VI ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL FORUM FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Mentor of THEATRE Section - VALERY FOKIN
‘Chekhov's First Play’is a 2015 production, based on the early play by 18-years old Anton Chekhov. The text was published only after twenty years of Chekhov’s death. It is known with numerous titles: ‘A Play Without a Title’,‘Fatherlessness’, ‘Platonov’ and is familiar to the broader audience as a film ‘An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano’ by Nikita Mikhalkov.
Dead Centre theatre company was founded in 2012 by promising young Irish directors Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd, based in Dublin. They explore new ways of theatre expression, blend modern technologies with traditional English acting to reach fresh interpretation of classical literature.
‘Chekhov's First Play’ performance is peculiar for headphones that every person of the audience puts on in the beginning. He or she thus listens not only characters’ dialogues, but directors’ commentary as well - real-time. Such a trick adds first and foremost to the viewers’ immersion into the plot, and, secondly, adds new layers of interpretation. This performance is in essence a criticism of the modern society as seen by Chekhov’s characters.
In 2015 the production ‘Chekhov's First Play’ has won prestigious Irish Times Theatre Award.
The performance is in English with Russian subtitles.