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.