/swing up the houses. It was something fresh and new for R&J.

A Change Of Pace

Today marks our first full day out of Moscow. We arrived in Novgorod around 6:00 AM, most of us sleeping soundly through a nine hour train ride. Although Moscow is a very historical city and contains many of Western Russia's historical landmarks, it is easy to get lost in the modernity of it all. Stark contrasts like malls filled with designer clothing stores next to 16th century Muscovite style churches throw the city into a bit of an identity crisis, at least for someone like myself who studies both modern and imperial/ pre-soviet Russia. However, upon entering Novgorod, one cannot feel like they are embarking on a journey through the past.

Our first activity as a group besides getting accustomed to our hotel was a short trip on foot to the souvenir shops around the city. Each shop displayed craftwork unique to Novgorod, including many products made with the cities famous birchbark. When crossing the Volkhov river by bridge, the Kremlin and several churches/museums await. However, these buildings are not bustling with tourist actvity or swarming with babushkas trying to sell you t-shirts with Lenin's face next to the McDonalds golden arches. Residents gather outside the Church of St. Sophia to collect blessed water to take back to their homes. The church still mandates that women wear head coverings whilst inside the building, an old tradition of married Russian Orthodox women. The city sometimes feels as if it has not yet been penetrated by Western civilization.

I wish our stay here was for more than one night, but as the purpose of our trip is going to the theatre, it only makes sense that we hit up the largest metropolitan areas. I will miss this comparably quaint, "small town"- around 500, 000 people or so. Saint Petersburg awaits...

Staring for Dummies

Russia is a beautiful country with wonderful people. We have had a fairly easy time getting the hang of things so far, although it is rather hard to get accustomed to the different customs and practices here. First of all, staring is totally accepted here. Whereas at home ones parents usually instruct them not to stare at others, everyone does it here no matter what age. I know I have personally had an amusing time practicing my staring on the metro as well as other places, and I know others have as well. Another thing that was hard to get used to at first is the fact that it is considered rude to show the bottom of your foot to someone in Russia. I remember learning about this in Russian class, but had largely forgotten. We were reminded of it at the first play we went to. Jake was yelled at by a Russian lady for crossing his leg and exposing the bottom of his shoe, something that would be fine in the States, but very rude here. Another thing that we have been practicing is the half yawn. I'm not exactly sure if it is just at plays or in general, but it is considered rude to yawn. To get around this you have to learn to yawn by barely opening your mouth, a task that isn't easy coming from a society where we don't worry about that kind of stuff. Going back to the States its also going to be kind of weird not having a coat check wherever we go. Anywhere from museums, to theaters, to restaurants make you check your coat a lot of the time. It is actually a really nice service that makes the whole affair seem more classy, but can get to be a hassle to wait in line after a show. You can also check your hat with your coat so there is plenty of fur to go around. One of our favorite things to do at the theater is to go to the bufet (I don't know how to change the language on this computer so the english variant will have to do). It doesn't matter how big the theater is, everyone has a snack bar for before the show and during intermissions. We can't get enough of them and it will be weird going to events back home where we can't get our snack on whenever we want. Well we are about to head to our final dinner in Moscow and then head out for Novgorod. Moscow's been real and we are looking forward to new cities and new experiences.

Shakespeare, meet Moscow

After two challenging but ultimately very rewarding weeks in Moscow we're leaving the city tonight. It's hard to think back to when we first arrived in Russia and how foreign and intimidating everything seemed. We haven't conquered Moscow, not by a long run, but we all made it more or less intact.
The first play we saw here was Romeo and Juliet and in retrospect I'm very glad that was my first taste of Russian theater. We saw it one our first full day in Moscow when seeing Cyrillic everywhere was still a fresh novelty. Of all of the plays we've seen here I was most familiar with the text from Romeo and Juliet, and had seen a number of productions to compare to. However, when the actors took the stage I realized I had overestimated my Russian skills and quickly found myself relying on my previous knowledge to figure out what was going on. I quickly understood that by focusing solely on the dialogue I would miss out on a great deal, and that the whole production (costumes, set design, music, character interaction and movement), had to be looked at. I've gained a greater appreciation for the craftsmanship of a theater production by seeing some in another language.
Romeo and Juliet was also a great introduction to Russian acting in general. it was powerful and extremely athletic. The set was very minimal and consisted mostly of to scaffold like structures. The actors continuously climbed, and flipped about the set while hardly showing effort. Lines were delivered while upside down, and gymnastic poses held for long pauses. After seeing multiple plays I can say that this amazing athleticism is common in Russian theater and is a huge part of the actors training. In The Black Monk we watched in amazement as an actor well over fifty jumped off stage and climbed around the set like a ten year old on a jungle gym. And again last night at The Blue Monster I felt I was watching a circus performance instead of theater with the actors on trapeze and tissue.
One of the things we've learned about and discussed a lot in class is the carnival movement in Russian theater. We certainly saw a lot of it last night but once again Romeo and Juliet gave us a brief glimpse on that first day. The costumes used in the production were extremely colorful and seemed randomly put together to me. I kept trying to place the performance in a specific time period but the circus inspired costuming made it impossible.
One last aspect of Russian theater that Romeo and Juliet helped introduce would be the interesting musical decisions made. Russians apparently love big, dramatic music that, as many students have pointed out in class, make beautiful moments seem cheesier. In Romeo and Juliet the fight scenes we accompanied by Weird Al's "Lasagna". Not the first choice I would have made but I felt that symbolically it gave the whole fight more of a joking edge. The actors were also fighting with their coats and that combined with Wired Al gave me the impression that the characters weren't taking the situation seriously. "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt", or killed in this case. So while many of the choices made were unconventional in my eyes they usually work when combined together.
If I've learned anything about Russian theater it's not to go into a performance as an American. You'll be confused and maybe disappointed, and end up missing out on some amazing moments.

TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE!

For my first post (I've been a bit delinquent), I have decided to discuss performance ettiquite in Russia. So far I can recall two performances from the past two weeks when cell phones did not go off. There have been a number of instances in which multiple people's phones rang, or even a single person's phone rang multiple times. We have also observed a woman talking on her phone during a performance! This last instance was at the performance of K.I. from Crime. You might be wondering if perhaps the "Please turn off all noisemaking electronic devices" announcements we hear at performances in the states don't exist here in Russia. They do. Despite these constant reminders, Marc has told us that Russians are so totally reliant on their phones that many of them can't stand to keep them off for an hour or two. John Freedman talked about this issue some when we met with him after K.I. Amazingly, he told us a number of stories about his fellow theater critics leaving their cell phones on and talking during performances. Despite this contingent of phone lovers, there are many Russians who get annoyed about the phones too.

These are usually the same people who can be heard hissing at fellow audience members who talk through plays or even stomp through the audience to leave in the middle of them. Although these things have not yet resulted in a Boston Pops style fistfight, I wouldn't be all that surprised to see one! The hissers and cell phone shut-offers truly appreciate the performances they see, as is evidenced by the length of curtain calls here. It is not uncommon for the cast to be called back out on stage five or six times before the audience will be totally content. Despite this obvious appreciation for everything we have seen, until last night we had witnessed only a handful of people give standing ovations. Although it was not our group's favorite performance, a large portion of the Russian audience was absolutely thrilled by last night's spectacl, resulting in the largest standing ovation we've seen here yet. Another interesting tendency of the Russian audience is unison clapping. Unlike the states, where everyone claps at their individual tempo, Russian audiences start off that way and gradually adjust until they are all clapping together. I've been meaning to ask Marc if there is significance behind this, although I think it likely that there is. I find it to be an interesting expression of the audience's unified appreciation for an excellent performance, but that's just the way I read it. I'm off now, we're checking out of Godzilla's Hostel in about 30 minutes. Tonight we leave for Novgorod by train on Wednesday we drive from there to St. Petersburg. Until next time!

The People of Russia

It's hard to believe that our trip is over half finished. With the constant stimulation and endless supply of things to do and see, I completely lost track of the day of the week and date until I was told yesterday that we leave Moscow on Monday.
While I have made it to numerous museums--the Tretyakov gallery and the Kremlin being the highlights--not to mention the plays and landmarks, I have easily been most fascinated by interacting with the people here.
I can only make two generalizations about Russians: they often look unhappy, and they speak much quieter than Americans. Both of these can be seen most obviously in service workers. Aside from the desk staff at our hostel, all of whom are extremely helpful and open, I have not seen a single clerk in a store, restaurant, or the metro who has smiled or spoken with anything other than a grumble. Granted, having worked at a coffee shop, I know how soul-crushing and miserable these jobs can be (and I worked at a relatively nice one). But I also know that if you act happier, you tend to feel happier. Maybe all the workers here just have SAD.
The quiet speaking is evident on the street as well. When I was in Germany, I enjoyed eavesdropping on strangers' conversations in the street to see how much I could pick up of what was being said. Of course, I was hardly able to understand anything, but just listening to the music of the language helped with comprehension later on. Here, in contrast, the people speak so dang quietly that I can't even tell if they're actually speaking Russian. So much for working on listening comprehension.
Despite all of these problems and the resulting feelings of isolation from the people as a whole, the individual Russians with whom I have spoken have been extremely nice and patient. For instance, Brad and I got to go back stage at "Prince Caspian" and speak with the actors. For about an hour we all tried to communicate in a combination of broken English and broken Russian, and they seemed to be having just as much fun as we were, even though the conversation itself left something to be desired.
The past two nights, I met up with one of the said actors, and we walked and talked around the city center. She spoke English quite well, I found, so we were able to make a stronger connection. Besides making a new friend (woo!), I learned about the cultural perceptions that Russians have about themselves and their country... assuming she was representative of other Muscovites. A small but striking theme was the difficulty of life in Russia, accented by a hard-to-explain combination of melancholy and reserved hopefulness. If we take into consideration pretty much any famous Russia literature, I think it's safe to assume that these are indeed nagging worries for many people here. I was quick to point out that her examples could also be found in plentiful supply in the U.S. It seems that there continues to be this perception of the U.S. as a promised land, although she--and the rest of the actors, for that matter--mentioned western Europe a couple of times as well.
Between these fortuitous conversations and the themes present in the shows we've seen so far, I've found plenty of food for thought. At this point, I just can't wait to have a good handle on the language so that I'm not dealing with an extra barrier. It's frustrating, to say the least.

The Hairdresser

Within ten minutes of the play beginning, I knew it would become my favorite we've seen in Moscow. I left with that same feeling as well. The play was about a young woman who owns a hair salon in a somewhat rural town in Russia. She has been reciving letters from someone whom we don't know much about at first, but are led to believe that they are lovers. All the letters end with requests to destroy the letters, because the author doesn't want his feelings to be known by anyone but the young woman. That being said, the young woman burns the letter in her salon one day, unkowingly allerting the fire authorities, who dispatch a handsome young gentleman, named Viktor, to rescue her. He arrives only to notice that there is in fact no fire, which leads to some pleasantly awkward exchanges between Viktor and the young woman. When Viktor leaves the salon, we are left with the feeling that he is beginning to fall for the young woman, Tatiana. Our suspicions are proved correct when he continues to return to the salon daily, sometimes for haircuts, sometimes to deliver as gifts items he has recued from fires. While this is all happening, the salon is frequented by an older man who gives Tatiana life advice and love advice, many times when Tatiana didn't ask for it. While this somewhat Cinderella-esque story between Viktor and Tatiana is developing, Tatiana's first husband shows up at the salon only to complicate things. He professes his love and how he wants her back and effectively proves to us that the young Tatiana is not as innocent as we think. This suspicion is furthered when we discover that her lover that has been sending her letters is in jail. For murder. He is released from jail and finially comes to visit Tatiana, and to the surprise of Tatiana, is not all he has written himself to be. That being so, Tatiana falls in love with him almost instantly and the two dream of a new life in Moscow. Not long after that, the two go on a romantic outing to the country, where after laying and talking for sometime, her lover Evgani strikes her in the head attempting to kill Tatiana. He then procedes to try and set her on fire in a barn, but that failing too, he simply stabs her. Being being a Russian play steeped in the abnormal, this stabbing fails to kill her as well. Evgani goes back to jail, and we are to believe that the love between Viktor and Tatiana can finally flourish, but in the end, Tatiana recvieves another letter from Evgani, professing how sorry he is and how much he loves her.
An analysis of the story leads me to believe that it is a new take on an age old Cinderella story. Tatiana is simply looking for her prince charming in all the wrong places. This, however, can fall between the lines when reading the text, but is brought back in an outragingly strong force in the production of the play. The production was the most unique thing about this play. The set was constructed out of cardboard and made to look as 2 dimentional as possible. To add to that, some characters had cardboard doubles. And even on top of that, and my favorite part, the actors moved like they were cardboard cutouts. It was fantastic. It gave the play a very childish feeling and really took me back to the days when afternoons were spent watching Disney movies. The play changed my feelings on some of the characters from the text as well. For example, in the text, I read Viktor to be an overly persistant and annoying male suitor. In the play, Viktor was painted to be somehting of a sweetheart and a real source of comic relief. His persona on stage radiated love. Overall, I thought this play was fantastic. The adaptation of the text was a welcomed change from the text itself, the actors were phanomenal in this new 2D style of acting, and the set supported all of this extremely well.

Gulliver's Travels by Mike P

This ws my first official puppet theater show, so when we were shuffled into the theater with 85% of the audience being very young kids( 7-10yrs old) my first thought was " are we going to see their version of Barney and Friends?" In part I was correct, but it was still different. The play consisted of live actors and of course puppets. The play opened with what I thought to be silhouettes of enlarged actors. The optical illusion was creative, but once the lights were turned on, we were presented with a questionable cast of live actors. Bear in mind this was kids play, but the actors were sloppy at many different times, which seemed to root from not knowng their cues, but the audience(kids) responded by eagerly sitting on the edge of their seats wanting more. Not only were the children excited to see where this adventure would lead them, but I caught a couple glimpses at old grandmothers laughing away, enjoying every moment.

The story was about the fantasy adventure of Gulliver. So you had live actors playing Gulliver, small puppets playing Gulliver, and finally what I thought to be my favorite thing was the very large puppets playing Gulliver. A puppet in the shape of a large head was astonsishing to see because I'm sure that many of us are only used to seeing the small puppets from Sesame Street. The skill of the puppeteers was off the charts. I didnt know that it took not one, not two, but three people to make a puppet flow in the ways of human movement. Combing the skill and personnel for just one puppet is awesome, then add 4 more puppetts on stage. You would think there was no way possible for them to do this but they some how managed so, without any screwups.

This finally brings me to why I didnt like this performace. We all knew the story of Gulliver's Travels, so it was easy to watch what was going on without much frustration. The actors were using elementary speaking, so I'm sure many people in our group were able to pick on things here and there. The problem was that ALL the small puppets that were actually controlled were mic'ed with the most annoying voices, chipmunk voices. Now I know that high shrilled chimunk voices are funny for about 5mins, but an hour and a half show of this is a buzzkill. It ruined the performance almost instantly. The pitch and volume of the characters were so loud and obnoxious that it just hurt my ears. Afterwards when I was trying to cope with what just happend, I was informed that this is what the kids like here, goofy, loud, and high chipmunk voices for all the characters. I was in total disbelief, but I guess thats how they do it here. Overall, I'm glad I can say that I went and saw a puppet show, but that will never happen again in this country. Maybe I'll go to one back in the states, but for now, my ears need rest and recuperation.

Russians make me giggle

Yesterday's production of "The Hairdresser" was a brilliant study of Russian comedy. When I originally read the English translation I must admit that I failed to see the humor at all. It was about a hopelessly romantic hairdresser named Irina (I suppose one could also call her dim-witted, tragic, naive, ill-fated, and a slew of other adjectives describing this stereotypical victim of love) who's romance with a murder (Evgeni) she met via newspaper advertisement turns ugly when he attempts to kill her and run away with her money in the last few scenes of the play. There are other characters as well: the sweet fireman who falls in love with and attempts to woo Irina while Evgeni is still in prison, the second hairdresser at the salon who looks jealously on as men swoon over Irina, Alexsei Nikolaevich, a married judge who likes to hit on Irina as she snips away at his balding scalp, and Irina's first husband who is a psychopathic artist (he was quite fond of lounging on a couch with his head half-way severed, chasing his wife around with an ax, and peeing on her just for kicks! Sexy, no? Where does she find these freaks???)

Ok, having re-read my description, I guess it does sound comical, but my innitial conclusion was more akin to "...why do Russian plays have to be so bizarre? This is totally unreal." And I think that the reason the production worked so well was that it was presented as unreal. Everything was in 2-D, both the set and the actors. How, you ask? Well, the brilliant set designer used cardboard cutouts to represent everything in the salon from the seats to the cuctucus to the products lining the 2-D shelves. Other scenes such as the disco and Irina's apartment were represented in the same manner.

The characters themselves behaved like paper puppets. They never turned their backs to the audience and their movements were jerky and robotic. When they walked, they their entire bodies moved from side to side though each character had his or her own unique gait. For example, the villanous Evgeni was sort of hunched over and his footsteps were excessively heavy while the fireman walked upright with smaller more awkward footsteps. The makeup was also perfect for each charcter. The second hairdresser wore bright red lipstick and dark eye make-up in a sad attempt to gain male suiters, the darkness around Evgeni's eyes was emphasized giving him a real sketchy appearance, and Irina's bright green eyes were highlighted to make them look even bigger and more innocent.

Another aspect of the play which made it less realistic was that Irina was narrating everything as it happened in the play. We've seen one other narrated play like this--The Black Monk--and this technique is very effective because it continually brings the audience member into the realization that they are sitting in a theater watching a play. It is very much removed from real life.

So I've described the characters, the set, and the particular style of the play but what exactly was so dang funny? The actor's faces had a lot to do with it. One of the comments they made during the Q&A at the end of the production was that showing emotion while being somewhat limited in their movements because they were paper dolls was actually easier--it forced them to relinquish any extraneous emotions and actions. Their emotions were less complex in that they were so easily read and understood. When the second hairdresser was jealous, she scrunched up her face, frowned, and looked away. When Irina talked about Evgeni her eyes were wide and bright and she smiled dreamily. Movement in 2-D is also pretty halarious, espececially dancing! When the fireman took Irina to the disco, they stoood together side-by-side and rocked to the music, the epiptomy of awkward dancing. I laughed so loud! As did the Russians in the audience.

Well, this post is getting long so even though I could go on and on about this play, I'm gonna end here. The Hairdresser has officially made it onto my list of fantastic performances. And you know what else? You couldn't distinquish the Americans from the Russians at that performance because we all laugh in the same language. :)

Party in the former USSR

Yesterday was my 20th birthday and I could not think of a better place to spend it than in Moscow. We spent time at the US Embassy which helped a number of us figure out what we want to do in life after Olaf. Later I hit up a Teremok stand to eat an amazing chocolate blinie- I now think that every street corner in America needs a Teremok stand. Later we went to see "Black Monk" and came back to our hostel for cake, birthday toasts, celebratory sparklers outside our hostel and some much needed rest. It was a great day.

The Circus! Oorah!

Awhile ago, me and Sabine were able to fulfill one our childhood dreams by going to the circus! But this wasn't just any circus, it was the most famous Russian Old Moscow Circus. Along with Don and Tatiana, a couple that was also staying at our hostel and got to know our group quite well, we were able to walk to the place because it was only a few blocks away from the hostel. When we arrived and after coat check (I love that there are coat checks everywhere), me and Sabine were overwhelmed with excitement, probably even more so than most of the children there. In the entryway, there were stands and people everywhere selling everything a kid would want from pink wigs to ice cream cones. There were also baby lions that were roaring, sounding just like cub Simba on Lion King, and tigers and a weird looking baby bear animal. You had to pay to take pictures with them which we didn't want to do, but we really wanted to at least pet them, but they weren't letting people get too close to the animals and we didn't want to get yelled at in Russian so we just longingly looked on.

So after rushing around trying to see every single animal, we finally got to our seats while the show was just about to start. The performance arena was like a theater in the round with a band stage to one side; it was very big and grand i thought. The three of us girls enjoyed watching the show, while Don slept :) Our favorite acts were the juggling birds, acrobats, and the seals who did flippin sweet tricks. The only one we didn't like so much was the ice-skating bear which obviously didn't look very natural, but also kinda painful and tiring for the poor lil' guy.

This particular show was the holiday show because Christmas in Russia is on January 7th (I think), so we got to see a Des Maroz, the Russian Santa Clause, and the snow maiden skit...for the fourth time. See, every children's activity during this time has basically the same Santa Clause skit before or during it so we had already seen it three times before each of the three children's theater productions we had already attended. First, usually the snow maiden comes out and talks to the children in a high sing songy voice. Then, they either dance and sing or play a little game. And then, Santa Clause must be called out by yelling his name as loud as they can. Once he finally appears, the children must yell something else (I'm not sure what because it's in Russian) to turn on the Christmas tree lights. And then they finish it with the same song. Every child until about the age of 8 or 9 loves this skit and participates in it wholeheartedly, probably because they only get to see it once a year and not four times within four days like we did.

I'm super glad we got to experience the circus and accomplish such an important childhood dream :) Although this is the first circus I've been to, I'm pretty sure that the Russian circus is and will always be the best circus in the world! yup that's it.

Mosfilm

A few days ago we had the opportunity to take a tour of Mosfilm, which is like the Hollywood of Russia. It was an incredible experience - we got to see a museum of cars, costumes, and sets used in real movies, go onto the set of a TV show, see the sound studio and the computer graphics department, and even have our own private screening of a new movie! It was a long day, especially with another show that night, but definitely worth it. I really enjoyed the experience. It was really cool to be able to see pretty much every step of the movie- or tv show-making process. We walked through one set for a new movie that was still under construction, and then watched them actually filming a "Dancing with the Stars"-type tv show. The director of the sound studio showed us how they added sound effects in a booth where the floor was made of different textures that made different noises, like the rustling of leaves or steps through Red Square. In the computer graphics department, we saw the digital imaging process, where they were going through a film frame by frame, making minute adjustments. It seemed like an incredibly tedious task, and I couldn't always even tell a difference between the original and her revised screen, but I'm sure it's a very important one for the end result. Finally, we had a private screening of the movie Ward No. 6. It was really cool to see a movie after having witnessed so many different parts of the long process that goes into producing that polished final product. I definitely wasn't viewing the movie the same way I typically would, because we had just seen how much work goes into the making of a film. I'm not sure I will be able to look at a movie again without thinking about the different people and departments made adjustments and helped create the end result.

Belka

I'm not really sure what I'm writing about right now. I think there are a whole bunch of people waiting for the computer. That makes it stressful. On a side note, I went to Teremok for blini for the first time today, and it was delicious. If I could live on a diet of Teremok and Shokoladnitsa, I would. And possibly throw in some of the delicious yogurt and museli.
I think the performance I've enjoyed the most so far is K.I. from "Crime." I don't know if enjoyed is the right word, because the play itself was quite depressing, but it was the most gripping. We were really part of Katerina's world, she made such a connection with the audience that I could understand her pain and suffering. It was also nice to have a few sentences in English once in a while so that we could follow where she was in the plot.
In general, I've come to understand that Russian theater is full of symbolism, which is not something I'm used to or look for in American theater. In America we go to the theater to have a good time and be entertained, but here the spectator is getting tons of meaning out of it; there are levels that can be hard to dig through. Now that I'm used to looking for the symbolism, I'm not so disappointed in a performance that is incredibly weird and hard to understand.
Salome was definitely weird and hard to understand, but not the text, surprisingly. They spoke so annoyingly slow that I understood lots of dialogue! I still don't understand the point of the water they poured over the place for the picture of John the Baptist's severed head. Why did Salome need to lie down in water and get all wet? I don't know, maybe it'll come to me in a revelation later.
Also, today we went to the U.S. Embassy, which was exciting because there were lots of Americans there. They were talking loudly and laughing a lot, and it was just like home. Now I know that I can get a job working as a liaison between NASA and Pockocmoc with the foreign service. Woo hoo! And my brother told me I'd have to be an engineer.

He was a very titular councelor...

I don't know if the title of this blog is correct, but on Monday we took perhaps one of the most stressful metro trips ever in order to make it to this play, based on Gogol's short story "Diary of a Madman." I read this story last summer, but I had forgotten just how strange it is: Basically, the title speaks for itself. It's a fictional diary of a man who is slowly driven to insanity, eventually believing himself to be the King of Spain, and beginning his entries with dates like "The 15th of Martober," or "The 85th of January, which came after February" (if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it). Before seeing the show, I was really excited to see how they would turn such a story into a theatrical production.

We made it to the theater in time, albeit a little short of breath, and filed into the tiny theater. This one man show was so impressive; The actor was astounding. He was incredibly expressive, and even though i couldn't understand all of the Russian, I could tell what was happening just by his actions, his movement, facial expression, and way of speaking. The set was pretty meager, but this guy was like a Native American in the sense that he did not let one part of it go to waste. It was amazing how he used what he had on stage: His bed became his desk, became his cell, and he moved set pieces constantly to give the audience a new perspective. The lighting also functioned as a "Set change" tool --- The light would focus on one set piece, such as the double doors beneath the staircase, and we were given the impression that he was outside someone's house, rather that a few feet from his own bedroom. It seemed so much like there were multiple sets, that it was amazing to think that all he really had was one outfit, a staircase, a bed, a chair, and a doorway.

The feel of the play, in contrast to the short story, was heavy and dark. The story seems comical, sometimes to the point of laughing out loud at the thoughts of this crazy guy! But when seen on stage, sometimes it was terrifying. I feel like the actor did such an amazing job of portraying the helplessness of a man trapped in his own mind. This was an incredibly intriguing production.

On a side note: Throughout the play, the actor used hats to represent the different people he encountered from day to day, and would use them to reenact conversations or present potential situations. At the end of the play, he piled all of the hats on his head, one on top the other. Coincidentally, the cover art on my copy of this story is a of a man with hats piled up on his head! This isn't part of the story though --- maybe it's something lost in translation, maybe the cover art is well-known in Russia, or maybe it's just a really crazy coincidence. If anyone knows, tell me! I'll be keeping an eye out for any clues...

Sarah

Salome

Tonight we went to see the play Salome written by Oscar Wilde at The Theater of Dramatic Art. Firstly, I should say that this stage was unlike any other stage I had ever seen before. The inspiration for this theater was Shakespeare's Globe Theater, so it is a circle and seats roughly 30 people on each of the 3 tiers. The stage is unique not only because it is in the shape of a circle, but it is also made out of a blue plexi-glass material that withstood the actors pounding and banging on it. I thought a few times it might break. The stage was also about 2 feet out from the rest of the back stage. Sometimes the actors would have to jump to reach the center stage other times a platform was brought out to connect the two. There was also a bottom tier to the stage that had stairs connecting the two pieces. The audience was seated around the stage in 3 tiers and you never had to worry about having someone else's head blocking your view. In the middle of the stage was a smaller platform that could be removed and a pully system was rigged up to move actors from top tier to bottom tier of the stage. It was very impressive.

The play itself was based on the death of John the Baptist or Iokanaan as he was known in this play. Iokanaan was shaved bald and to make it appear as if he had long, beautiful locks as Salome described, he was drawn on with magic marker that rubbed off during the performance. The music for this production was done completely by the cast, including an actor playing the drum and also an actress signing. If we haven't learned anything else from seeing all of these plays we know realize how incredibly versatile Russian actors are. They went through 6 or more years of training and can all dance, sing, act and some play instruments and get certificates on what type of weapon they are able to use onstage. They are able to do all of these things with ease and never cease to amaze their audiences. The actors tonight moved with such precision and each movement was slow and thoughtful. This may be because they had to be especially aware of their surroundings for fear of falling off-but it also added to the performance by making the audience aware of the movements and notice how important they are. I am very impressed by how serious the actors are. In one part of the play the angels brought a platter full of clementines to feed to Salome, but he dropped them all over the stage. Many of them rolled onto the bottom of the stage, but quite a few remained on top where all the action was taking place. Even if a clementine was in an actors way, they would move around it and ignore it as if it wasn't there. they never broke character or distracted the audience by worrying about moving the fruit. The costumes were both plain, but elegant. They were plain because everyone wore a white costume of some sort, but they were elegant because if you looked closer at each costume you could see intricate designs in them.

The play was well put together and kept my interest the whole time. The acting was magnificent aside from a couple of guards who were weird and trying to hard. I really enjoyed this play.

Carlos Kaufman's review of "K.I. from Crime"

Walking in Raskolnikov's Shoes

Last night we went to see K.I. From Crime which was possibly one of the most moving performances I have ever seen. After reading the assigned script before going to see the show, Marc told us all that there was a chance we would be chosen by the actress to represent a certain character from Crime and Punishment that K.I. brings up and talks to. This plus the fact that we were going to be a significant portion of the audience increased anxiety as we knew that we would be partaking in a Russian performance and we did not want to embarrass ourselves or the class by messing something up in such an intimate environment.

At first I was definitely nervous going into the show, fingers crossed that I would not be chosen by the actress especially because I do not understand Russian nearly as well as I thought I did before coming to the country...a bit of a rude awakening, but life goes on and it just adds to the adventure. I was worried that she would choose me, ask me to do something and I would be caught like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what to do sitting in silence with everyone looking at me, but after seeing several others get chosen for smaller roles I could tell that it was not just us American students that were nervous about getting picked but the Russian audience members were nervous also. That made at least me feel better, but I cannot speak for the entire group.

When I was ushered to sit in the front row on a different kind of seating than the rest of the audience along with a few other members of the group, I knew I was going to end up participating in the show at least a little bit. The actress came up, sat right next to us, handed us things and explained what they were and how they related to her late husband who's memorial we were supposed to be attending. Not only did she interact with the front row, grieving, yelling, and talking about her deceased husband but she walked back among the rest of the audience to talk to them, getting in people's faces and invading personal space. Being so close and involved in the performance made everything seem real, which is why it was so moving to witness a widow and her children shortly after the death of their husband/father. There were honestly scenes in the show that sent shivers down my spine like when K.I. was yelling at us and her children while abusing Kolya, her supposedly trouble-making child who did not want to sing for us and looked sad because of his father's death.

When we moved from the outside of the memorial into the room where a table was set, I was one of the first few people into the room and walked to sit at a table that was set up in front of the rest of the stadium seating in the small room. When scooting on to the bench with several other people who also were going to sit up front the actress looked at me and thanked me for coming, calling me Roskolnikov (I also thought this was cool because my last name is Roskam), one of the main characters in Crime and Punishment who was friends with her late husband. At this point she told me that I had a special seat she saved for me near her and I was already trapped between other people between a wall and a table sitting on a bench, so I was forced to get very close to the people near me in order to get out. Once I was out, K.I. took my hand and led me around the room while people were being seated, made a girl move from one seat that she said she had saved for me in the front row. It was very nerve racking, but I knew to just go with it. Fortunately she recognized I was with the American group (probably relatively easy) and was already incorporating English into the performance so whenever she directed anything at me she would speak in English, which I greatly appreciated. Overall, the performance was one of my favorites because it related to me personally more than any we have seen so far and brought me into the actresses world, temporarily changing who I was to Roskolnikov.

K.I.

When we arrived at the theater, eating at the buffet as usual, everything was fine and normal. Then we came upstairs to a sort of hall with chairs and a few pillow-like chairs in the front, all facing typical Russian doors (which I love). I was surprised to see such a set, because it was even stranger than the smaller theater we had been in the night before at the fomenko. What I didn't know was that we would transfer into another set through the typical Russian doors. The lighting for the first "set" was essentially nothing, with florescent lighting. After Oksana came out, the look on the faces of the other Russians in the audience were essentially priceless. Especially when she either spoke in English or pointed out to different people and got in their faces. I forgot that Oksana was going to say a couple of phrases in English, and I was (and still am) very curious as to how the Russians felt about that. I should have asked but by the end I felt exhausted. Maybe emotionally or maybe just because. I felt bad for the little boy at first, because he was being thrown around, but then I remembered that this is a performance, and this has obviously been rehearsed beforehand. I enjoyed how Oksana improvised a few times, such as when a cell phone rang, she gave a...not nasty, but not nice face to the woman. And when one woman got up and left, it seemed like Oksana was looking to see where she was. I forgot what she said, but she used that situation in the performance.

After entering the second all-white room, which was interesting in and of itself, we saw another actress who was on her knees. The lighting was kind of weird, with two large lamps shining in through two windows and florescent lights from above. There was a large table, which audience members sat around, and also two chairs in the corner, where the children sat. I liked the "second half" of the performance more that the first. I think this is because it wasn't just Oksana coming in and out of the Russian-style doors. The kids were still treated the same, although in the white room, it became more apparent that the kids had become accustomed to taking care of their mother (or at least it seemed to me). For example, when Oksana was throwing the purse on the floor repeatedly, her children kept saying "Мама, не надо! Мама, не надо!"

Overall I really enjoyed the play. Oksana had absolutely amazing energy, and afterwards while talking with her she even said that she was tired that day because she had two rehearsals in the morning, but to me it wasn't obvious at all that she was tired. It was cool to talk with both John Freedman and Oksana after the performance to get their opinions on theater in Russia, and also Russia in general. I find that the idea of having a "troop" within a theater is very Russian, mostly because no matter where you are, Russians (for the most part) are willing to help you out in any way they can (while also being more than willing to point out what you are doing wrong).

I'm including a picture of my friend Anya and a few of her friends that I met here, because I think they are neat.

An Opera for the Ages

It's been over a week now since I saw my first professional opera, The Tsar's Bride, and I still cannot get over its magnificence. Freeze frame: 5:00 PM ( 17:00, if you will), 1/6/10. I am jet-lagged, culture-shocked and many other hyphenated adjectives. I do not feel up to the daunting task of enduring a four hour Russian opera. There are four long acts, and three intermissions that will hopefully keep me alive. I could barely keep my head up during our first play. The pressure is on.

The opera was performed at the Bolshoi, albeit not the original theatre due to the latter undergoing reparations. The theatre emanated an aura that tells you the production had better be good, or else. We took our seats, and the orchestra began the lengthy, but beautiful overture.

What struck me first was the ornately designed set, which changed at the end of each act. Each design represented different aspects of 16th century Muscovite Russia, including the homes of the Boyars, a street in Moscow and the Tsar's palace. The palace reminded us of the grandeur that surrounded the pre-Petrine era, whilst the street depicted a more middle class area with palisade walls adorning the backdrop. The costumes of the Boyars complimented the times, as robes made of finely spun cloth draped down to the floor, embellised with precious gems.

In terms of pacing, my fears of boredom were instantaneously washed away during the first piece, sung by the tragic hero Grigory Gryaznoi. Although the production did not move quickly by any means, the comfortable pace allowed each soloist to fully display their vocal capacities. Also, their emotions developed and even changed as their solos progressed, specifically Gryaznoi's transition from merriment to frustration and then eventually madness. His character development starts at the first line of the show, and ends with him being dragged away to his execution. The emotions of his neglected lover, Lyubasha, range from grief to murderous revenge. The spectrum widens as the production rolls on, giving the audience new perspectives with the conclusion of each act.

When people ask me what genres of music I enjoy, I typically respond "anything but country and opera." Now, country stands alone beacause the Tsar's Bride turned me on to something I would probably cover my ears to as a child. The combined forces of quality acting, tireless vocal work, a wonderfully tight orchestra and a beautiful set make the Tsar's Bride a recommendation for experienced opera goers or those who need to be christened the right way. Enjoy it; I certainly did.

Childhood

So we have seen a few children's plays including Narnia, Prince Caspian, and the Puppet play. The Gulliver's Travels a.k.a. puppet play was a headache. Literally, those tiny voices drove me crazy; however, probably the largest congregate of smiling Russian's I've witnessed thus far. If I were Julius Ceasar I would thumbs down that puppet play/show. Although the puppets themselves were interesting and impressive.
Narnia was amazing. No joke, I was more into the play than the children. The set was amazing and I loved how the wardrobe transformed by turning over into the classic lamp-post of Narnia. The costumes were realistic, but not in color-which I enjoyed. There were also some additions to the novel, such as squirrels, the blue squirrels. Also the White Witch becomes 15ft tall for the fight scene...which used flashlights and glow sticks. Basically this play was a kid's dream world!
Prince Caspian was a good play, but not as good as Narnia. The singing was off-key, but I don't think the children noticed. The set with Caspian was very ingenious as it made something out of nothing- 4 sets for the price of 1! It was cool because after the play, we got to go back stage and we also met with the actors and actresses. :)
Overall, the children's plays have been highly enjoyable and make me feel like a kid again- childhood.

Uncle Vanya

A few nights ago we went to see Uncle Vanya at the Moscow Art Theater. Although it was not the most exciting play we've seen, I thought it was really well done and captured the mood that the director and author most likely wanted to set. The play focuses on a group of people who lead drab, boring lives, and demonstrates the tediousness of their problems throughout four acts. This boring atmosphere definitely came across - The set was a huge beige wall with windows that kept opening and closing incessantly as the characters moved in and out of the house, and the costumes were completely monochromatic. Everyone wore beige in the first two acts and gray in the second, which got to be a little much as a viewer, but was very effective in communicating the point of an unexciting life in the country. At the end of the performance, the stage was empty except for the beige wall, and then a watchman walked on, dressed all in beige - and then a beige curtain closed on them. Although obviously the color of the curtain wasn't planned, the amount of beige on stage was overwhelming.
The set itself was what I found to be the most distracting part of the play, although it was one of the most clear demonstrations of the characters' boring lives. Action took place both in front of the house and 'inside' of it, and so whenever anyone stepped inside the house - and they were constantly going in and out - they had to open a window to be heard. It clearly gave the impression that the characters had nothing better to do than change location and open windows, but it got to be extremely annoying as an audience member.
Although I didn't particularly enjoy the performance, I thought it was very effective. Even without understanding the language, I easily got the impression that the characters were going stir crazy inside of their big country house, causing their small problems to get bigger and bigger.