A family show, or, to be more exact, one aimed for ‘grown up children and little grown ups’. Director Veronika Shakhova defines the genre of the performance as a ‘non-fairy tale’ and uses different techniques – from role playing and clownery to verbatim and psychological theatre. Special attention is given to props – scenic designer Vera Sokolova (student of Dmitry Krymov) appears as a rightful co-author of the performance.
The show is based on Tellegen’s short story ‘How the Cricket Got Well’, which describes the cricket’s first encounter with a gloomy mood and how he got free of it again.
Grown up viewers can afford to play with the characters and use their imagination, while little spectators will learn of sadness and what to do with it when it comes over you.
The show premiered on March 28, 2015
Media about the
It is to be expected that the Cricket shows an alternative approach to the young viewer genre. It lacks bright costumes and stage decorations as well as clear antagonists, (one of whom is generally supposed to repent at the end), and the plot itself is rather complex and able to rivet adult viewers’ attention.
Andrei Petrov. A Childlike View of Adult Problems
OKOLO art-zhurnal, April 2015